JAMAICA Defence Force (JDF) coastguards are consummate professionals who are always on call and therefore prone to burnout. Still, they are well paid and the job satisfaction is first class.

Just ask Cleon Muir, who at 28 years old is a lieutenant in the JDF coastguard, which he has served for more than seven years. It is on him — a man who is willing to answer the call of duty at any hour of the night or day — that Career & Education relies this week for insight into the career option.

According to Muir, determination, willpower and flexibility are critical to success as a coastguard. For himself, he was drawn to the field because he saw the sea as a challenge, and so far has no regrets.

Describe the work of a JDF coastguard.

The average coastguard on any given day may be tasked to perform routine patrols within the Kingston Harbour region, at the headquarters or at various harbours or ports where they are located. We have a very wide cross-section of areas that we operate in and because of this we are heavily tasked. Search and rescue predominantly takes up a lot of our time — search and rescue for our local fishermen or our local pleasure boaters or whatever the case might be.

What is the value of the work you do?

I value my job quite a bit and I think the larger public, once they get to know what I do for a living, will value it even greater than I do. I am here 24 hours per day and even if I am not here (in the flesh), I am on call to answer a possible distressed mariner at sea. In so doing, I provide them with a safety blanket that they can always call on whenever they are in need, so to that end I would say it is very important.

What prompted your entry into this field?

I was working at Courts Jamaica Limited at the time. There was an ex-JDF major there at the time and he saw me and thought I fit the bill of a JDF officer. He had no idea what my education or qualifications were at the time… (but) he took a résumé from me, took it to the JDF and I was called in for a series of interviews and what we call a selection board process, which I passed. I was (later) sent to England for 14 weeks to train.

What do you most enjoy about your job?

The most enjoyment I get from my job is when I rescue somebody at sea. Seeing that look on that person’s face, having been at sea for several days, and seeing how they react to your mere presence — just the look on their face that they have been relieved of a stressing situation — (is rewarding). Also, when I go on a career expo at a school and people run up to me and say ‘oh a pilot’ or ‘a soldier’, it’s rather rejuvenating to see that people still react the same way to persons in uniform and still consider us as elite persons in Jamaica despite all that goes around about us.

What are the challenges that you face on the job?

Being a government entity, finance is always a problem. Apart from that, in the military it’s all well and good to say ‘you will do this’ or ‘you will not do this’ and that’s done; it’s laid out in stone, cast and set. However, when you start to interact with persons, you realise that the old adage ‘one willing volunteer is better than 10 pressed men’ still holds true. Initially when I joined I was the one saying ‘you do this or you do that soldier’, but over the years I realised it doesn’t necessarily work that way all the time. It works better when you can coerce or somewhat soften the touch. That’s the most challenging part of any work here in the military — just the personality interactions that take place on a daily basis and not all of them go down well.

What are the academic requirements for entry into this field?

For being a JDF officer, a minimum of five CXCs (now Caribbean Secondary Education Certificates) and two A-levels. For enlisted persons, it is just for them to have been to nine grade at high school and they will do an entry-level test and if they are successful, then they can go on to training.

What other skills and/ or competencies are required for your field?

There is no need for any particular skill or competency for the coast coastguard, just a lot of determination, willpower and flexibility. It’s a very horrible job at times; you might be at home and you get a phone call in the middle of the night saying you need to come back to the base to go to sea. That’s just how dynamic it is because we don’t plan when people go into distress, we just happen to mitigate the circumstances thereof. It is very demanding.

Trained as a JDF coastguard, what other employment options are open to you?

There are several other options. Once you complete your training as a JDF coastguard, you are basically qualified to be a mariner in Jamaican waters. To be qualified internationally, you need to get a certificate from the Caribbean Maritime Institute. We have divers, coxswains, engineers, technicians and administrative staff personnel. So if you are in one of these areas, having left the JDF, with the JDF military background, as well as your professional capabilities, you are well fitted to integrate into society.

How much can you earn on an annual basis?

Salary is pro-rated based on years of service and training classification. Remuneration I would say is very much in keeping with our economic times. So yes, you would like more because we do a lot of work, however you can survive easily enough. With proper monetary constraints, you can manage quite comfortably. A coastguard can make between $100,000 and $300,000 per month.

Why would you encourage anyone to get into this field?

I would encourage persons (to enter the field), but only if they are very determined and see themselves giving more than they are receiving at times because despite us being well paid, when you look on the volume of work that you undertake on a daily basis, you would think that you are underpaid. Otherwise, I would say if you do decide to join the military, make sure it is something that you see as a stepping stone to something greater. Don’t see it as an end all and be all for you per sé, and other than that, just come to work. If you don’t come to work then don’t bother joining; it’s the kind of work that requires some pound of flesh to be given and we do it on a daily basis, whether on the front line, behind the desk, at sea, in the air or going over the various terrains of land we have in Jamaica.