My son is fed up trying to find a decent job. He went to JR college and got an AS degree in law enforcement, took the test and passed with a good grade but was unable to find a job as a cop. He took the post office exam, scored high and still nothing. He first considered the Marines but decided on the CG. He gets a 6k signing bonus because of his college credits and gets out of boot camp an E-3. Not a bad deal really and depending on what A school he selects he my receive an additional bonus. Are there any active duty CG or CG vets out there who can give us some insight on life in the CG?

Well, since this site opened up back in 2005 and has only generated a grand total of 10 posts, most of which weren't made by coasties........

Not sure there are any here. I have a couple friends who are USCG civilians.....

One is with FIST--

Field Intelligence Support Teams

Field Intelligence Support Teams (FIST) are a vital component of the Coast Guard's Ports, Waterways, and Coastal Security (PWCS) mission and against the large number of threats to homeland security. According to the United States Coast Guard, the primary function of a FIST is to "collect Law Enforcement Intelligence on all maritime threats, exchange information through relationships with government and private entities, conduct first order analysis, and disseminate tactical and operational intelligence directly to port level commanders as well as other Coast Guard units and government agencies."

Something your son (with law enforcement education) might want to get into?

I have a friend who is in the CG on kodiak island in alaska one of if not the largest CG base there is, he fixes electronics and he loves it. He was wise in joining the CG because CG does not get deployed over seas, or if they have it was like one guy who volunteered (being sarcastic), deployments overseas are so rare as to be considered non existant, my friend just goes to the shop and waits for things to break and then fixes them. You also get way less hardliners in the CG, I heard CG basic is hard but once your done with A school its a 9-5 job and the CG has far less melevolant sgts like the army and marine corp has, the customs and courtiseis are way more lax and the uniform wear is coveralls.

quote:

Originally posted by Shellback:
My son is fed up trying to find a decent job. He went to JR college and got an AS degree in law enforcement, took the test and passed with a good grade but was unable to find a job as a cop. He took the post office exam, scored high and still nothing. He first considered the Marines but decided on the CG. He gets a 6k signing bonus because of his college credits and gets out of boot camp an E-3. Not a bad deal really and depending on what A school he selects he my receive an additional bonus. Are there any active duty CG or CG vets out there who can give us some insight on life in the CG?

I can speak of what I did, but remember I Retired in 1995

I was trained as an MK (Machinery Technician), but along the way I picked up a Law Enforcement designator, and was trained as an EMT.

One thing I picked up is that the Coast Guard is NOT afraid to send it's personnel to school. If you show any kind of "enthusiasm" they will continue to cross train you (not so much in different ratings, but in "special" schools).

There's a LOT more, but since I don't know what or where his interests are I can only be generic

Thank God this shit bag administration has not deployed our coast gaurd and left us with your pants totally around our anckles and there is still one branch where you can have a reasonable family life.

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Thank God this shit bag administration has not deployed our coast gaurd and left us with your pants totally around our anckles and there is still one branch where you can have a reasonable family life.

Yeah, because the CG is capable of defending the entire country. ....And tell me again what military experience you have to tell me how good/bad/indifferent military family life is like again?

Idiot.

rppearso you don't never make any sense the US Coast Guard has been in Iraq since the beginning deployed as brown water support and support for off shore oil platforms and Seaport shipping.

US Coast Guard units deployed to Southwest Asia in support of the US-led coalition engaged in Operation Iraqi Freedom early in 2003. At the height of operations, there were 1,250 Coast Guard personnel deployed, including about 500 reservists. This included two large cutters, a buoy tender, eight patrol boats, four port security units, law enforcement detachments and support staff to the Central (CENTCOM) and European (EUCOM) Command theaters of operation.

Average Day

On an average day, the Coast Guard will:

Save 15 lives
Assist 117 people in distress
Conduct 90 search and rescue cases
Protect $2.8 million in property
Enforce 129 security zones
Interdict and rescue 15 illegal migrants at sea
Board 4 high interest vessels
Board 192 vessels of law enforcement interest
Board 122 large vessels for port safety checks
Seize 71 pounds of marijuana and 662 pounds of cocaine with a street value of 21.1 million
Conduct 317 vessel safety checks and teach 63 boating safety courses
Conduct 19 commercial fishing vessel safety exams
Respond to 11 oil and hazardous chemical spills
Process 280 mariner licenses and documents
Service 140 aids to navigation
Monitor the transit of 2,557 commercial ships through U.S. ports
Investigate 20 vessel casualties involving collisions, allisions and groundings

I am not sure what percentage of coast guard that is that is deployed but my friend who is in said that the deployed coast guard is completely voluntary, there are no forced deployments like the other branches and thats the biggest deal.

Nuff said

I think we're gonna need a bigger can.....

My younger brother is a Retired "Boats"...25 year career. Now working as a Civilian at USCG Station Humbolt Bay, CA.
His work is interestingly the same (SAR Controller), as his last 12 years active.
Long hours...

The CG IS 'Deployable'...as evidenced during the 1st Gulf, Viet Nam, Korea, WW2, and now.

Your son has made a wise choice...