The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1920-11-12
THE COAST GUARD NOT
~
WHAT 1T USED TO BE
Strong, Brave Men Used To The Sea, Being Re
placed by Recruits Gathered From New
And Hitherto Untried Sources

4 - : =. . :. 80
/ The personnel of the u. S.
j Coast Guard is undergoing a
i change which will make that
once picturesque and heroic
branch Of the government SER
vice an altogether strange and
unfamiliar institution to many
in Elizabeth City and vicinity
who have. heretofore personally
known so many men in the
Coast Guard service on the North
Carolina coast. What is going
on in the Coast Guard and how
the complexion of the personnel
/ OF the service is changing uflder.
modern economic conditions is
entertainingly told for readers of
this newspaper by D. V. Meek
ms, a member of the staff.z.< (
BY D. v. MEEK+NS
After reading street poster bear
ing the legend Adventure appeals to
many men; If you are strong and husky
and your nerve is good and you are be-
tween the ages of Is and 35 years, in
vestigate what the q. S. Coast Guard
has to offer you,' one begins to wonder
why the Coast Guard of late years is
making such an appeal for men. The
average fellow in this section knows
that the old Life Saving Service was the
coveted berth of thousands of men thru
out Northeastern North Carolina. In
those days it culled it's men from the
brainiest and brawniest of those who
were known to be good sailors and
swimmers Unless a, man had these
quallflcat1ons he was not even consid-
cred. Today the Coast Guard is hard
put to it in finding enough men along
the coast who are suitable recruits. For
a few years now it has had e~i1l-
land and take fellows from farms and
factories and train them in the business
of life saving. And while the Coast
Guard is run on better system then &
before, it doesn't readily find the class
OF men who made it the celebrated or
ganlzat1on that it, is. This state of
conditions is not due to any scarcity Of
men but to the small salary allowed the
Coast Guard for his services And with
the mounting costs of everything he
has not been favored with a proportion
ate increase in pay. Today his salary is
$40 per month with a per diem allow
ance of 6S cents for subsistence
Hard on New Recruits
There are many young men however
thruout the middle west and other por-
tions Of the country who lured by the
spirit of adventure, jump at the Coast
Guards offer to see the world. They
do not know that service in that branch
is the strongest test for Drawn and abil-
1ty OF any vocation that deals with the
sea. The Coast Guard supplements it's
ranks with these fellows who have bred.
mind and body and muscle, in an envir-
onment entirely the opposite. The nov
city and variety of the new life aboard
the training ships, fire their newly kin
died desire to the highest pitch but when
they are set down at the end of the per-
lod of training, in the monotOnous life
of an isolated Coast Guard Station on
some barren and wind dswept beach.
where the sameness of old oceans moan
ing is broken only by the beginning of
another days routine, their fedup spir-
it of adventure starves and turns to dis
gust.
The cOnfining life of the stations rip
ems this state of dissatisfaction until by
the end of the second term of enlistment
they are ready to take their discharge
and go back to the environment, in
which they were born and bred. They
have only one day week in which to
cave and forget the flying, freezing
spray of the sea and the stinging sand
storms of the beaches. This one day
doesn't allow red-blooded young ad-
7enturer much time for the pursuit of
'ocia} pleasures. Neither does the sal
Try after paying for expensive uniforms
md subsistence, leave much to be spent
or pleasure. Consequently few marry
q this section; the rest return finally to
heir former homes after adding moth
ng of permanent value to the Coast
auard communities. ..
Uadsrmlnins the Service >.
The small pay and, rigorous service
ave kept cut. the old timers Of the
lass which formerly made the stations
ornament landmarks along the coast.
constant recruiting of new men chang
es the personnel of the stations every
ow and then. These conditions have
roved expensive to the government
nd have lessened the permanent eff
ency Of the Service in which men for
lerly spent their lives. A great many
ZEN stick, however for the sake of be-
g provided for, when sick or disabled
nd in hopes of being retired on two
lirds pay. This, the Government does
'r its Coast Guard employees. 1t re-
res them either for thirty years con-
nuous service or after they reach 60
ears of age. This is the greatest at
action for many men in the Service
no have spent the greater part of their
yes in following a calling which unfits
lem for many more profitable occu-
atoms which otb o1o