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What jobs in the coast guard are exciting?

Hi, I recently took interest in joining the US Coast Guard and I am unsure of what job(s) are available to me. I wanted to know which jobs in the Coast Guard involve search & rescue missions, catching drug runners and other similar tasks at sea. I took the ASVAB earlier today and my percentile score was 76. Is my score high enough for this type of job? Standard scores are GS: 51, AR: 58, WK: 56, PC: 57, MK: 55, EI: 63, AS: 49, MC: 51, AO: 68, VE:57 Thank you!

Public Comments

1. Aviation gets all the glamor. Engineering and deck ratings get the most opportunity to work on small boats. Other operational and support ratings can get assigned to cutters and icebreakers. Basically, any seagoing assignment will put you in the middle of the action. Some shore postings like RCC's, com centers and the like can provide some excitement, also.
2. Honestly all jobs, called rates, deal with those areas. The USCG is so small that nearly every cutter will have some responsibility for search and rescue and maritime law enforcement. If you want to do it all though and really experience the Coast Guard lifestyle I would recommend going in as an un-designated seaman, doing a few years on a cutter and then going for follow on training as either a Boatswain's Mate (professional sailor, ship driver) or Machinery Tech (engine operator and repair guy), they serve on every single type of watercraft the USCG has to offer.
3. I would look into the new ME (Maritime Enforcement) rating. Also look into BM (BOATSWAIN'S MATE). For search and rescue try AST also known as rescue swimmer. http://gocoastguard.com
4. with a 76, you should easily qualify for every rate in the CG. If you want to chase down the drug runners and do SAR, you want to be riding in a helo. We even have a squadron of helicopters with machine guns on them, based out of Florida, that exclusively hunt down drug runners. I don't want to take anything away from my boat brethren though. Small boat stations do some cool SAR and LE too, but usually the aircraft is the first one on scene due to speed. And if one of our unarmed helo's or fixed wing aircraft (most of them) find the bad guy, then it's up to the small boat to do the intercept and stop them. So you can see some action on the boat too. As far as cutters doing SAR or exciting LE, don't buy it. Few and far between. I've been on three throughout my career. Port calls are a hell of a lot of fun, but otherwise, not exciting. A cutter's boarding team may occasionally board a ship at sea that has some contraband on board, but rarely.