Honor, Respect, Devotion to Duty—Foundational principles of Coast Guard culture

In April 1994, the commandant, Adm.John Kime, issued an All-Coast Guard (ALCOAST) message officially promulgating the service’s core values as “Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty.” Three decades later, Kime’s vision that these core values would be “the cornerstone of our future service” has stood the test of time.

Today, the Coast Guard’s Core Values continue to echo throughout the service. They can be found on everything from challenge coins and retirement plaques to recruiting pamphlets and billboards. Reflection on the Core Values is an integral part of essentially every official ceremony occurring in the Coast Guard today. So why do these tenets continue to resonate with and inspire Coasties, both past and present? I believe it is because they concisely and profoundly articulate the values that have long been the essence of Coast Guard culture, heritage, and history. To understand that history, it is important to read the text of that original ALCOAST message:

In September 1993, the Office of Personnel and Training chartered a work group to develop a fully integrated USCG leadership program. Although a formidable task, the group’s project plan is straightforward; assess where we are now, decide where we should be, and finally recommend a course of action on how to close the gap between the existing and “the ideal.” Early on in the project, however, the group realized a need for a set of Coast Guard core values; values on which to build our leadership program of the future; values that were behaviorally anchored and applicable across all our human resource development programs. Hence, one of the interim products developed by this group is a set of U.S. Coast Guard Core Values; benchmarks for all Coast Guard members, from the newest recruit to senior management, civilian and military alike. The values they have proposed are Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty. I wholeheartedly support them. They represent the qualities I expect and will demand of all our Coast Guard people, whether follower or leader. I believe they are critical to our success as an organization. We are entering one of the most challenging and dynamic periods of our 204-year history. These also complement the Coast Guard Core Attributes promulgated by the Quality Council in January of 1993.

[Author’s note: The “Core Attributes” were “Service to the American Public; Marine Focus; Traditional Roles; Multi-Missioned; Armed Force; Balanced Work and Life; Ethical Standards; and Organizational Identity”]

These U.S. Coast Guard Core Values—Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty are addressed in more detail below:

Honor. Integrity is our standard. We demonstrate uncompromising ethical conduct and moral behavior in all of our personal actions. We are loyal and accountable to the public trust.

Respect. We value our diverse work force. We treat each other with fairness, dignity and compassion. We encourage creativity through empowerment. We work as a team.

Devotion to Duty. We are professionals, military and civilian, who seek responsibility, accept accountability, and are committed to the successful achievement of our organizational goals. We exist to serve. We serve with pride.

The above Core Values are more than just Coast Guard rules of behavior. They are deeply rooted in the heritage which has made our organization great [author’s emphasis]. They demonstrate who we are and should guide our performance, conduct and decisions every minute of every day. Because we each represent the Coast Guard to the public, we must all embrace these values in our professional undertakings as well as our personal live.

– ADM J.W. Kime sends.

The Core Values work group chartered by the Office of Personnel and Training was spearheaded by newly minted flag officer and future commandant, Adm. James Loy. Loy had long been focused on improving Coast Guard leadership development. He was also a student of Coast Guard history. Of the long list of Loy’s accomplishments in improving the Coast Guard’s leadership programs, perhaps his greatest and most lasting was the crafting of the Coast Guard’s Core Values. They continue to reverberate throughout the service because they are intrinsically valid. Those serving in 1994 embraced them because they were indeed the core values of the Coast Guard. Like the service’s moto “Semper Paratus” they were, and are, viewed as truth.

Like many on active duty in 1994, I was excited when the Core Values ALCOAST arrived on unit message boards across the Coast Guard. I truly believed they were spot on!

Creed of the United States Coast Guardsman

From my earliest days as a seaman recruit, I had been inspired by the “Creed of the United States Coast Guardsman.” The Creed was written in 1938 by former commandant Vice Admiral Harry Hamlet. It was my touchstone throughout a 36-year plus Coast Guard career. The Creed continues to guide me today. I was thrilled with how well the Core Values captured the Creed’s guiding principles.

I am proud to be a United States Coast Guardsman. (Devotion to Duty)

I revere that long line of expert seamen who by their devotion to duty and sacrifice of self have made it possible for me to be a member of a service honored and respected, in peace and in war, throughout the world. (Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty)

I never, by word or deed, will bring reproach upon the fair name of my service, nor permit others to do so unchallenged. (Honor)

I will cheerfully and willingly obey all lawful orders. (Honor, Devotion to Duty)

I will always be on time to relieve, and shall endeavor to do more, rather than less, than my share. (Respect, Devotion to Duty)

I will always be at my station, alert and attending to my duties. (Devotion to Duty)

I shall, so far as I am able, bring to my seniors’ solutions, not problems. (Respect, Devotion to Duty)

I shall live joyously, but always with due regard for the rights and privileges of others. (Respect)

I shall endeavor to be a model citizen in the community in which I live. (Honor, Respect)

I shall sell life dearly to an enemy of my country, but give it freely to rescue those in peril. (Devotion to Duty)

With God’s help, I shall endeavor to be one of His noblest Works—A UNITED STATES COAST GUARDSMAN. (Honor, Respect, Devotion to Duty)

Hamilton’s Letter

As a Coast Guard history buff, I was also impressed by how well the Core Values captured the guiding doctrine articulated in an even older document, Secretary Alexander Hamilton’s Circular sent to the Revenue Marine captains selected to command the first ten revenue cutters. Dated June 4, 1791, it lists Hamilton’s expectations of cutter captains preparing “to enter upon the duties of your station.” One can find the essential elements of the Core Values in every paragraph of Hamilton’s letter. A transcript of the entire letter can be found in the historic documents collection on the Coast Guard Historian’s Office website.

While all of Secretary Hamilton’s words are profound and important, paragraphs 13 through 15 are most relevant to the Coast Guard’s Core Values. In Hamilton’s words:

While I recommend in the strongest terms to the respective officers, activity, vigilance and firmness, I feel no less solicitude, that their deportment may be marked with prudence, moderation and good temper. Upon these last qualities, not less that the former, must depend the success, usefulness and consequently continuance of the establishment in which they are included. They cannot be insensible that there are some prepossessions against it, that the charge with which they are intrusted [sic] is a delicate one, and that it is easy by mismanagement, to produce serious and extensive clamour, disgust and odium.

They will always keep in mind that their countrymen are freemen, and, as such, are impatient of everything that bears the least mark of a domineering spirit. They will, therefore, refrain, with the most guarded circumspection, from whatever has the semblance of haughtiness, rudeness, or insult. If obstacles occur, they will remember that they are under the particular protection of the laws and that they can meet with nothing disagreeable in the execution of their duty which these will not severely reprehend. This reflection, and a regard to the good of the service, will prevent, at all times a spirit of irritation or resentment. They will endeavor to overcome difficulties, if any are experienced, by a cool and temperate perseverance in their duty–by address and moderation, rather than by vehemence or violence. The former style of conduct will recommend them to the particular approbation of the President of the United States, while the reverse of it—even a single instance of outrage or intemperate or improper treatment of any person with whom they have anything to do, in the course of their duty, will meet with his pointed displeasure, and will be attended with correspondent consequences.

The foregoing observations are not dictated by any doubt of the prudence of any of those to whom they are addressed. These have been selected with so careful an attention to character, as to afford the strongest assurance, that their conduct will be that of good officers and good citizens. But, in an affair so delicate and important, it has been judged most advisable to listen to the suggestions of caution rather than of confidence, and to put all concerned on their guard against those sallies to which even good and prudent men are occasionally subject. It is not doubted that the instructions will be received as it ought to be, and will have its due effect. And that all may be apprized [sic] of what is expected you will communicate this part of your orders, particularly, to all your officers, and you will inculcate upon your men a correspondent disposition…

I am sir, your obedient servant,

ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Secretary of the Treasury

Coast Guard Publication 1

On Jan. 1, 2002, Loy further cemented the importance of the Core Values and their direct connection to service history with the promulgation of Coast Guard Publication 1 (also known as “Pub 1”). In addition to highlighting how the Coast Guard accomplishes its many roles and missions, Publication 1 also chronicles how the service’s evolution parallels that of the nation, tying that history to the Core Values.

In the world of military doctrine, a service’s Publication 1 is its capstone guidance. It presents a set of principles and methods intended to provide the service with a common outlook and a uniform basis for action, including explicit ideas or assumptions. It also serves as the foundation for more specific operational doctrine. Quoting Loy in the forward of the original Coast Guard Publication 1, “Every organization worth its salt, has a ‘handbook’ to tell its members and anyone else who is interested just what the organization is all about: its history, its ethos, its values, and its reason for existence.” In the section specifically addressing the Core Values, Publication 1 states:

While the formal statement of our core values of Honor Respect, and Devotion to Duty is a relatively recent event, the values themselves are deeply rooted in the heritage of commitment and service that distinguishes the U.S. Coast Guard. From revenue cutter crews protecting a fledgling nation from privateers and smugglers, to sturdy surfmen fighting howling gales to rescue shipwrecked mariners, to gallant small boat coxswains landing Marines at Guadalcanal, to the men and women of today who stop smugglers, rescue desperate migrants, and protect endangered marine species, Coast Guard people have embraced and lived these values.

It goes on to add, “Our core values are the bedrock upon which our character and operating principles are built. They provide fundamental guidance for our actions, both on duty and in our private lives, and they challenge us to live up to the high standards of excellence exhibited by our predecessors.” Coast Guard Publication 1 leaves no doubt that the “high standards of excellence exhibited by our predecessors” is the indisputable foundation of the service’s Core Values.

[Note: The latest edition of Coast Guard Publication 1 was issued on Feb. 1, 2014. In language identical to the original, it further emphasizes the importance of the Core Values and their roots in service history.]

These are just a few of examples of the Coast Guard culture and heritage captured in the Core Values. The history of the Coast Guard is filled with documents, achievements and history that clearly illustrate the validity of Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty as the service’s core values. What is perhaps most remarkable, the Core Values have remained vibrant during a time in our nation’s history when it is often difficult to find the lofty tenets of the Core Values in actual practice outside the service. Sadly, the traits of integrity, ethical conduct, moral behavior, fairness, dignity, compassion, honesty, respectfulness, empathy, accountability, and commitment to service that guide and inspire Coast Guard personnel are not so common in other segments of public life. As outlined in Admiral Kime’s ALCOAST promulgation message, the Core Values set the Coast Guard apart as an organization— “they continue to demonstrate who we are and guide our performance, conduct and decisions every minute of every day.”

Courage—The unspoken Core Value

Since their promulgation, I have always believed that “courage” was the fourth unspoken Core Value. Courage is absolutely required to live the other three Core Values. It often takes great courage to be honorable, respectful, or devoted to duty. It takes courage to “refrain, with the most guarded circumspection, from whatever has the semblance of haughtiness, rudeness, or insult.” It takes courage to “never, by word or deed, bring reproach upon the fair name of my service, nor permit others to do so unchallenged.” It takes courage “to overcome difficulties by a cool and temperate perseverance to duty.” It takes courage to “live joyously, but always with due regard for the rights and privileges of others.” It takes courage to “guard against those sallies to which even good and prudent men are occasionally subject.” It takes courage “to be a model citizen in the community in which I live.” It takes courage to be bold enough to challenge, or comfort, a shipmate when one knows that it is the essential thing to do. Most importantly, it takes courage to do what the Coast Guard does every day. Courage is the catalyst that has enabled Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty to remain the foundational core values of the United States Coast Guard.

Thirty years in the future, I hope some old Coast Guard veteran like me will be reflecting on six decades of our beloved service being guided by the Core Values of Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty. SEMPER PARATUS!

About the Author: Capt. Desh is the former executive director of the Foundation for Coast Guard History and currently serves on its board of regents. A “mustang” officer, he served as a chief petty officer and chief warrant officer before graduating from Officer Candidate School. Over the course of a 36-year plus career, he saw a diverse array of duty assignments afloat and ashore including commanding officer of the storied International Ice Patrol and director of the Leadership Development Center.

National Coast Guard Museum insider tip: The story of the Coast Guard’s culture and its impact on the service’s mission will be told throughout the whole of the museum, and the Core Values themselves will be emblazoned on the south facing window walls, marking their importance to the service throughout its history.