US Coast Guard Employee Reviews about "pay and benefits"

Pros

easy work environment and pay

Cons

long hours, high stress, poor communication

Pros

Good pay and they take care of you

Cons

Moving every 4 years and sea

Pros

80% of the time way way easier than civilian work steady pay and fantastic benefits. Occasionally rewarding (IT work isn't, but search and rescue is).

Cons

20% of the time far more stressful and insane than civilian work constantly moving - zero geographical stability. Sea duty is a family killer and there's TONS of divorce. The IT world is a mess, I don't recommend it.

Pros

The US Coast Guard offers a huge number of potential career paths. The promotion path for each field is laid out very clearly. There are well defined processes to achieve promotion. In certain rates promotion can be quickly achieve and a great deal of responsibility can be given to a very junior person. The pay is adequate and in my experience it is above what most would receive in a civilian job of equal responsibility level. Paid relocation every 2-5 years, and the opportunity to see some very unique places in the United States and its territories. Tuition assistance is an awesome employee perk and hopefully it is kept around for some time to come. There are awesome mentors if you seek them out. This is an ideal job for a young man or woman without a family, especially in the junior ranks. The retirement is hard if not impossible to beat in the civilian sector.

Cons

As my title states. Choose your rate, choose your fate. The Coast Guard offers little to no cross training opportunities from one rate to another. Once you have selected a specialty rating you will almost be guaranteed to only be trained in that position. With the exception of ship damage control, you will be limited in your experience. Non- rated individuals really need to do their due diligence when selecting their specialty, this is especially true if the individual does not intend on retiring from the military. In general the FS rate only reinforces Food Service training, and most enlisted members in this rate do not have much opportunity to really develop quality management skills because units are small and until you make Chief you will never have more than about 6 people under you. The HS rate is a sad excuse for medical training, either that or the individuals I have encountered as HS people should never have been in anything medical. In general an HS will have to perform additional training once they leave the military to even become qualified as a paramedic. This list goes on and on. Positions like GM, AST, ME, MST, PA have such a small number of civilian professions to transfer skill into after leaving active duty, that these individuals in these positions need to be aware that these are positions you need to reach retirement in the military prior to leaving. Although ME and GM can likely make a transition into the Law Enforcement sector. As a Yeoman (YN), the time management and customer service training received by these people is so poor most would not be able to maintain a HR position in the civilian world for very long prior to being fired. Granted there are some excellent YN in the Coast Guard who would perform outstanding in the corporate or civilian sector, but in general the majority are nearly incompetent. The SK's think they are performing accounting, and they are getting valuable computer training and contract training but that is about all. MK's and BM's make up the backbone of the operational Coast Guard and it is obvious that the Coast Guard puts a lot of resources and training behind these individuals in these roles. Their skill also transfer to the civilian world most readily. The Coast Guard essentially pigeon holes the majority of their enlisted corps into their trade. You also have the opportunity to work with some great mentors and some very poor ones. Discrimination is prevalent in undertones of junior members, particularly in regards to Muslim peoples. I would disagree with the idea that this is an ethical organization, although it outstrips the rest of the military in this regard. There is some level of reverse discrimination at some units with women, but it is generally minor for now, but an annoyance. The big issues I have with it is junior members using the "N" word, towel head, dot head, and various other inappropriate terms. The predominance of white males in this service and multiple units that are literally 100% Caucasian is odd, or 100% male, or 80% female is odd. CO's can be part of a buddy system that essentially eliminates junior members from bringing up serious issues even when going outside the chain of command. Being short staffed prohibits true corrective action on employees performing badly. In addition the short staffing can lead to unqualified or dangerous people retaining "qualification letters" even when their actions have injured people.

Pros

Pay and time off are good

Cons

Hard work and dumb people.

Pros

-Sense of fulfillment -Save lives -Bust drugs - Travel- paid vacation - pay for college while in service and when contract is fulfilled

Cons

-Susceptible to government shutdowns when politicians act like children

Pros

Great medical benifits. Good pay around the 8 year mark (if on a normal advancement track).

Cons

Required to transfer anywhere in the U.S. every 3 to 4 years

Pros

Steady pay and many benefits

Cons

Required to move every few years

Pros

The military (not just USCG) has ok pay but great benefits that really add up. Health insurance for member and family included. Paid time off. Free college education. Members get to travel the country and the world while conducting humanitarian missions such as emergency response and search and rescue.

Cons

The CG moves its members every four years or less depending on needs of the service

Pros

As an enlisted member with a lot of hard work you can achieve higher rank and pay. The only person that can hold you back is you. Far less concern about what your ethnicity is and more concern about what you contribute and how you can help the organization. Smaller units are cohesive and can act like an extended family when you are in need or when your family is celebrating the joys of life. Most people you work with believe in Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty.

Cons

Family Separation, Slow advancement even for those that try hard because of shortsighted purges of personnel that have caused waves of high and low advancement needs.