USCGAUX

[Brad]

So since I've moved to the Charleston area now and am adjacent to one of the largest ports in the country, I am considering changing hats from CAP to USCGAUX, mainly to see if there is more activity on that side of the house. Oh sure, I enjoy flying with CAP as a Mission Observer, and teaching Comms courses, but I'm wanting to get more involved in mutual aid missions and working with the public. That's partly what led me to becoming a firefighter too.

So any thoughts, particularly from any AUXies on here? My big hurdle of course will be having to inform my Wing Comms Training officer who is a very good friend of mine and has come to rely on me as an instructor. 

[Eclipse]

Why do you have to quit CAP to check out another organization?

[Brad]

Working 12 hour shifts, CAP, volunteer firefighter, freemason, plus family.

IDK, maybe I'll see if I can juggle both.

[RiverAux]

I pull off CAP, CG Aux, and vol firefighter....

Just like with CAP, check out all the local CG Aux units near you to see what they're doing.  Like CAP, they may sort of specialize in some missions more than others.

The main difference is that with CG Aux you can plan out when you're going to do most of your missions well in advance.  There aren't many no-notice activities like with CAP ES missions. 

Also, with CG Aux you can self-start a lot of missions.  If I want to do something, I inform the proper Aux officer, and go do it.  Nothing at all like CAP. 

If you're into comms, there may be some opportunities to be a radio watchstander at a CG station and provide some direct support to the CG.  Aux doesn't have much of an internal comms system like CAP (though its been talked about). 

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

I have been both, and the cultural differences are quite profound.

The CGAUX is both less "military" than CAP in that there are no rank titles (insignia indicates what job you hold), no saluting other Auxiliarists (but you do salute Armed Forces commissioned and warrant officers) and a good chunk of the leadership is elected, and more "military" than CAP in that the relationship with the U.S. Coast Guard is a hell of a lot better than I have ever seen CAP's relationship with the Air Force.

CGAUX also has never got its collective knuckles rapped for bad behaviour (that I know of) by the USCG, and there's much less hand-wringing about uniforms.

The CG is much more involved than the AF is with CAP.  The Chief Director Auxiliary is an active duty USCG Captain (0-6).

The CGAUX also does not have a cadet side, though I believe some members help out with the Navy Sea Cadets occasionally.

Flotillas (the basic unit) can be as different as chalk and cheese.  Some are boat clubs where if you don't have a boat you're excess baggage and some are as good-to-go as you could hope for.

Augmenting with the CG depends on a lot of things:

Living near a CG facility.  I lived in the middle of the Midwest WIWAAuxie and the closest CG facility was a now-closed LORAN station.  Obviously, if you live on one of the coasts, Alaska, Hawaii or in the Great Lakes there's going to be much more of a CG presence than if you live in the middle of Kansas.

Additional security background check.  You do one when you join, kind of like CAP, but the additional one you have to do to augment is a lot more like a military one.

It may not be as "glamorous" as watchstanding...you might be cleaning the head, helping in the galley or whatever else the ranking officer or PO says you do.  But in general the CG treats its Auxiliarists with a lot of respect.

There is a bewildering plethora of "alphabet soup" designations that I never did figure out (my last one was VFC, Vice Flotilla Commander, which wears grade similar to a LT(jg)).

It's up to you if you want to juggle both or do one or the other, but just note that the CGAUX is almost as Come And Pay as CAP.

[RRLE]

and there's much less hand-wringing about uniforms

That is because, except for a few UNs (Uniform NAZIs) Auxies are live and let live about unis. Unless you augment, most Auxies don't care if your uniform is 'squared away'. In fact, it is not uncommon for Auxies to show up at a meeting with a mixture of different authorized unis, partial unis and no uni at all.

Then the Aux and CG have declared 3 different working uniforms to be equivalent, so on a boat mission you could see the crew all in different unis.

It works for them.

In the Aux regs is a requirement that to wear the uniform a member must present a 'trim, military appearance'. That requirement is widely honored in the breach, including the elected and appointed national 'leadership'.

[EMT-83]

In the real world of CAP (i.e. not CAP Talk), there's not a whole lot of hand-wringing about uniforms either.

[RiverAux]

I have been both, and the cultural differences are quite profound.

Somewhat, but the type of people in the Aux are just the same sort of folks you'd find in the CAP senior member program.  There aren't quite as many people in their 20s (usually former cadets) as are in CAP, but thats about it. 

And while people here don't seem to believe it, even though the Aux elects its leadership, the "politics" is nowhere near as bad as it is in CAP.  Unit commanders can't get replaced on a whim by those further up in the chain and since just about any competent member is probably going to eventually serve a year or two as the local unit commander, the elections aren't that big a deal.  The higher level Aux leadership has very little actual control over anything done in subordinate units (anything important is under CG control) so you don't get the Wing King phenomena.   

[Private Investigator]

Working 12 hour shifts, CAP, volunteer firefighter, freemason, plus family.

IDK, maybe I'll see if I can juggle both.

Brad, you doing 12 hours as a paid firefighter and come back and do the volunteer fire fighter too?

Before I retired and got divorced, I was a city policeman and my ex wanted to ride with the county posse. So I did my 12 hour shifts an occassional posse event, just crowd control and CAP plus family and extended family.

[Private Investigator]

Living near a CG facility.  I lived in the middle of the Midwest WIWAAuxie and the closest CG facility was a now-closed LORAN station.  Obviously, if you live on one of the coasts, Alaska, Hawaii or in the Great Lakes there's going to be much more of a CG presence than if you live in the middle of Kansas.

I was impressed with the USCG Aux presence in Idaho! Who would have thunk it?   

[Brad]

Working 12 hour shifts, CAP, volunteer firefighter, freemason, plus family.

IDK, maybe I'll see if I can juggle both.

Brad, you doing 12 hours as a paid firefighter and come back and do the volunteer fire fighter too?

Before I retired and got divorced, I was a city policeman and my ex wanted to ride with the county posse. So I did my 12 hour shifts an occassional posse event, just crowd control and CAP plus family and extended family.

Negative, 12 hours as SCHP dispatch. I'm trying to find some agency to send me to the Academy so I can get out on the road. SC is an agency-hire-only police academy.

[Private Investigator]

Myrtle Beach hiring? I always liked that area.

Good luck my 25+ years were interesting