The US Coast Guard Auxiliary

We work in support of the safety and security of the nation by balancing our traditional roles with emerging Homeland Security requirements. We are:  

READY

Capable … reliable … sustainable volunteer workforce  

Thirty five thousand members strong, the US Coast Guard Auxiliary continues to be a major force multiplier in normal and surge operations for the US Coast Guard. Our roles and responsibilities are changing, but our readiness is unwavering. The Auxiliary is the driving force behind the Coast Guard’s boating safety initiatives. Carrying the flag for public awareness about boating safety and the maritime community in the classroom, on the boat ramp or in the press, the US Coast Guard Auxiliary strives for excellence in all of the educational outreach initiatives.

Adapting to the changes in the post 9/11 era, the operational forces continue to provide superior support to the Coast Guard commands across the country. The Auxiliary workforce places a high value on operational excellence, training to the standards of our active duty counterparts and ready to assist a disabled boater or provide disaster response. We are a visible operational presence in our ports, waterways and coastal areas in vehicles, vessels and aircraft. Our knowledge and understanding of these areas allows for astute observational capability and make us uniquely qualified to contribute to Maritime Domain Awareness. Whether in the classroom, doing vessel safety checks, inspecting a port facility or on patrol, Maritime Domain Awareness permeates our activities.

RESPONSIVE

Strategic … flexible … responsible for the public trust

The US Coast Guard Auxiliary, as the lead volunteer organization in the Department of Homeland Security, is responsible to the citizenry, to the Coast Guard and to the members themselves. Responsible leadership at every level is critical to fulfilling this obligation. Both effective management and effective systems are required to leverage the talents of volunteers. The structure of the Auxiliary is flexible and nimble, able to respond to local demands within the national framework and meeting national standards. We are ready to embrace change and prepared to realign in concert with Coast Guard initiatives.

RESOLUTE

Dedicated … skilled … steadfast in their commitment to the nation

Arguably, no other volunteer organization in the world attracts people with talent and dedication as does the US Coast Guard Auxiliary. The Auxiliary brings people together who share a commitment to our nation and a love of boating and related activities. Our members bring their skills, interests, talents and personal assets to the forefront and offer them in service to America. Each brings a resolve to contribute to making their community and their country a safer place.

Selfless service and devotion to duty characterize the Auxiliarist. This dedication is mirrored by Coast Guard and Auxiliary leadership. We must provide the training and tools needed for our evolving missions. We must be open minded and accepting of non-traditional missions and service. As an organization, we do not tolerate anything less than a culture that embraces diversity and practices inclusion.

 Our leaders acknowledge contributions large and small because it is a choice to contribute. Meaningful recognition of the performance and sacrifice made the Auxiliarist is critical to sustained loyalty to the missions of the Department of Homeland Security and to the Coast Guard. As is the tradition of the US Coast Guard, the Auxiliarist, resolute and steadfast, will answer the call when and if our nation is once again tested.

AWARENESS

Public Awareness

A major public outreach program, Waterway Watch, was implemented on September 11, 2003. With the Auxiliary as manager, Waterway Watch has reached 250,000 recreational boaters as of November 1, 2004. Plans call for a total outreach of in excess of three million boaters by year-end 2006.

Public Education

The Auxiliary teaches over 200,000 recreational boaters in its classrooms and by home study. Incorporated in each course is a substantial segment on Maritime Domain Awareness and Maritime Homeland Security. Using state-of-the-art Power Point presentations and Waterway Watch materials, each student is provided with a window sticker declaring them as participants in Waterway Watch and a brochure describing how to become the “eyes and ears” of the Coast Guard in its fight against terrorism.

Public Seminars

Introduced in the fall of 2004, this program seeks to provide stand-alone public seminars to gain more boaters as participants in Waterway Watch. These seminars, managed by the Auxiliary, are jointly conducted by local Auxiliary, Coast Guard, Marine Police and others. In addition to training attendees on what to look for and how to report, the seminars brief boaters on local security issues and regulations.

Vessel Safety Check

Using one-on-one discussions, Auxiliarists provide the boater with a free Vessel Safety Check as to equipment requirements, as well as a Waterway Watch briefing and a discussion of local security measures. Over 250,000 boaters are reached through this program each year.  

Marine Dealer Visitation

This recently upgraded program is used to make periodic calls on those businesses and organizations that interface and support the recreational boater. These visits enlist participation in Waterway Watch and provide a local maritime security briefing and a through description of what the Coast Guard, active duty, reserve and auxiliary are doing about Maritime Homeland Security. Some 53,000 marine businesses and organizations are contacted annually.  

Media Penetration

This new Auxiliary program will seek to provide the media, at all levels, with information on Waterway Watch and other Coast Guard programs that affect the boating public. This media outreach effort will work closely with the Coast Guard’s public affairs personnel to obtain the broadest and most accurate coverage possible.

In addition, Marine Domain Awareness issues are integrated into all of the Auxiliary’s 700 web sites, both national and local. The two principal national sites generate over seven million user hits per year, while flotilla, division and district sites add another 1.8 million.  

Partnerships

There are over 22 million boats in America and over 70 million boaters, plus all of the recreational boating support individuals and businesses. All of them need to be enlisted as participants in Waterway Watch. No one organization can accomplish that. So, the Auxiliary Waterway Watch Business Plan calls for partnering with recreational boating organizations and others. 

The Army Corp. of Engineers has already responded by agreeing to print and distribute over 300,000 Waterway Watch brochures.  

The Auxiliary is aggressively pursuing other organizations (such as the United States Power Squadrons and the National Association of Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) to join in seeking Waterway Watch participation.

PREVENTION  

Multi-Mission Patrols

These land, sea and air patrols, jointly planned with the Coast Guard, are multi-tasked to provide both safety and security aspects. These patrols are conducted on, or around, waterways and within harbors. They target safety and security issues and, on an ever growing front, the natural environment. During 2003 the Auxiliary provided a total of 37,325 such patrols. 

Land: This major effort sees a revamping of foot, automobile and bicycle patrols. Such patrols re-emphasis an activity long established by work the Auxiliary did during WW II. These patrols are multi-tasked to provide both safety and security awareness, which are particularly useful in ports and other strategically important installations.

Sea: Currently the Auxiliary can muster 4,561 member-ownedand- operated vessels. These “facility assets” and their rigorously trained crews are engaged in missions on all United States waterways. Working closely with Coast Guard, these vessels and their missions provide a decided deterrent to both unsafe boating practices and unwise security breaches.

Air: The Auxiliary air arm (AuxAir) currently consists of over 300 member-owned-and-operated aircraft. These aircraft range from single engines to twins, amphibians and helicopters.

Their capability extends patrol areas from the beach out to 25 nautical miles (50 for twin-engine aircraft). This “reach,” both as to miles from the shore and vertically, enables these patrols to be most effective in search and rescue operations as well as ship identification for security purposes.

Auxiliary Radio: While technically not a “patrol,” the Auxiliary operates 2,573 radio stations. Each year thousands of hours are spent supporting Auxiliary and Coast Guard patrols.

Dedicated Patrols

During MARSEC 1 conditions, the multi-mission patrol is both logical and efficient. However, when the threat level goes to MARSEC 2 or 3, the situation changes. When this occurs, either nationally or regionally, all patrols shift to a security mode. The results are that the principal activity, both as to patrol locations and crew actions, is to identify and quickly report any abnormal situations that could result in a security breach.

Critical Infrastructure Patrols Conducted either as a multi-mission patrol or dedicated patrol (depending on the MARSEC level), these patrols target sites that the Coast Guard has identified as critical to the well being of the nation and subject to security concerns. These patrols can be conducted from land, sea or air – as the situation and geography dictates.

Such patrols are planned jointly with the Coast Guard. The planning is very specific as to who, where, when and how the patrol is to be executed. Between the planning and execution phases, the specific patrol mission (with its selected crew) conducts drills. It is this drill that allows the crew to be able to differentiate a normal situation from an abnormal one.  

Maritime Transportation Security Act

The Coast Guard implementation of the Act specifies that each ship and facility not only have an approved security plan but also an inspection process that verifies such a plan is on board and functional. The Auxiliary is prepared to do such inspections. In the Western Rivers District, the Auxiliary (having been trained by the Coast Guard) is actively conducting such inspections. In that Coast Guard District, there are 300 active duty and reserve Coast Guard people, while there are in excess of 6,000 Auxiliarists! When such an imbalance is present, it is logical and effective that the Auxiliary provide the inspectors.  

Automatic Information System (AIS) Patrols

Using AuxAir, the Auxiliary is in the initial stages of providing needed support for AIS. The receiving stations along the nation’s coasts have some gaps in coverage – namely in Alaska and the southeastern coast from the Carolinas south to mid-Florida. On November 1, 2004, AuxAir commenced a proof-of-concept test in the southeast. During both normal and dedicated patrols, AuxAir aircraft tested the receiving equipment and downloaded the received information to the Coast Guard. This test will continue for three months and, if successful, be deployed to other areas.  

Unmanned Aviation Vehicles (UAVs)

In its initial planning phase, the Auxiliary and the Coast Guard are looking at the feasibility of utilizing Auxiliary UAV specialists in the operation of small UAVs. These vehicles can be deployed and retrieved from a shore location or from an Auxiliary vessel at sea. Such mechanized patrols would greatly increase the range and, thus, the effectiveness of both safety and security patrols - and at a reduced cost to the Coast Guard.

PROTECTION  

Coast Guard

Protection of our waterways is centered with the Coast Guard. While the Auxiliary will assist as best it can, and only under the direction and guidance of the Coast Guard, the general responsibility and resultant action will be from the active and reserve segments.  

Auxiliary Personnel Augmentation List (AUXPAL)

One of the traditional Auxiliary programs has been the augmentation of Coast Guard active duty personnel, thus freeing those individuals to do other, perhaps more important, operational duties. Since 9/11, this need has had a major increase. As more and more tasks, particularly on security issues, are added to an already overloaded Coast Guard agenda, it has become of heightened importance to the service.  

Thus, at the start of 2003, the Auxiliary came on line with a new and broader program to augment key Coast Guard personnel. Named AUXPAL, this program not only trains present Auxiliary members to do backfill but, when the local Auxiliary flotilla does not have the needed personnel within its membership, the flotillas actively recruit citizens with the necessary skills to join the Auxiliary. Once aboard, these new Auxiliarists receive not only the Auxiliary training but also the appropriate

RESPONSE  

Communication Network

The Auxiliary is updating and renovating a national radio network. Utilizing VHF, single-side band, and ham radios, this network is poised to come on line in support of Coast Guard needs. The network is especially useful when main communication channels fail due to power loss, physical damage or personnel losses. In addition, the network is being designed to operate using both Coast Guard and/or non Coast Guard “high sights.”  

Captain of the Port support (COTP)

Given that the COTP is responsible for all safety and security issues within their AOR, it is vitally important that the corresponding Auxiliary commands be well integrated into both the planning and execution of programs and missions that support the COTP in the marine safety, security and environmental protection fields.  

To best accomplish this integration and align itself with the new Coast Guard Sector organization, the Auxiliary is looking at its internal organization, at all levels, to assure that it is fully in line with its parent service.  

The Auxiliary Waterway Management & Security Coordinator Program (AWMSC) is in its early developmental stage. The Coordinators in this Auxiliary program will report to, and be under the direction of, each COTP. The function of the Coordinator will be to work closely with the COTP, the Harbor Safety Committee (HSC), the Area Maritime Security Committee (AMSC) and the recreational boating community. The purpose is to assure a smooth working relationship, focus efforts so as to reduce duplicity and address safety and security risk issues associated with increased interaction between recreational and commercial vessels.  

Marine Safety Office Support (MSO)

Historically, while there has been a close supporting relationship between the MSOs and the Auxiliary at all organizational levels, this program has been directed principally to marine safety issues. As the MSOs are increasingly being tasked with security missions, the Auxiliary is taking steps to better support the MSOs by undertaking other support missions that free up the active duty members to focus on security. In order to train Auxiliarists to perform those missions, there are currently 10 approved Auxiliary PQSs in place and seven more are pending review at USCG HQ – all of which are specifically designed to meet the needs of the MSOs.  

Disaster Response

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