Coast guard update

Yall duck hunters butter not lie about which one you shot first is all I gotta say.

that doesn't even have room to put the people while they let boat sink rather than tow it in.

That room is wasted space anyway because as you said. They just watch but don't do anything.

Semper Paratus!

The commercials here in the bay say whatever happens to us PLEASE don't call the coast guard!
lol

A couple of years back I was listening to some chatter on the VHF between the Coast Guard and a Sailing vessel off the coast of Hilton Head Island. The weather was not bad. But it was dark and the two people on the boat sent out a distress call because they were tired. Yup Tired and wanted assistance. Sure enough the CG sent out one of their boats to get those two back to dry land. So I asked them over the airwaves If they did Pizza deliveries as well as I was alone on board and hungry. That did not go down to well and they got all official with me LOL.

Any idiot can sail a ship in deep water, but it takes skill to navigate in shallow water.

I've had a lot of dealings with the local CG in a professional setting... The master chiefs are usually pretty good, but they never go out on the boats, they send these dryland juveniles out and they don't know squat, and they're terrified of the master chiefs, if they shine up the prop they get holy heck, so they stick to the channel where its safe, ..for them. Nowadays they won't even send a boat out for most distress calls, they send commercial assistance , like sea tow.
The officers ain't much either, always getting transferred and no one knows the local waters. But they sure are smart, just ask any of them...

I know the guys in Alaska seem to tolerate them, maybe they send the cream of the crop there, here, we must get the rejects....with all due respect....

You don't get out much do ya ??

You have to be an idiot like myself and navigate a bit of deep water to get to see this

there seems to be no shame in what people will call a distress call/911 call for these days.

I had to call the Fire department once , Once , and there really was a fire and I had already used the fire extinguisher I had and I still felt bad for having to call.

I’ll venture to say, you’ve seen more idiots in shallow water than in deep water.

I had 27 years of duty with the Coast Guard. If you call them with a non threatening request, no injury to people or property, they must offer private assistance. They have to avoid competition with private business. Same for disaster response. They may deploy boom around an oil spill to help contain it, but a private business will be called to clean it up. I remember in the 60s and 70s we did all types of good sanitarian deeds, even giving away fuel and dewatering pumps. Not now. Budgets are tight and non compete rules are strict. Ships and aircraft are expensive. Search and rescue is still a major duty, as is drug interdiction, port safety, vessel inspections, certifications, and many more.

I retired in 94. At the beginning of Desert Storm, we had to inspect private vessels and mothball fleet vessels before they could carry supplies and munitions to Kuwait. You would not believe the condition of ships that showed up in major ports. You would never suspect that the Army would have no idea how to put their equipment on a vessel. Neither did the Navy.

As for the rolls of chiefs, senior chiefs, and master chiefs, they are mostly administrative and training billets. Warrant and Commissioned Officers are almost entirely admin and leadership jobs. I erred 10 years as enlisted and 17 with a Commission.

I’ll be glad to discuss CG issues with anyone on here.

If I recall correctly in 86-87 there was a big push by the private Tow/Salvage companies to cut the Coast Guard out of all "Non-Emergency Rescues" an we were required to wait for a response from the Private tow/salvage company to refuse a tow before we could send a boat unless there was URGENT threat to life...

The Private companies often were not timely in responses and if it required much in the way of resources or effort denied the job after wasting critical time and the distressed vessel was then in trouble.

The above is a memory from a long time ago when I was a 21 year old SN stationed on lake Superior.

I watched one coast guard one sheriff boat and a SC DNR boat watch a 50 foot motor yacht sink in the ICW with people on board without lifting so much as a finger. I tried to tow that boat into a shallow spot but I only had the little boat with me with a 20 hp outboard while those ........... insert expletive here just sat in their boats and watched. I told the lot of them what I thought of that bunch of we rags.

It was definitely their A team that plucked my tail out of the water.

Odd.....in my area , you are REQUIRED to render any assistance you can to a fellow boater in distress. I thought that was everywhere. Scuba1 obviously sees the benefit to aiding a vessel in trouble.

Years ago , buddy and I were in my boat fishing , saw a canoe capsize in the middle of the lake , 2 occupants aboard. Pulled in our fishing lines as quickly as we could and zoomed over to render aid. Two neophytes trying to learn how to use a canoe for a company team building event/canoe race. They could not get back in the canoe without help. They had no PFD's in the boat. Lost both paddles that we retrieved. Clearly a bit out of their element and needing help.

Can't believe someone CG or whoever just watching a vessel sink with occupants aboard and do next to nothing.

I once rescued a blind dog that walked off a draw bridge. The bridge tender called us on the radio. He thought the dog was ours. I was going off watch so I drove to the bridge and pulled the spaniel out of some old rotten pilings that had it confused. Never got a medal or ribbon, just wet feet and a good feeling.

The old Coast Guard was a great service. We were important to small fishing communities and even to volunteer fire departments. Everybody was our friend back then and we were good neighbors in rural coastal towns.

I don’t know how it is in the lower 48 states, but God bless them here in Alaska. More than a few have given their lives to render assistance to boats in serious life threatening weather. Sometimes it’s pain when they board your vessel, but I have the utmost respect for them.

We had a CG station on the warrior when I was growing up. It was over 300 miles inland from the coast. I never knew just what they were there for. Figured they had something to do with the Corps of Engineer and dredging and keeping the channel clear.