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