Thinking about a Career in the Coast Guard

[usnawolfe]

Join to serve: All of our uniformed services offer myriad opportunities and there is so much to be gained, however you should join because you wish to serve your country above all the benefits.

Join to lead: If you're planning on becoming an officer, your job will be to lead. The mission and your sailors should always come before your own needs.

I've told these two things to any person who has ever approached me and asked about joining the military or becoming an officer.

The Coast Guard is a very professional, yet small and relatively underfunded organization. I have a few good friends who are Coast Guard Officers and they are very proud of their service's ability to so much with such small budget (in comparison to the DOD services).

Pay little attention to people who either brag about killing people or avoiding combat

All the services' basic training pipelines (Both enlisted and Officer) are relatively easy. Yes, life will not be fun but it's all very quick and nothing too daunting.

 

[globetrotter]

Originally Posted by JustinW

I think this is why you and I are now in civvy life

The smart ones enlisted to learn skills, trades, languages, get degrees and qualifications, earn benefits etc.

very probrably. but with all the *********** armed forces, I can't imagine wanting a career and not being on the sharp end. there have to be better ways to learn a trade and make a living.

I don't have anything against the other places to serve, but its like being a bookeeper in a car dealership -the business is selling, you should be in sales. if the business is killing people, you should be in that side of the business.

 

[Jekyll]

Originally Posted by Davidko19

i talked with a guy in HS and he said that the CG boot camp (or was it officer training? Eh, whatever.) was the second hardest, only behind the air force.

I heard AF was one of the easiest.

 

[ConcernedParent]

Originally Posted by Jekyll

I heard AF was one of the easiest.

And you would AF would be one of the easiest too.

 

[JustinW]

Originally Posted by globetrotter

very probrably. but with all the *********** armed forces, I can't imagine wanting a career and not being on the sharp end. there have to be better ways to learn a trade and make a living.

I don't have anything against the other places to serve, but its like being a bookeeper in a car dealership -the business is selling, you should be in sales. if the business is killing people, you should be in that side of the business.

All true.

One thing I learnt fast in peacetime service is that the guys who would be in the sharp-end in a war have the worst of it when all is quiet. Paymasters, logistics & supply, computer people and cook would go for a morning job and then spend the day doing there job. Infantry (and medics) just kept jogging, training and doing make-work work like cleaning barracks, painting rocks, scrubbing ambulances, washing trucks and Leopard tanks, etc. Not fun.

 

[globetrotter]

Originally Posted by JustinW

All true.

One thing I learnt fast in peacetime service is that the guys who would be in the sharp-end in a war have the worst of it when all is quiet. Paymasters, logistics & supply, computer people and cook would go for a morning job and then spend the day doing there job. Infantry (and medics) just kept jogging, training and doing make-work work like cleaning barracks, painting rocks, scrubbing ambulances, washing trucks and Leopard tanks, etc. Not fun.

1. painting rocks, LOL, havne't thought about painting rocks in 20 years.

2. in general the people who give the support and aren't on the sharp end have it easy - good bathrooms, good food, showers, beds, and, of course, nobody shooting at them.

3. the other thing that I was thinking is that there are, essentially, 3 wars going on. for a person to go into the one service of the armed forces that has the least chance of actually going to war, he's opening himself up to years of either being asked "what did you do in the war?" or the possiility that he could be sent to the war to doa job that is far away from his speciality, without any training.

 

[JustinW]

This got me thinking about the coolest/best slots in the Defense Force. I think the trick is to get a front line role and also be a specialist in something unique rather than be just another trigger puller.

As much as I hated most air force people in general, the one job I was jealous of was this forward air controller that went out with us. He was some sort of junior NCO, though the army officers never gave him a hard time because he was a different service, different chain of command and could call-in F-111 strikes for them. He got to tag-along on company-sized exercises without having to do any of the shite work. Those sort of slots give you the best of all worlds, I'd think.

 

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by JustinW

All true.

One thing I learnt fast in peacetime service is that the guys who would be in the sharp-end in a war have the worst of it when all is quiet. Paymasters, logistics & supply, computer people and cook would go for a morning job and then spend the day doing there job. Infantry (and medics) just kept jogging, training and doing make-work work like cleaning barracks, painting rocks, scrubbing ambulances, washing trucks and Leopard tanks, etc. Not fun.

Not exactly. I did satellite communications in the army, and spent a lot of time taking transmission fluid samples from humvees, mending camo nets, and spraypainting pioneer tools.

 

[globetrotter]

Originally Posted by JustinW

This got me thinking about the coolest/best slots in the Defense Force. I think the trick is to get a front line role and also be a specialist in something unique rather than be just another trigger puller.

As much as I hated most air force people in general, the one job I was jealous of was this forward air controller that went out with us. He was some sort of junior NCO, though the army officers never gave him a hard time because he was a different service, different chain of command and could call-in F-111 strikes for them. He got to tag-along on company-sized exercises without having to do any of the shite work. Those sort of slots give you the best of all worlds, I'd think.

yeah, when I was in, the coolest unit was the equivelent of forward air controllers. I did basic with some of them - the "special units" did basic training together. in the IDF, it is a stand alone unit.

I was in a recon unit for the airborne brigade. so we did a lot of training and gym when we weren't on missions, but after basic we did no real work/kitchen/guarding stuff. frankly, I'd say that those are the very best jobs in the military. the IDF is pretty good about that kind of stuff, too - in terms of status a buck seargent with a good unit has more "status" than a general from quartermasters.

 

[yerfdog]

Originally Posted by globetrotter

I don't have anything against the other places to serve, but its like being a bookeeper in a car dealership -the business is selling, you should be in sales. if the business is killing people, you should be in that side of the business.

I've actually just been thinking about this same concept because i'm in a place where i'm in a support function. i have decided it's always better to be in the primary function of whatever organization you're in, not a support function in the same organization . if you like that support function so much, maybe you should think about moving to a company where that support function is the primary activity, not a cost center