When I was growing up and for several years after that, the branches of our U.S. Military that I was most familiar with were the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force. I was familiar with the Army because I had an uncle in that branch of service in WWII and later I learned my husband had an uncle who was also in that conflict and served under General George Patton. Classmates of mine joined primarily the army and the navy after high school graduation. In the late 1980s I actually got to tour a very large aircraft carrier in the San Diego Port as it had been being worked on and restored for a few years and was then ready for deployment. One branch I had little knowledge of was the U.S. Coast Guard. I know a woman and two men who are retired from the Coast Guard but I never visited with them about what they did in the Coast Guard. I didn’t understand what their role in our national defense was until our grandson joined the Coast Guard this past summer.
At that point, it was time to learn more about the Coast Guard. The USCG was established in 1790 by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton as the Revenue Marine Service. It later became the Revenue Cutter Service and, in 1915, was combined with the U.S. Lifesaving Service (formed 1878) to become the Coast Guard. The Treasury department had jurisdiction over their operations until 1967 when the Department of Transportation became their overseer. However, In 2003 they were put under the jurisdiction of the new Department of Homeland Security where it remains today.
Th e duties of the Coast Guard are numerous but I want to give you a glimpse of some of only a few of their peacetime duties. Of course, wartime duties are greatly expanded.
The Coast Guard enforces all federal laws that apply on the high seas and waters within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. They enforce regulations along the the entire U.S. coast line including Alaska and Hawaii. They also develop and operate aids to navigation to maintain the safety of ports and vessels in U.S. territorial waters. They do lots of search and rescue missions off our shores and they play an important role in seizing millions of pounds of drugs trying to reach our shores by many different cartels. The Coast Guard checks our lighthouses and light boats. They operate the International Ice Patrol which conducts surveillance of icebergs in the North Atlantic shipping lanes. This is only a tiny glimpse of the many duties assigned to the Coast Guard.
Nine family members flew to Cape May, NJ this past week to see our young man graduate his 8 weeks of rigorous basic training and we learned still more about the missions of the USSCG. He has now arrived at his new assignment where he will be for the next nine months before moving on for more training. He is so excited and our family is supportive and excited for him as well as being extremely proud of him and his decision.
