USCG Eagle

Yet another opportunity lies in my path.

A few months ago I submitted my security application to join the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. My approval should be in soon.

The Auxiliary is a civilian volunteer branch of the Coast Guard. The Auxiliary does stuff like public education (boating safety classes), vessel safety examinations, patrols, and can even fill in for enlisted Coasties doing stuff like radio watchstanding. The only missions that auxiliary members can not do are law enforcement or military missions. Every other mission is fair game.

And of course, being a civilian and a volunteer, I only get "orders" that I accept - as opposed to just getting orders and having to follow them. The orders are only a fomality, as if I am asked to do something I can always say "You know what? I do not want to do that. I am going off for a beer now". When you are enlisted you can not do this.

So today at my flotilla meeting one of the guys brought up the US Coast Guard Cutter Eagle. This is a picture of the Eagle.

The Eagle is a training ship, and the ambassador ship of the fleet. The USCGC Eagle (ex Horst Wessel) is a three masted barque serving as a school ship for the United States Coast Guard. Home ported at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, she is one of the sister ships of the Gorch Fock.

The ship was built in 1936 in Germany. During WWII it was used as a cargo ship in the Baltic Sea. After the war it was sailed to the USA because we won WWII - and when you win a war you get to take stuff. The Coast Guard was given the ship, and it is still in use today.

The ship is used as a training ship, and she is one of the last Barques floating.

Here is the cool part. The Coast Guard uses members of the Auxiliary onboard the Eagle to help train Coast Guard Cadets. Once I am crew qualified, I can volunteer for two weeks aboard the Eagle.

Me. Onboard a real Barque! A grand sailing ship, out in the open sea. The two week stint will not really go anywhere, just up the East Coast of the USA. There are longer voyages to Europe, but I would imagine that it would take longer than 2 weeks to cross the Atlantic under sail power.

But hey - if I can rack away enough leave time from work, and they would let my ass be part of the crew that sailed on the Eagle from the USA to England, I would so do this. No thinking about it would be required. I would just get the time off and GO!

I would get a peg leg, and eye patch, a parrot, and a cool hat before I left.