While looking for something else I stumbled on the Thinking of Joining FAQ website of the Rice Lake Detachment.

Although it has the appearance of a professionally done web site, I stopped counting the errors on that page.

Here are just a few of them I spotted:

quote:

IF I JOIN TODAY HOW LONG IS MY ENLISTMENT?

One year. The minnimum amount of time you must serve is sixteen hours a month. very few coasties serve that amount, cause most put in much more time than that. BUT, you must serve at least sixteen hours a month to maintain your membership.

Just in that one answer alone:

1. Auxies don't enlist they enroll.
2. There is no minimum hours a day, week, month or year that an Auxie must perform. The Aux is more then happy to take your money and let you sit at home - so long as you can still fog a mirror at renewal time.
3. Auxies are Auxies, Coasties are Coasties - Auxies aren't Coasties.

quote:

NOTE: The US COAST GUARD has agreed to allow members of the Auxiliary to be deployed on a temporary basis to other agencies in the DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY. FEMA is a prime example. In the period after KATRINA.RITA hundreds and hundreds of Auxililary members were deployed to Louisana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas. Some are still deployed and searving proudly. When you are deployed in this manner you will be paid living expences, food, travel,and three dollars an hour above federal minimum wage.

That is an out-and-out lie. The Aux served as a hiring agency for FEMA. The ones that got paid by FEMA were employed as temp workers by FEMA - they were not serving as Auxies. It has been noted before that very few Auxies served during Katrina as Auxies - many of the ones that self-deployed got sent home.

quote:

IF I JOIN WILL I BE DEPLOYED?

No, you will be deployed only if you volunteer to be deployed, and the waiting list is very long and only the most trained Auxiliary members are called.

What is with this deployment stuff? This detachment is making mountains out of molehills. Very few Auxies will ever deploy as Auxies. The ones that do are usually members of the Interpreter Corps, which isn't even mentioned.

quote:

The auxiliary was formed by act of congress in that time just before WW2 to augment the regular Coast Guard to search for infiltrators along the coast and on the navigable waterways.

That is a distortion of history. The original purpose of the Aux was RBS not searching for infiltrators.

This next one is - well just read it - note the use of the word enlistment and law enforcement:

quote:

I HAD THIS ARREST A WHILE AGO WILL THAT HURT?

Was it a felony? If it was, were sorry no enlistment. If your not a citizen born or naturelized sorry no enlistment. If you have ever recieved less than a honorable discharge from any military service, sorry no enlistment. Remember we are law enforcement and life savers, we must set the example.

Now for a lie about the PSI, clearances and Top Secret.

quote:

WILL MY BACKGROUND BE CHECKED?
Yes. you will be fingerprinted and be given a back ground check. you will need a clearence to belong to this service. To at least secret clearence

They really jumble the saluting rule but appear to imply Auxie officers are saluted by Auxies - they are not.

quote:

WILL I NEED TO SALUTE AND WEAR A UNIFORM?

yes. The Coast Guard, and you will be a member of the Coast Guard, is and armed force and its traditions require that we follow its regulations. If the thought of saluting your officers, and wearing a military uniform is not to your taste stop reading now.

Now check out the slogan at the bottom - then and and read/view this year's Ops Workshop:

quote:

GOING PLACES,DOING GOOD, GOING FAST IN BOATS

And unless the boat in the picture on the right-hand side is Aux owned then the racing stripe and lettering are illegal. No privately owned boat can be marked like that per the OpsPolMan.

And some of you guys are worried about the BP Aux. Maybe you need to clean up your own house first before casting stones at another organization.

Hal, you missed my favorite one:

quote:

WHO IS GOING TO PAY FOR MY UNIFORM?
You. But the good news is it is not real expensive

While technically this may be true it leaves out the continual changes of uniform that make the inexpensive uniform skyrocket in price.

The whole division up there has a whopping 49 members spread out over 4 flotillas so I wouldn't worry about them having too much of an effect.

I don't have any idea what this Detachment 141 garbage is either.. The dude might just be off on his own little world thing...

Heres another good one. at the bottom of the Rice Lake Detachment page, the author sings his name, and uses the title "LTjg USCGA"

Where is Rice Lake?

The guy who did this web page is a hoser. He uses ranks to refer to himself and someone who is probably his son (Lt. jg, Chief Petty Officer). Lots of stuff wrong with it.

Great,
Misrepresentation from our quarter, now I feel like the pot calling the kettle black

They didn't teach us anything like this at FCA. You do have to admire his ambition. He's got a nice "training facility" on the lake for $1.00/yr. The LTjg was also able to get his son a CWO rank in the Auxiliary. Maybe I could transfer there and become a Senior Chief or something?? Only when the weather warms up and training begins.

For what it's worth, their names are listed in the AUX eDirectory and in AUXINFO.

There is a difference between a member of an organization not following the rules either through ignorance or intentional misrepresentation and the organization as a whole misrepresenting itself to the public. Hopefully, once these things are pointed out to those in charge they will get fixed.

and the organization as a whole misrepresenting itself to the public

You mean like the Aux claiming its boating courses are accepted in all 50 states and various US territories?

I like the photoshopped picture of the RBS( 25469 currently assigned to STA Portland) with blue lights flying the Coast Guard ensign on their main page.

Incidentally, this site doesn't appear to have actually been approved by the Auxiliary (it isn't listed where approved sites are found).

quote:

You mean like the Aux claiming its boating courses are accepted in all 50 states and various US territories?

America's Boating Course is a joint project between the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary and the United States Power Squadrons. In addition, the course has been approved by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, and is accepted by most states to meet boating license or safety certification requirements.

The online course material on boat and PWC (jet ski) safety in America's Boating Course, as supplemented by Florida: The Legal Requirements of Boating, is accepted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. You can complete the course material for boater safety certification or just take the online course to improve your boating knowledge. Read more about the online boating test for certification at the bottom of this page, or just click below to get started.

Ditty,

Your info is out-of-date or is not correct.

For example:

quote:

America's Boating Course is a joint project between the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary and the United States Power Squadrons.

The Aux withdrew from the joint project about a year ago.

quote:

is accepted by most states to meet boating license or safety certification requirements.

Go to the NASBLA Approved Boating Safety Courses Database. Scroll down the page until you get to the US Coast Guard Auxiliary. Look at each course and the info in the right-hand column. No Auxiliary course, even ABC is still listed, shows a single state acceptance. ABC, listed under the USPS, shows a state acceptance from VA expiring in 2008. That is the one and only state acceptance the Aux ever had. None of the new courses; BS&S, SS&S, and ABS (replacement for ABC), have a single state acceptance. Your info was never 'in-date'.

Does the Aux teach those courses in all 50 states? Yes

Does the Aux claim they meet all NASBLA and state requirements? Yes

Do the courses actually meet the NASBLA education requirements, including state acceptance, as specified in the NASBLA standards, standards which the Aux is obligated to fully support by MOU? No - as documented on NASBLA's web site.

BTW - NASBLA as the certifying agency gets to state whether a state has accepted an Aux course and so far it hasn't said a single state has accepted any Aux course.

Louisiana accepts ABC as long as the state supplement is taught by an approved instructor. It's just another 10 questions as well as a bit of extra paperwork.

The link given in the original post no longer calls up the site about joining the Auxiliary.

quote:

America's Boating Course is a joint project between the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary and the United States Power Squadrons.

Its not even called America's Boating Course anymore. The new name is About Boating Safely....ABS.

The new edition is being sold at the AUXCEN, and the D7 online store. (But the course is still listed as ABC on the national website.)

quote:

Originally posted by ward2up:
The link given in the original post no longer calls up the site about joining the Auxiliary.

I have a feeling the website was removed as a result of this thread...

Auxiliary alerted to actual problem...problem fixed.