Hey guys my name is Christian and i just enlisted in the CG, i am from cape may and have met many coasties and all are great people so if any of them are on here i want to thank them for there help in me pickin the CG. Anyway i joined in hopes of bein a surfman. i have been and ocean rescue lifeguard/emt for several years and i love what i do so i would like to stay more on the S&R side. I start Aug.26th then i go to Bm "A" School Nov.10th when i am done i would like to go to a surf station but if not i was wondering if you guys could give me tips on where i should try to go? (would like to stay on east coast) thank you for your help

Congrats and welcome! I would highly recommend being very flexible and going with the flow and not staying on the east coast. you see what the US and the world has to offer on the militarys dime, if you know what i mean. I would recommend you get at least a years rated seatime and go from there. if you get the seatime it leaves you open for advance and through chief warrant officer if you stay in but alot of the times that i've seen people get in (including myself) and stay close to home or go to a station, get tied down and don't want to get u/w after that. Go U/w first while you have no obligations. Good luck and keep your head up!

Washington, Oregon and very, very Northern parts of CA are best bets for Surfman. There are a couple of east coast Surfman billets, but they amount to a very small portion.

East Coast Surf Stations
D1: Merrimack River (MA)
Chatham (MA)

D5: Barnegat Light (NJ)
Oregon Inlet (NC)
Hatteras Inlet (NC)

The other 15 are on the west coast. If you do decide to pursue and complete the surfman program, do expect to do 1 or more tours on the west coast. As you move up in the BM rate as a Surfman your options become less limited. Select and direct/Needs of the service come first. I'm certainly not trying to discourage you from going Surfman, because to me it is one of the most respected jobs in the CG...but if there are circumstances that require you to stay on the east coast you might want to take this into consideration. You can become Coxswain and then Heavy Weather Coxswain. There are plenty of Heavy Weather stations on the east coast, which would give you more options for the long term. Your background will be helpful at any unit you are assigned.

Talk to people in "A" school see where they've been, be objective, do research on the various units you're interested in, and get the big picture before you get your first unit. If you don't get what you want right away, don't sweat it. Just do the best at whatever job you are given, work hard, stay motivated, study and become qualified quickly, show initiative and you will do just fine. In the end, with that sort of mentality, you will get what you want and worked for. Take care and good luck.

Thanx enveyone you have been a great help, im not worried about staying on the east coast that much, i was just told that its a very slim chance of getting a surf station out of A school so i figured if i can staty on the east coast and work part time on the beach patrol until i was able to go to a surf station i could make some extra money. thanx everyone for your help

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Originally posted by 16184481:
Thanx enveyone you have been a great help, im not worried about staying on the east coast that much, i was just told that its a very slim chance of getting a surf station out of A school so i figured if i can staty on the east coast and work part time on the beach patrol until i was able to go to a surf station i could make some extra money. thanx everyone for your help

Young Jedi, you need to focus on the things that are important right now, worrying about where you get stationed so you can get a part-time job with the "beach patrol" whatever that is, is not where you need to waste your brainpower. You do realize there is a very real chance you may end up doing ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING related to search and rescue as a freshly minted BM3 right? In addition, based on your timeline, you my not even be a BM3 when you get to your first unit, you may be an SNBM. I'm all for career planning and working toward your ultimate goal of becoming a surfman so please don't take this as discouraging but, what you need to focus on first is getting thru boot camp, second get yourself thru BM a-school, thirdly you need to be the best BM you can at your first unit, whatever type of unit that may be, after your fully qualed then you can worry about playing David Hasslehoff during your time off. Good luck in the future! -Jeff

quote:

Originally posted by Mightyz90_93:
Washington, Oregon and very, very Northern parts of CA are best bets for Surfman. There are a couple of east coast Surfman billets, but they amount to a very small portion.

Masterchief is correct. Cape Disappointment is a major surf station on the west coast. If you really want to get the experience I would recommend West coast but like others have said stay flexible otherwise you limit your choices.