Life in the USCG resources for my kiddo?

[Uncle Fester]

Shipmates - Fester 2.0 is a rising HS freshman this summer, and she has recently acquired a somewhat unexpected (on my part, anyway) interest becoming a Coastie and aiming for USCGA. She’s been a consistent honor roll student and does swim/dive and other ECAs so I think it’s a plausible goal. She seems pretty fascinated by a lot of the missions, such as disaster response and marine protection, and (I’ll admit this warms my cold dead heart) possibly flight school.

My information about the Academy is 25+ years out of date (back when I was looking at applying) and my knowledge of the CG is secondhand at best. Beyond the normal resources such as the official websites and YouTube channels, I’m not sure where else to point her for “this is what being at the Academy is like, this is what the CG does” resources.

Disclaimer that the kid is actively seeking out her own info, so this is just a dad wanting to be encouraging. Any good gouge y’all could recommend?

 

[hlg6016]

All joking aside we all spent our time training for real world missions, The Coasties are out there doing real world missions 24/7. Best of luck to 2.0!

 

[jointhelocalizer]

Have you taken a look at Service Academy Forums? It is pretty much AW for the SAs, ROTC, SMCs, etc. While I'd say the majority of members are parents and applicants, there are plenty of alumni, cadets/mids, admissions liaisons, and other stakeholders.

Depending on where you live, you could also call a recruiter or local unit to see if they would be willing to show 2.0 around. They might be more willing since the general public is their prime customer.

 

[Uncle Fester]

Have you taken a look at Service Academy Forums? It is pretty much AW for the SAs, ROTC, SMCs, etc. While I'd say the majority of members are parents and applicants, there are plenty of alumni, cadets/mids, admissions liaisons, and other stakeholders.

Depending on where you live, you could also call a recruiter or local unit to see if they would be willing to show 2.0 around. They might be more willing since the general public is their prime customer.

I have seen that forum; while it seems like a decent resource, as you point out, there’s a lot of dross to wade through to find the valuable nuggets, especially for someone with no first-hand filter, like the kiddo.

I do wish we lived near one of the bit CG bases like Liz City, Mobile, Miami, etc, but being in DC there’s not much besides the smaller local AIRSTAs and stations around. Best if there were somewhere she could talk to brand-new Ensigns fresh out of New London.

Point is I’d like her to have resources to decide if this is or isn’t something she’d like to pursue with something to go on besides “well my dad said…” because her dad don’t know shit, really.

 

[Griz882]

I have seen that forum; while it seems like a decent resource, as you point out, there’s a lot of dross to wade through to find the valuable nuggets, especially for someone with no first-hand filter, like the kiddo.

I do wish we lived near one of the bit CG bases like Liz City, Mobile, Miami, etc, but being in DC there’s not much besides the smaller local AIRSTAs and stations around. Best if there were somewhere she could talk to brand-new Ensigns fresh out of New London.

Point is I’d like her to have resources to decide if this is or isn’t something she’d like to pursue with something to go on besides “well my dad said…” because her dad don’t know shit, really.

Try CGHQ at Homeland Security (in DC), a lot of ensigns get stashed there waiting for a ship or school. You’l also find a good number of JOs who might provide some info.