US Coast Guard

[Bluehawk]

If I were the God of pooters, I would put a UNITED STATES COAST GUARD Sticky at the top of every Pads thread, forum and Club, so as to draw the necessary attention of all members and visitors to the fact that without our Coasties quietly going about their hourly, daily, yearly, decadely and centuryily dangerous awful lonely boring valiant thankless domestic work in uniformed service to America there probably would not BE an America as we know it.

For example:

See thread entitled "Ice Breakers...another problem to deal with" in the USCG forum.

People... we all need to pay some attention to their needs!

End of rant.

Over?

[sfga6970]

I agree with you Sir Blue. I have a Son who is a Coastie and they are the most underrated and neglected Service, but work harder than any other. They serve all over the world and protect our National shoreline, but only have as many people as the NYC Police Department. My Son, before his current assignment in Seattle, was on a buoy tender/ice breaker in Alaska that was finally decommisioned after 60 years of service. It was built during WWII but they didn't have the funds to replace it.

[Snowden]

It seems impossible for a branch of our military to be underfunded. Is it a matter of the priorities in Congress? One of their raises would probably help a lot if directed to the Coast Guard. We see our money relegated this way and that, without common sense applied. After the magnificent job the Coast Guard did in the Gulf during the hurricane season, quietly and well before anybody seemed aware of them, you'd think there would be a national outcry for them to receive all they need. There would be a good many more dead down there, if they hadn't gone in without waiting for a call from a governor, mayor or anybody else there.

Our priorities are screwed up. This service is so vital for the nation, why is it being overlooked this way?

[sfga6970]

Maybe now that it is part of the Department of Homeland Security, they may get more funding. I don't know if you ever saw the story of the USCGC Tamaroa, but they braved the violent seas during the "perfect storm" and rescued four downed airmen.

Long Island has one of the largest boating populations in the nation, and they have cut back the number of Coast Guard facilities here also. The East Coast HQ for the Coast Guard used to be on Governor's Island in NY harbor, but they decided to close it and merge it with the base in Boston. Makes no sense to me.

[Snowden]

Originally Posted by sfga6970

Maybe now that it is part of the Department of Homeland Security, they may get more funding. I don't know if you ever saw the story of the USCGC Tamaroa, but they braved the violent seas during the "perfect storm" and rescued four downed airmen.

Long Island has one of the largest boating populations in the nation, and they have cut back the number of Coast Guard facilities here also. The East Coast HQ for the Coast Guard used to be on Governor's Island in NY harbor, but they decided to close it and merge it with the base in Boston. Makes no sense to me.

I hope being part of Homeland Security won't end up putting manacles on the Coast Guard. There are just too many Government departments now.

I have the book, The Perfect Storm. An excellent read, and it explains not only what happened, but what it was that made that the perfect storm. It's a wonder anybody survived it, and without the Coast Guard a good many more would have been lost in that storm.

No - merging those stations makes no sense at all. Not that sense has anything to do with decisions any more.