The Coast Guard is a military branch that is part of the Homeland Security. The Coast Guard basically protects every coast of the United States. The Navy also protects our coasts as well as all oceans. The Coast Guard has very few people in it compared to the other branches of the military, but on the good side it is growing and it will keep growing hopefully in the future.

History
The Coast Guard goes back to the 1790s at the Boston Tea Party. When the people in America tried to throw their tea out so they wouldn’t have to pay taxes to Great Britain. Then the Coast Guard came and made them pay their taxes. So basically the Coast Guard has been around for 200 years. The Coast Guard used to be part of the National Guard but now it’s part of the Homeland Security. It switched to Homeland Security in 2001 after the twin towers were bombed. The Coast Guard has gotten bigger and has evolved over the years.

Job Responsibilities
The job responsibilities in Coast Guard are important so their rules are strict. The men and women in the Coast Guard have to make sure they do their jobs or the whole branch will not function. The Coast Guard is serious business. If the people in the Coast Guard do not do their duties they will be punished, just like in any branch of the military. If you are in Search and Rescue you have to make sure you are ready at any moment. If you aren’t someone might die. The people in the Coast Guard have to be ready and prepared or lives might be lost. The Coast Guard has many different kinds of job responsibilities, for example, they patrol the coasts and board ships to make sure they are not carrying illegal people or items.  The Government counts on the Coast Guard to protect the coasts. The Coast Guard is an important part of Homeland Security.

Jobs Related To the Coast Guard
The jobs in the Coast Guard are similar to other branches of the military and to law enforcement. The Navy is most closely related to the Coast Guard. The Navy also protects the seas.  Both the Coast Guard and the Navy are water forces. The Navy is much bigger and has so many different kinds of special groups, for example, the Navy Seals. The Navy has to protect all oceans and all the seas instead of just the coasts of the United States. The National Guard is another branch of the military that is closely related to the Coast Guard because it protects the land here at home, instead of going off to war in other countries.

Kinds of jobs in the Coast Guard
The Coast Guard has many different kinds of jobs, for example, the Coast Guard has officers and enlisted men/women. The Coast Guard needs these people to do many different specialized kinds of jobs.  The search-and–rescue groups go out and rescue people lost at sea or if a ship is sinking, they’d go and try to get the ship and people to safety. Coast Guard inspectors check ships and boats for safety and for following important rules.  The recruiting officers try to talk new men and women into joining the Coast Guard. Some people in the Coast Guard transport things, some maintain the boats and equipment, some do office work, and some are involved in feeding or housing all the others.  The Coast Guard is a service with fewer people in it so it doesn’t have as many different kinds of jobs as other branches of the military.

Future of the Coast Guard
The future of the Coast Guard looks good, because the Coast Guard is growing. The Coast Guard needs to grow because if it doesn’t all the new work that needs to be done won’t be possible. The Coast Guard is probably going to get better. It will probably become more high tech .The Coast Guard needs to be more high tech or it will not advance rapidly enough.  Then, if enemies attack, we won’t have better weapons to fight them with. The Coast Guard is probably going to advance.

 Pros and Cons in the Coast Guard
There are a lot of pros and cons for being in the Coast Guard.

• Here are some good things:
• The high earnings
• The action you get to see
• Being able to fight for freedom

Here are some bad aspects:

• It is dangerous work, so you might die
• You can be away from your family for long periods of time
• You might have to move to a place that is far away

The Coast Guard is a hard working service. Being in the Coast Guard has its problems, but it is still really cool.

Requirements
You have to be 17 years old to join the Coast Guard.  You also have to be a United States citizen. You have to have no felony records. You’ve got to posses a birth certificate and you have to be a high school graduate. You have to pass a written test called the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. You also have to meet minimum physical standards, such as height, weight, vision and overall health.

Training for the Coast Guard
If you are thinking about joining the Coast Guard, stay in high school and get a diploma!  You need to pass every class in high school or you will have less of a chance of getting in. After you first join the Coast Guard, you have to spend 8 weeks in basic training, also called Boot Camp. When you’re in Basic Training you exercise and study a lot. Everyone in the Coast Guard needs certain other kinds of training. It depends on what you want to do in the Coast Guard. If you want to be a maintenance technician you will go to school to learn how to take care of equipment.   To become an officer, in high school or college you may take ROTC classes and that means Reserve Officers Training Corps. You might go to OCS, which means Officer Candidate School. You can also go through OTS, which means Officer Training School. To become an officer, you must attend at least one of these types of classes. It will help you in the future. Officers still have to do Basic Training to get into the Coast Guard. It is a requirement.

Ranks
There are many different kinds of ranks. It depends on whether you are a commissioned officer or an enlisted personnel. If you are a commissioned officer you go from an O-1 to O-10 and if you are an enlisted personnel you go from an E-1 to E-9. The higher rank you are the more money you make. The better you do at one rank the better a chance you have of being promoted to a higher rank. When you get promoted you have more responsibility in what you do and also more power than you did. It’s an honor when you get promoted. You get more money than when you were a lower rank. Ranks are very important in the Coast Guard and all other branches of the military.
 
Earnings for being in the Coast Guard
You can earn a lot of money for being in the Coast Guard. It depends on what rank you are in to how much money you make. If you are in a lower rank you
will make less money. The higher ranks make more money. The highest rank makes about $11,874.90  a month. It’s amazing.

Population
About 38,000 people serve in the Coast Guard. There are about 24,000 enlisted personnel and 5,800 officers. As you can see there are not a lot of people in the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard is trying to get more people to join, that’s why they have recruiters. The population in the Coast Guard has to grow or else they won’t have enough people to do all work that is needed.

Who I Interviewed And What I Learned I interviewed Russel Allen Kirkham on December 10,, 2004. I chose to interview him because he is the one who gave me the idea to do my project on the Coast Guard. He is an experienced recruiting officer. He has been in the Coast Guard for 18 years. His rank is an E-7 in the Coast Guard. He told me so many facts about the Coast Guard that I didn’t know. He told me the history of the Coast Guard. He told me the Coast Guard has been around since the 1790s. The Coast Guard was the ones who made the people of America pay their taxes and they don’t throw their tea out so they pay their taxes. Everybody says that the Navy did that but they didn’t.  It’s amazing how many things the Coast Guard has been through and done.  The Coast Guard is part of the Homeland Security.  The Coast Guard’s job is to secure every coast in the United States. They make sure none of their enemies get into the United States of America. If the Coast Guard fails their duties the Navy might back them up. If the Navy can’t back them up the enemies might come into the United States of America and bomb us. The Coast Guard is a very important part of the Homeland Security. If the Coast Guard can’t fulfill their duties the enemies will get in. That is basically what I learned from my personal interview. It was really cool. The second person I interviewed was Lindsay Hope Hughes on December 21, 2004. She had just gotten out of basic training when I interviewed her.  She had come to Yakima to learn the basics of the Coast Guard. She is in Florida now.  She told me that boot camp lasts 8 weeks.  Lindsay had only been in the Coast Guard for 2 months when I interviewed her. Her rank is only an E-3. Her job in the Coast Guard currently is a fireman and an engine clean up. She is going to be an aviation maintenance technician. She told me a lot of cool stuff about boot camp and how hard it was. It was awesome!

Bibliography Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2004-05 Edition,  “Job Opportunities in the Armed Forces”, on the Internet at  <http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos249.htm>. Green, Michael.  The United States Coast Guard.  Mankato, Minnesota. Hughes,  Lindsay Hope.  Personal interview held on December 21, 2004. Kirkham,  Russel Allen.  Personal interview held on December 10, 2004. “The US Coast Guard.”  http://www.coastguard.gov visited December 2004.

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