[David Gaylord]

I also was looking at the Coast Guard Academy while in high school. I joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary, civilian volunteers who assist the USCG in many missions, most visible being Public Education. This gave me many valuable contacts in the active duty USCG.

I went so far as to have been accepted and visited the Academy for 2 weeks. I had wanted to become a helocopter pilot but found that I was medically disqualified for aviation jobs. With that dream gone the CG just didn't seem to be the life I wanted for a future family, 3 month deployments on ships and frequent moves (about every 4 years) just wasn't what I wanted. So I declined the academy and instead went to Kettering University (at the time it was GMI) for electrical engineering.

Now, 9 years after high school, I have 4 years of employment as an electrical engineer and am still very active the the auxiliary. So much so that, after a few lives saved and many more people assisted in the past 10 years I have volunteered, I have decided to go into the CG reserves.

The Coast Guard really is great, what other military service helps people directly by saving lives. The other services train constantly for war, but have to wait for a conflict to put their training to use. The Coast Guard trains just as much as other services but that training is put to use daily to protect Americans and save lives at home. Don't get me wrong, the other services are definately needed and I respect all the men and women in those branches and appreciate what they do for us. But for me the direct involvement is most important.

As a small correction to Andy's post I would like to add that the Coast Guard does deploy overseas to assist with wartime efforts. Even now there are USCG men and women in the Persian Gulf area. One was even killed about a year ago in the Persian Gulf, the first to be killed in a war zone since WWII. The Coast Gaurd is one of the armed services, they do shoot and get shot at, even here in the US.

I'll jump off the soap box now.

Dave