Coast Guard reservist KC Aud first enlisted to serve on active duty in 2010. After a brief break he re-enlisted as a reservist in 2020. When he is not doing “water cop stuff” he writes for the Havok Journal.
He spent his first tour of duty guarding submarines in Georgia – but tired of the muggy heat and the bugs, he transferred to a Coast Guard cutter in Washington State – where his cutter was promptly deployed to the hot and buggy coast of Central America, patrolling for drug smugglers. During his time on that cutter, he traveled 94,194 miles and says he “personally handled enough cocaine to keep a small country high for a decade.”
I have always felt like our US Coast Guard is one of the least understood branches. KC gives us a summary of the 10-11 missions of the Coast Guard. “We are essentially police, firefighters, EMS, road construction crews and commercial vehicle inspectors all rolled into one.” “Everyone in the Coast Guard “has nine jobs”. For example, even though he was trained as a communications specialist, he was handed a 50 caliber machine gun and made a gunner’s mate.
His article “Life is Weird in the Coast Guard” provides an interesting and sometimes humorous insights. KC describes a scenario where you have been awake for 22 hours, haven’t eaten in 12 and are expected to shoot out the engine of a drug runner’s fast boat. “That’s like trying to shoot the engine off a motorcycle while traveling on another motorcycle down a bumpy road in a rainstorm.”
We discuss the adverse effects of sleep deprivation for both our military and first responder communities. KC personally noticed that his mental health sometimes significantly degraded.
We wrap up with a discussion of the importance of reaching out to others for help as highlighted in his article “The Storm We Might Be Called to Sail Into Might Be Someone’s Personal Life.” And “The Emotions That Are Eating Us Alive.”
TAKEAWAY: “If you are going to treat your people like equipment, remember that even equipment needs to be maintained.”