Chart a Career on the Water with the RBR Coast Guard
For employment that differs from the average, where the office is an ocean and a day’s work can include saving a life, job hunters may wish to consider the Royal Bermuda Regiment Coast Guard.
The marine force offers protection and security of the island’s territorial waters out to 12 nautical miles, providing 24-hour search-and-rescue capability and enforcing maritime law.
It holds the Regiment’s operational divers, which means the unit can carry out sub-surface recovery operations.
Lance Corporal Quinton Burgess has been part of the Coast Guard since 2020 and relishes the opportunities it presents to serve the community in a challenging and changing environment.
The 46-year-old, from Smith’s, said: “The majority of my work has been in the corporate world, so it has pretty much been in an office – marketing and things of that nature.
“At the Coast Guard, my office is outside, I’m not necessarily stuck behind a computer, although we do have elements of that. Most of work that we do is out on the waters around Bermuda.”
The Coast Guard works in conjunction with other agencies, such as the Bermuda Maritime Operations Centre, the Department of Marine and Ports Services and the Bermuda Police Service.
LCpl Burgess, a father of two, highlighted that throughout the year, members of the unit participate in multiple training sessions covering topics such as boat handling, navigation, oil-spill management and search-and-rescue operations.
It means that while working in an emergency situation might be challenging, the crews are well-prepared to handle whatever they face.
LCpl Burgess reflected: “The Coast Guard offers a good training base. If people are unsure about what they want to do, they can come here and learn a lot of things that they wouldn’t necessarily learn behind a desk or in an office setting.
“There is a big comradery here and we all work together as a team.
“The Coast Guard is totally different from your average nine-to-five: it asks a lot of you, it’s challenging and we get overseas training opportunities which ask more of you – it’s the full gamut.
“At the end of the day, you’re helping to save lives, you’re helping to keep families at ease, you’re doing your part for Bermuda.”
Colour Sergeant Tyler Smith, 34, from Paget, was in the Royal Navy for five years before he joined the Regiment in 2013 and noted that many of Bermuda’s recreational activities were in, on or near the water.
He added: “It means we get involved with a lot of things, from SailGP and the America’s Cup, anything to do with law enforcement, search-and-rescue, to someone that’s broken down – we can go and help them out, get them safely back to shore – to an average day patrolling on the water or working in the yard.
“I do a lot of hands-on work here maintaining and fixing boats.”
CSgt Smith said that people who join the unit become skilled in navigating the island’s waters and the use of nautical charts.
He added: “Someone who might know boats and water comes to the Coast Guard and they get that little bit of extra knowledge.”
Considering opportunities presented by the wider RBR, CSgt Smith, a father of one, said: “It gives you networking opportunities and you get to meet other people from Bermuda.
“You might be a chef outside in civvy life but you want to do mechanics, medics or something else – it gives you that diversity of choices and training abilities.”
For more information about the Royal Bermuda Regiment, visit www.rbr.bm or call 238-1045. The RBR Coast Guard’s base at Scenic House in Sandys can be contacted on 294-0610.
This article appeared in the 2024 edition of Your Future Magazine: