On May 10th, two Coast Guard patrol boats docked at Pier 101 for a briefing session with anyone interested in joining the Coast Guard. The US Coast Guard is one of the five military services and their core values are honor, respect, and devotion to duty. I am extremely excited at the chance to meet the people that I idolize so that I may be more familiar with in the future. There are 20 enlisted job fields that I know of that are Marine Science Technician(MST), Gunner’s Mate(GM), Technician(IT), Intelligence Specialist(IS), Electrician’s Mate(EM), Electronics Technician(ET), Operations Specialist(OS), Machinery Technician(MK), and Damage Controlman(DC), Boatswain’s Mate(BM), Technician(AMT), Maritime Enforcement(ME), Avionics Electrical Technician(AET), Food Service Specialist(FS), Storekeeper(SK), Health Services Technician(HS), Aviation Survival Technician(AST), Public Affairs Specialist(PA), Yeoman(YN), and Investigator(IV).GMs are like small arms trainers, gunsmiths, ammunition foremen, mechanics, and other similar jobs. EMs are similar to industrial/generating plant technicians, industrial/shipyard electricians, electrical field service/maintenance technicians, power and instrumentation technicians, and other correlative jobs. MKs are like auto/truck mechanics, heavy-duty equipment repair technicians, HVAC technicians, mechanic shipyard workers, and other machine related jobs. BMs are agnate to pier superintendent, tugboat crewman, heavy equipment operator, commercial vessel operator, ship pilot, marina operator, and other identical jobs. MEs are correlative to police officers, security guards, investigators, small arms instructors, and relative jobs. The remaining jobs are specialized in their own unique way and have other related jobs as well. At the event I met mainly MKs, a couple EMs, a BM and a GM. I am interested in BM, EM, MK, ME, and GM because the BMs operate the vessels and maintain them which is what I am learning and I enjoy, EMs maintain electrical equipment, repair, and install the equipment which is interesting to me. MKs operate the machinery which is interesting and powerful, MEs are protection, law enforcement and more security-like enforcers, and GMs operate their own personal weapons and are more like a strike team with weaponry. It was nice to meet people from the different branches because they portrayed how diverse the Coast Guard is with many different branches. One of the visitors said he switched between many of the different job fields but he was able to eventually make his decision on one. The smaller vessel uses dual outboard engines while the bigger 45 foot vessel uses a jet drive which is a water jet propulsion system. I look forward to anything regarding the Coast Guard and I will continue to pursue a job as a Coast Guard operative.
-Joe Budhu
