A Bundle of U.S. Coast Guard Questions?

Question

Please answer directly;

NOTE: I've viewed the official site, talked to recruiters, and would now like to hear from you all.

1. How do you become an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard SPECIFICALLY process wise ?

2. So you go to the recruiter.... you have a ... BS in lets say I don't know, engineering ? They say hi, and then what ?...

3. Do you HAVE to enlist BEFORE you know if you'v been accepted as an officer ?

4. I ask the above question because I wouldn't want to be denied, and then have to start at E-4 when I initially came in to be an O-1.

5. Is the school hard ?

6. Do officers spend more time behind desks, combat, work zone, all three, or one or the other ?

7. How realistic is it to be the general of the U.S. Coast Guard some day ?

8. How would I target and chase this ?

9. Would you PERSONALLY suggest the Coast Guard ? Why or why not ?

10. What do you think of the AUS Coast Guard ?

11. What are the chances of getting into the AUS Coast Guard ?

12. How hard is it for a well educated, non criminal U.S. Citizen to become a citizen in Aus ?

Thank you all very much in advance.

Answer 1

Not particularly fond of the Coast Guard. Perhaps you should go Navy. One puts you on a boat while the other puts you on a ship. Boats sink a lot. Ships tend to float longer.

Just having a degree, doesn't automatically qualify you to become an officer.

Oh Jadore,

Please don't read into my post as a negative. I have been in both branches so I speak from experience. Your dad was in during a time that it really meant something to be in the Coast Guard. Now it is full of a bunch of whiners and wannabes. Your dad would not be proud of the current bunch. Trust me. Sorry if you feel offended but the Coast Guard let me down in more ways than one.

Answer 2

First, I don't believe Bloomer was ever in the Coast Guard.

Second, most of those questions can be answered by the recruiter you say you spoke to.

Answer 3

Too many questions. You need to sit down with a recuriter and get all of your questions answered. You don't have to enlist to get anwers. Good luck to you.

Answer 4

Wow, thats a bunch of questions. I'm sorry I don't know all of the answers. My father retired as a CWO3 in the uscg 3 years ago after having 28 years in. He never went to college, he started but ran out of money and joined the coast guard instead. School is mentally challenging for some but not physically that hard. You come out of school as an automatic e-3. The coast guard tends to advance much faster than all the other branches which is why some people say its the easiest branch (I think they're just jealous) I would think it would be near impossible to be the general of the uscg. To go in as an officer, you  have to get into the officer candidate school. That doesn't always happen. Officers can spend their time behind desks or on ships. My father actually had to WORK to get his rank so he is more respected by enlisted than normal officers (yes they will salute you either way but they tend to trash talk and bash officers saying that they took the easy way) You do have to enlist to become an officer because you have to go to the training school. My father loved being in the coast guard and though he is retired, he is still very active with them, being in the auxiliary and training classes. A word of advice, all branches ranks make the same pay. An o-1 in the coast guard will make the same amount of pay as an o-1 in the navy, etc. Coast guard do go out on SHIPS and BOATS. My father was always on a ship when I was growing up, being gone for months at a time. They are called the coast guard for a reason, they guard our coast. If you want to stay close to future family and not be stuck with a bunch of guys on a ship for 6+ months at a time, coast guard is the way to go. And No, I don't have anything against the navy, my fiancee is a corpsman in the navy but I hate when people trash talk the coast guard because they don't really know much about it.

L8 Bloomer, it isn't just you, yours actually wasn't bad bust i constantly hear trash about the coast guard and it just bothers me because my father worked so hard to get where he was. I love the navy, h**l I work for them, but omg, I see the NAPS and OCS, ODS, NSI, etc everyday and well, I cannot believe that these people will be the ones helping to run the navy soon enough. They are terrible in the way they act and how they treat people. I am an okay looking girl and constantly get harrassed by the guys asking for dates and how if I'm not married a little date shouldn't matter, they have no idea how to clean up after themselves and they just lack respect all around. I don't like the new Navy. People can get away with a lot more when they shouldn't.