Well, if it was meanbt to be cape may centric then I'm even more opposed to it. Now you are addressing all active duty members by a name meant to inspire folks that are in the first 8 weeks of an enlistment!


Oh hell, ya' know what you can call me?

Retired!!

That just could have been that hippie sharing vibe of the 70's everyone was grooving on back in the day Fisx?

Just a Coastie

Stan;
Again - you got to read the actual 'Guardian Ethos,' to be able to take my comments in context. It is not one word, it is a personnal statement of who they are in a simple nine sentence, first person narative. Now I have not heard a corp of 50-100 recruits reciting this at the top of their voices, but I have heard a dozen PCPOs do so. Let me tell you, it came across with more meaning than anything else we had the PCPOs memorize.

I am America's Maritime Guardian.
I serve the citizens of the United States.
I will protect them.
I will defend them.
I will save them.
I am their Shield.
For them I am Semper Paratus.
I live the Coast Guard Core Values.
I am a Guardian.
We are the United States Coast Guard.

Phil

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mightyz90_93,

Phil,

I agree with the ethos except for the last two lines. Change Guardian to Costguardsman (I know, females might feel excluded) and the last line to "I" instead of "we" and I think it's fine.

In fact, if the 2nd to last line was completely omitted and the last line said "I AM the United States Coast Guard" it would sound smoother.

Perhaps a word other then Guardian would have worked. That word just strikes me as pompous/pretentious/trendy.

4 years = 208 weeks. So the Ethos is to address those first 8 weeks....leaving 200 more weeks for folks to begin to wonder what the scraping of seagull crap has to do with being a Guardian....

Like I said though, just call me "Retired".

I think I dislike the shield comment more than anything else.

A lot of things we make folks at boot camp memorize that falls out right away. Hell, how many people more than two years out of bootcamp can recite more than three general orders? Now those, especially in my rating are actually pretty damn important! I have actually had to put people on report many times for not following them.


Overall, I like it. For this, remembering the words are not the point. Getting the subcounsious idea in their head is. That said, for anyone else readin, don't be that PCPO that comes to me w/o knowing this!

quote:

That said, for anyone else readin, don't be that PCPO that comes to me w/o knowing this!

why ya gonna make em bowl an extra frame???

later

cliff

Yep someone has way too much time on thier hands, nicknames, handles, etc. are given or "earned" not just thought up and anyone who tries just looks silly.

It is like everything else in this world. All the newbies want to leave their mark and change things. Have to have a mission statement. Change the layout of the web site. Change the name. I am a retired Coastie and will always be a Coastie. This is not the old guard toto!

quote:

Originally posted by knuckle_dragger:
Yep someone has way too much time on thier hands, nicknames, handles, etc. are given or "earned" not just thought up and anyone who tries just looks silly.

I beg to differ, are you forgetting T-Bone!



or was that Koko?

All this talk of "Shield of Freedom" and "Guardian" puts me in mind of contraceptive devices...I dunno, maybe it's me...

I think I'd rather be a breakfast cereal.

i thought ben randall and jake fischer had first dibs on the guardian label...

quote:

Originally posted by Mightyz90_93:
...Now I have not heard a corp of 50-100 recruits reciting this at the top of their voices...

Master Chief,

This YouTube video will give a little taste of what it sounds like with a company of recruits reciting the "Guardian Ethos." (It's towards the end)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPP00EfudMc

Isn't the Guardians a band of vigilanties out of brooklyn or one of the boroughs? When do we get our berets and what color? (this should get some comments)

Guardian Angels from NYC. We chased them out of Boston.

There are no doubt many who will take different sides on this subject, but I remember walking along the docks and chatting with seaman, sailors, fishermen and the boating public, all eager to say, "Good Day" or "Hello." There were no barriers between the us and them. We were the Coasties and they were the people we served. What stronger bond could exist?

Some time back a VP headed a group think tank that came up with some rather creative ideas that looked at the importance of "branding." Peace Officers were refered to as Public Servants, one of the things he felt kept these individuals from "being all they could be." He suggested evolving the term to Police Officer and then move later toward Law Enforcement.

What happened was the public stopped waving to them as they went by and they stopped seeing the public as those they were to serve, but rather, those they were to monitor.

Elected Public Servants were changed to Public Officials and several other suggested changes were made... the idea was that what a person was called, changed in the mind of the person using the term, the perception of the individual or body being spoken to or about.

I guess I like Coastie... I was okay with Hooligan, Shallow Water Sailor, Puddle Jumper and such - but really embraced Puddle Pirate.

Ok, lets look at the positive side of this.....

1. We have our own Insurance Company:
http://www.guardianlife.com/
http://www.guardianlife.com/employeebenefits/employee_benefits_prod.html

2. We have our own newspapers:
http://www.guardianlife.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
http://www.thenassauguardian.com/

3. Need a generator:?
http://www.guardiangenerators.com/Default.aspx

4. Obviously our movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0406816/

5. Need a job?
http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/

6 Home Security:?
http://www.guardianprotection.com/

Well, you get the point....

Wray...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Wray,

Can a Guardian be a Shipmate? I mean shouldn't we be sensitive to how these hurtful words affect the phsyche of our most valuable resource?

What a crock.

Why not "Coastguardsman"? It just seems to me we are looking desperately to find our identity when all one has to do is look at our heritage. It all there, its strong, there is pride. Why is it that big egos feel the need to leave us a legacy???? Next!

Keith, I agree with you, Frank Love and a few others....... I have always considered the term "Coastguardsman" a semi formal version, and "Coastie" more informal, for those of us in the USCG...... It did loose some of it's punch as the number of women in the CG increased....

Back in the early 80's, the 8th District has a motto of "Guardians of the Gulf" ... If I remember correctly that was, as I said just a motto for those in the 8th District. It wasn't used much by those of us on Construction Tenders.. more for the SAR stations or District staff members.... Had to have something to put on a patch.

Wray...

Wray you overlooked the need to store things.

7. Storage:
http://www.guardianstorage.com/

For DITY moves.

8. Self Storage:
http://www.guardian-self-storage.com/

quote:

Originally posted by Wray:
Don't know if you have seen the latest Navy Times, but, there is a good article in it concerning the "Ethos" offering a "much needed identity" for members of the US Coast Guard, according to both ADM Allen & MCPOCG Bowen.

According to the MCPOCG the term "Coastie" puts us in a "breakfast cereal" category. He and ADM Allen much prefer the term Guardian.

While it doesn't really matter a whole lot to me any more, since I am retired, I was wondering how those on active duty felt about it. Was the term "Coastie" that offensive to you? Do you feel better being called a "Guardian'? Do you have any other suggestions? Do you care, one way or another?

As someone pointed out on another site, do we even have the right to pick our own nickname? Did the CNO just decide one day sailors would be nicknamed "squids" or the Marine Commandant thought "leathernecks or jarheads" would be appropriate?

What are your thoughts on the subject?

Wray....

Wray, Come on, how do you really feel about this? Somehow, I get the feeling your blood pressure had to rise a little bit! If it did, than I think we both agree, Skippy is getting a little out of hand with some of these changes! I would even wager that Skippy has TQM certificates all over his wall too. This ethos crap is rooted in Kime Slime!



I do not know of the current rules up here regarding referring to stories in the press, but if I could, I would like to extract some parts of the story that was written by Amy McCullough and published in the Navy Times in the August 18, 2008 issue.

quote:

...“For years and years and years, there were sailors, Marines and soldiers, but what do you call Coast Guardsmen? They call us Coasties. Some people like that, but to me it sounds like a breakfast cereal. [The new ethos] gives us a servicewide term for service — ‘guardians,’” Bowen said. “This ethos kind of puts it all together as to who we are. It’s something to hold on to. It’s an identity.”

...Though it’s still circulating through the Coast Guard ranks, both Allen and Bowen agree the response to the ethos has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

Is "Skippy" the only one who feels like he's being referred to as a Box of Cereal? I have never heard a Coastie complain about the term "Coastie".
I would argue that many "Coasties" are proud of the term, as am I!


ADM Allen, do you really believe that anyone is going to tell YOU, that they do not like something you enacted?
Of course you think the response is overwhelmingly positive - I hope you realize that back when you put on Admiral Shoulder Boards, you will never be told the truth again! Maybe that same advice applies to Skippy too and any other future MCPOCG.

"Real Coasties" should download Mark's "Coastie - Always a Coastie" picture and save it as their background on the Standard Workstation! It would be funny to see a whole HQ's worth of computers with this on the screen - maybe Skippy and ADM Allen will realize that the response to "Guardian" is not "overwhelmingly positive" after all.

Further, I dare someone in the Computer shop at HQ to put this on the background of Skippy's standard workstation or print it out and slip in under his door!

I wonder what Skippy's thoughts are about Michael Phelps wanting to appear on Frosted Flakes instead of Wheaties!

I bet if he and ADM Allen ask around HQ - they will be surprised at the "overwhelmingly positive" agreement of Coasties everywhere!


Coasties - They’re Grrrrreat!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: UnknownCoastie,