It is true today's Coast Guard is not the Coast Guard Moose served in. Nor
is today's National Guard the same National Guard we used to disrespect
back in the day.
--Bob Whitmire
Certified Neanderthal
On Tue, May 3, 2016 at 2:31 PM, Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 5/3/2016 10:40 AM, Charles Geilfuss wrote:
>
>> Used to be a lady who worked here whose husband was in the Coast Guard.
>> She
>> had a bumper sticker that stated,"My Husband is a Coastie."
>>
>
> Yup, that's what we were called when I was one.
>
> On 5/3/2016 10:31 AM, Bob Whitmire wrote:
>
>> I think we called them sailors, or Navy wannabees. (Sorry, Moose. <g>)
>>
>
> No offense taken, although that's the exact opposite of why I joined up in
> 1966. I joined specifically because the CG back then was not like the Navy,
> or any other of the "armed" services. With one minor, short exception, they
> had not been involved with any sort of armed conflict since WWII. They were
> mostly about maritime safety, buoys, lighthouses, ocean station vessels,
> safety training and inspections, search and rescue, and such stuff.
>
> They weren't even under the DoD, but Treasury (Harking back to revenue
> cutters in the Revenue service?) As reservists, we were indeed trained in
> the skills that would be needed in wartime* - but only when the mothball
> fleet was recommissioned and the CG transferred to DoD. The vision was
> still of something like WWII, a huge war where the Navy would be greatly
> expanded. Unlike the reserve units in the regular services, the one I was
> in, a Vessel Augmentation Unit, couldn't be called up to DO anything on its
> own - which is just what I wanted. :-) The other kind were Port Security
> Units. If activated, they would handle port security - right where they
> lived.
>
> The CG today appears to be a very much different organization today, a
> genuine armed force. They even have a secretive training base not far from
> here that's near no body of water larger than a farm pond. I trained on an
> island and ships.
>
> No Warrior Moose
>
--
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