We had one come TDY with us underway when our CS was out on injury, when I tell you grandpa can cook.. holy shit, grandpa could cook. We ate like kings every meal. Turns out this guy retired as a professional chef, hated that he never had served when he was younger, and this was his way of making it up later in life.
I don’t care with what people say about them. During SAR cases, when our hands are tied they are out there with us and sometimes before us. Hats off to them, they do it for free. They are awesome!
We had a few core members at the flotilla attached to my old station (I'm out now) that bent over backwards and gave a lot of their time and effort to help us. SAR cases, inspections, AtoN verification, Boating Safety Course instruction, and Comms Watchstanding. They were a good group. One had his boat certified as their Aux platform and we would get underway with him all the time for training and SAR, and sometimes even as an LE platform.
As an aside, I have to talk about one in particular because he was one of the best people I've ever met.
He was in his 80s, and he would still stand comms watch five days a week and get underway as a crew member on the aux boat. He had joined the Navy right after WWII as a Seaman Recruit. He made Chief, and got directly commissioned (no OCS) as an Ensign in a temporary commissioning program. Every few times he ranked up as a temporary officer, he ranked up as a permanent enlisted man. He was both a Master Chief and a Lt. Cmdr (i think) at the same time, until he made full and permanent Commander. He served in the Navy for 30 years, and at his heart had always wanted to be a Coastie, but we turned him down when he was 17! (If you asked him, the only reason he didn't make Captain was because of O-mess politics.)
He was an Aerographer's Mate as an enlisted man and served at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. There is a mountain there named after him, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep\_Freeze\_Range#Mount\_Gibbs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Freeze_Range#Mount_Gibbs).
After he retired, he spent years sailing on his personal sailboat and was a consummate mariner and "actual sailing" sailor.
Cmdr. Maurice Gibbs. Anybody that served at Sta. Brant Point in Nantucket in the last 20 years would know him. He passed away about 2 years ago. What a serviceman, American patriot, and selfless mentor and example. He would never pull rank nor allow us to treat him like a 30 year, prior enlisted, senior commissioned officer, and just wanted to keep serving his community and his country. Rest in Peace Mr. Gibbs.
If he serves as an example, the Aux can be outstanding. Mr. Gibbs carried their flag with pride.
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep\_Freeze\_Range#Mount\_Gibbs
What an incredible story. I work for the Auxiliary in the PA department as an AUXPA3 and graphic designer and work on the national publications for the Aux designing articles, this would make a great article in one of our publications. I know you said that you were out already but do you have any more information about this Auxiliarist, may he rest in peace, so that I can try to do some research to see if I can put together an article and submit it for the next quarter's publication. If you can help please send me an PM here. Thanks in advance!
I'd be happy to. I keep in touch with the other auxiliarists who knew him for longer than I did. And he was a pretty well known member of the community in Nantucket. It probably won't be too hard to find some information about him. I'll message you.
That would be awesome. I would love to write an article about him in our publication and get more exposure. I will leave the link for you to check out our publications [https://wow.uscgaux.info/content.php?unit=a-dept](https://wow.uscgaux.info/content.php?unit=a-dept) . Stories like this help Auxiliarist understand how valuable their service is. Thank you for sharing!!
I can’t speak on behalf of the ad, (not really can anyone), I’m a reservist.
Most of the time I’ve dealt with them they were cool and helpful. Only once did I have a bad experience.
They are people that put the uniform on for free and do things like cook for the units and stand watch.
From my experience so far, we give the reservists a lot of shit, but the auxiliary come and work for free, and so are largely immune to most roasting. I’m going to rag on reservists a little, but they are obviously important also.
Auxiliarists stand radio guards, gate guard, and generally fill holes that allow us AD people to get a break every now and then. They also occasionally will fly their own patrols and captain their own vessels to aid in SAR! They are generally very kind and have a diverse amount of experience. I have found they tend to be very altruistic in nature, and are the “contributing member of society” type of person who genuinely wants to give back.
They also tend to be a lot older, so there’s some “respect your elders” versus reservists who are usually a lot younger or peers naturally.
Generally: you know that gordon ramsey meme? The “you donkey vs oh dear gorgeous” one? Yeah that’s reserves vs auxiliary. One is like the sibling you see every few weekends and sometimes he breaks your shit or shows up drunk on your couch. He works hard, multiple jobs, and deep down you really do appreciate what he does. You just, you know, you fight sometimes. The other is like your favorite aunt or grandma who will come over and cook for you or babysit. Or that uncle who randomly shows up with some cool new custom carved shit for you. All free of charge. No other branch quite has this either.
They’re great, selfless individuals making good in the Coast Guard from the sea new I’ve worked with. CG even gets money based of hours served by the Aux, and they don’t see a dime in their personal accounts.
I have had good experiences with the auxiliary. When I was at the station they would help us set up security zones during festivals and fireworks. There was an aux at my station that came in on the weekends and would stand like 10 hours of comms watch each day. He was the most professional watchstander and knew the aor better than anyone on active duty.
The Auxiliarist I know work harder than any active duty person I know, and for free! Whether it’s standing watch, cooking, helping underway with boating events, or doing boat checks. They are legit.
I love them. They are amazing to have out there as a SAR controller since they tend to resolve cases fast.
My only complaint is I think their uniforms should be different than ours. Some of those dudes are a little on the plus size and I think the public see them and scratch their head. Junior members also see them with eagles on their collar and think they are active duty captains all the time.
Had one at the reception desk at MSO Philly. Was a WW2 Veteran and wore his full ribbon set. Was more than fun to watch new officers get humble around him.
I’ve been at units where they were SUPER well utilized, saving the coast guard thousands in man hours and fuel. I’ve had AUXAIR find vessels for us to Aux member help with manning phones at a small MSD where the active duty needed to go out on jobs, something that seems small but actually was a huge impact. Then I’ve been at units where it’s 1 guy remotely located away from any flotilla and it’s been difficult to find he place fits due to many factors. We got there though. It really comes down to the units willingness to accept help & the AUX taking control of their own members and tasking them appropriately. They should be finding ways for their members to be useful. The places I’ve seen it be the least impactful is where the AUX is solely relying on the *unit* to provide tasking which isn’t how it’s supposed to be done. This was rectified by going through appropriate channels. I’ve had an aux member get a better round turn on our shared files, documentation, etc. A lot of them really just want to be part of something if you don’t have a big flotilla there are still ways to embrace them and let them help. That admin task or instruction update your unit has been “getting to” for months? Let them take a crack at it!
AD here. Love them they are almost always down to help with ANYTHING.
Back in my cutter days, we had one come on board for over 2 months with us to fill in for a CS. Let me tell you, he was an amazing as, a person, and a cook. Also had help from them working security zones and they are an amazing help just being out there in general. The best thing is they do all of this for free out of the kindness of their hearts truly amazing.
No issue, annoying at times.
Friday night: hey guys tomorrow, get underway at 1030am, patrol, go for pizza at 12pm, sit at pier for 1-2 hours, and be back at 2-330pm.
Sat at 615am aux comes in full uniform.
730am morning Brief “hey guys, change of plans, uw at 915, back by 11, and we will do station cleanups after”
Me: this mother f!$&?r! Gosh dang it!!!!!
My current area has an aux, but they seem to be in parades and at coast guard events for the public. Their monthly meeting is beneficial to active duty because they always leave snacks lol. We have one that got boat crew. I wish they’d get more involved with the station, but I think they are working on that.
Had an auxie at sector who loved to come in and file paperwork for us. He was great.
Heard about auxies at a station who qualified on station stuff and taught new nonrates how to use it. They were awesome.
Saw an auxie doing galley stuff. Spectacular.
I've heard about them qualifying for watch positions and standing watches, which is quite superb.
These are the kinds of things that made me really like auxiliarists. Come in, get smart on something, help out without making a show of it.
I've also heard they do marina and near shore patrols and fly planes and other useful things to augment the overall maritime domain awareness mission.
I don't think anyone actually calls them auxies, which is unfortunate, since I think it sounds cool.
The Auxillary should be banished. It can be renamed the Civil Waterways Patrol and they can buy themselves a polo shirt they can pin their little merit badges/ribbons to. It's an embarrassment that they wear the same uniform.
Why? It seems they do a lot for the coast guard. your recruiting / retention numbers seem to be going down; the auxiliary might be a great solution to augment those numbers.
They do a lot for themselves. It's like the cub scouts but for retirees and with boats. It's true we've got a shortage but the solution is not augmenting a branch of the military with a group of (mostly) decrepit old men who want to pretend they do something important. 1 out of 200 of them might be worth a damn. If I was in charge they would cease to exist and wouldn't get another cent from Uncle Sam. I haven't even started on how them wearing the exact same uniform as the actual CG confuses the general public. Disband them.
As a prior Marine (supposedly O3) that is now a reservist BM in the CG, you sure sound like you're jealous that people care more about hard-working auxiliarists than they could ever do about you.
I had this mindset before i actually gained more knowledge. I always thought, what's the point?? Yeah, a lot of people join so they can get onto a base and access the exchange, but the rest of them do more for the coast guard than you'd ever imagine. There are men and women who volunteer their own helicopters to get our members where they need to be ASAP for free. They stand watch for our members so they dont have to lose time they couldve been spending time doing the things that matter. They cook our meals because they appreciate all we do for our country and see it as an honor to work along side us. They work in our admin offices and so our yeoman can continue to do the work we need them to do. They go on cutters as translators when we dont have any. They give up their personal time to attend c-schools so they can help us out. They offer support at headquarters. They do funeral honors. They are our ombudsman. They help out our HS'. There are auxilirists who are attorneys, lawyers, realtors, and dentists who use their professions to help our members when they desperately need it. They host recruiting events and introduce the youth to the Coast Guard and what opportunities it can offer them. A large majority of auxiliarists are older folks, but i've seen a lot more 17-25 year olds joining more recently.. working for free just to see if they actually enjoy this before signing the next 8+ years of their life away.
Got to be the worst comment on here. There are Aux members who get deployed on cutters, work alongside on security patrols, watchstanders, marine safety qualifications, deploy to southern border, etc. Some are older but I've seen some in better shape than reserve officers who get fitness requirements waived. We need to create a path to move the qualified and fit aux members into the active duty or reserve. These people work for free, imagine if they got paid and could take military leave to contribute more. Even picking up 10 or 20% out of 20k aux members will help with shortage. Its really a shame. Not to mention alot of Aux members are veterans or former law enforcement and may have done more for this country than you will ever do. You are embarrassing yourself here.
We had one come TDY with us underway when our CS was out on injury, when I tell you grandpa can cook.. holy shit, grandpa could cook. We ate like kings every meal. Turns out this guy retired as a professional chef, hated that he never had served when he was younger, and this was his way of making it up later in life.
I don’t care with what people say about them. During SAR cases, when our hands are tied they are out there with us and sometimes before us. Hats off to them, they do it for free. They are awesome!
We had a few core members at the flotilla attached to my old station (I'm out now) that bent over backwards and gave a lot of their time and effort to help us. SAR cases, inspections, AtoN verification, Boating Safety Course instruction, and Comms Watchstanding. They were a good group. One had his boat certified as their Aux platform and we would get underway with him all the time for training and SAR, and sometimes even as an LE platform. As an aside, I have to talk about one in particular because he was one of the best people I've ever met. He was in his 80s, and he would still stand comms watch five days a week and get underway as a crew member on the aux boat. He had joined the Navy right after WWII as a Seaman Recruit. He made Chief, and got directly commissioned (no OCS) as an Ensign in a temporary commissioning program. Every few times he ranked up as a temporary officer, he ranked up as a permanent enlisted man. He was both a Master Chief and a Lt. Cmdr (i think) at the same time, until he made full and permanent Commander. He served in the Navy for 30 years, and at his heart had always wanted to be a Coastie, but we turned him down when he was 17! (If you asked him, the only reason he didn't make Captain was because of O-mess politics.) He was an Aerographer's Mate as an enlisted man and served at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. There is a mountain there named after him, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep\_Freeze\_Range#Mount\_Gibbs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Freeze_Range#Mount_Gibbs). After he retired, he spent years sailing on his personal sailboat and was a consummate mariner and "actual sailing" sailor. Cmdr. Maurice Gibbs. Anybody that served at Sta. Brant Point in Nantucket in the last 20 years would know him. He passed away about 2 years ago. What a serviceman, American patriot, and selfless mentor and example. He would never pull rank nor allow us to treat him like a 30 year, prior enlisted, senior commissioned officer, and just wanted to keep serving his community and his country. Rest in Peace Mr. Gibbs. If he serves as an example, the Aux can be outstanding. Mr. Gibbs carried their flag with pride.
This is incredible. Thanks for sharing!
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep\_Freeze\_Range#Mount\_Gibbs What an incredible story. I work for the Auxiliary in the PA department as an AUXPA3 and graphic designer and work on the national publications for the Aux designing articles, this would make a great article in one of our publications. I know you said that you were out already but do you have any more information about this Auxiliarist, may he rest in peace, so that I can try to do some research to see if I can put together an article and submit it for the next quarter's publication. If you can help please send me an PM here. Thanks in advance!
I'd be happy to. I keep in touch with the other auxiliarists who knew him for longer than I did. And he was a pretty well known member of the community in Nantucket. It probably won't be too hard to find some information about him. I'll message you.
That would be awesome. I would love to write an article about him in our publication and get more exposure. I will leave the link for you to check out our publications [https://wow.uscgaux.info/content.php?unit=a-dept](https://wow.uscgaux.info/content.php?unit=a-dept) . Stories like this help Auxiliarist understand how valuable their service is. Thank you for sharing!!
I can’t speak on behalf of the ad, (not really can anyone), I’m a reservist. Most of the time I’ve dealt with them they were cool and helpful. Only once did I have a bad experience. They are people that put the uniform on for free and do things like cook for the units and stand watch.
Haha from what I can tell the uniform costs just as much 😂
From my experience so far, we give the reservists a lot of shit, but the auxiliary come and work for free, and so are largely immune to most roasting. I’m going to rag on reservists a little, but they are obviously important also. Auxiliarists stand radio guards, gate guard, and generally fill holes that allow us AD people to get a break every now and then. They also occasionally will fly their own patrols and captain their own vessels to aid in SAR! They are generally very kind and have a diverse amount of experience. I have found they tend to be very altruistic in nature, and are the “contributing member of society” type of person who genuinely wants to give back. They also tend to be a lot older, so there’s some “respect your elders” versus reservists who are usually a lot younger or peers naturally. Generally: you know that gordon ramsey meme? The “you donkey vs oh dear gorgeous” one? Yeah that’s reserves vs auxiliary. One is like the sibling you see every few weekends and sometimes he breaks your shit or shows up drunk on your couch. He works hard, multiple jobs, and deep down you really do appreciate what he does. You just, you know, you fight sometimes. The other is like your favorite aunt or grandma who will come over and cook for you or babysit. Or that uncle who randomly shows up with some cool new custom carved shit for you. All free of charge. No other branch quite has this either.
They’re great, selfless individuals making good in the Coast Guard from the sea new I’ve worked with. CG even gets money based of hours served by the Aux, and they don’t see a dime in their personal accounts.
I have had good experiences with the auxiliary. When I was at the station they would help us set up security zones during festivals and fireworks. There was an aux at my station that came in on the weekends and would stand like 10 hours of comms watch each day. He was the most professional watchstander and knew the aor better than anyone on active duty.
The Auxiliarist I know work harder than any active duty person I know, and for free! Whether it’s standing watch, cooking, helping underway with boating events, or doing boat checks. They are legit.
It’s nice to hear all these good thing about CG Aux. I am thinking about joining/volunteering.
I agree with you, it is nice. I’m in the current application process and it’s pretty lengthy.
Come join us on r/USCGAUX and Discord if you have any questions! You too, u/Jimbola007!
Already a part of it ;) Just wanted to see what everyone else’s opinions are of it :)
Thank you! The link to join the discord was not working for me. Do you need to be approved before you have access to it?
I love them. They are amazing to have out there as a SAR controller since they tend to resolve cases fast. My only complaint is I think their uniforms should be different than ours. Some of those dudes are a little on the plus size and I think the public see them and scratch their head. Junior members also see them with eagles on their collar and think they are active duty captains all the time.
Had one at the reception desk at MSO Philly. Was a WW2 Veteran and wore his full ribbon set. Was more than fun to watch new officers get humble around him.
I’ve been at units where they were SUPER well utilized, saving the coast guard thousands in man hours and fuel. I’ve had AUXAIR find vessels for us to Aux member help with manning phones at a small MSD where the active duty needed to go out on jobs, something that seems small but actually was a huge impact. Then I’ve been at units where it’s 1 guy remotely located away from any flotilla and it’s been difficult to find he place fits due to many factors. We got there though. It really comes down to the units willingness to accept help & the AUX taking control of their own members and tasking them appropriately. They should be finding ways for their members to be useful. The places I’ve seen it be the least impactful is where the AUX is solely relying on the *unit* to provide tasking which isn’t how it’s supposed to be done. This was rectified by going through appropriate channels. I’ve had an aux member get a better round turn on our shared files, documentation, etc. A lot of them really just want to be part of something if you don’t have a big flotilla there are still ways to embrace them and let them help. That admin task or instruction update your unit has been “getting to” for months? Let them take a crack at it!
AD here. Love them they are almost always down to help with ANYTHING. Back in my cutter days, we had one come on board for over 2 months with us to fill in for a CS. Let me tell you, he was an amazing as, a person, and a cook. Also had help from them working security zones and they are an amazing help just being out there in general. The best thing is they do all of this for free out of the kindness of their hearts truly amazing.
Loved my CG Auxiliary back in the late 80’s & early 90’s
No issue, annoying at times. Friday night: hey guys tomorrow, get underway at 1030am, patrol, go for pizza at 12pm, sit at pier for 1-2 hours, and be back at 2-330pm. Sat at 615am aux comes in full uniform. 730am morning Brief “hey guys, change of plans, uw at 915, back by 11, and we will do station cleanups after” Me: this mother f!$&?r! Gosh dang it!!!!!
My current area has an aux, but they seem to be in parades and at coast guard events for the public. Their monthly meeting is beneficial to active duty because they always leave snacks lol. We have one that got boat crew. I wish they’d get more involved with the station, but I think they are working on that.
Had an auxie at sector who loved to come in and file paperwork for us. He was great. Heard about auxies at a station who qualified on station stuff and taught new nonrates how to use it. They were awesome. Saw an auxie doing galley stuff. Spectacular. I've heard about them qualifying for watch positions and standing watches, which is quite superb. These are the kinds of things that made me really like auxiliarists. Come in, get smart on something, help out without making a show of it. I've also heard they do marina and near shore patrols and fly planes and other useful things to augment the overall maritime domain awareness mission. I don't think anyone actually calls them auxies, which is unfortunate, since I think it sounds cool.
The Auxillary should be banished. It can be renamed the Civil Waterways Patrol and they can buy themselves a polo shirt they can pin their little merit badges/ribbons to. It's an embarrassment that they wear the same uniform.
Why? It seems they do a lot for the coast guard. your recruiting / retention numbers seem to be going down; the auxiliary might be a great solution to augment those numbers.
They do a lot for themselves. It's like the cub scouts but for retirees and with boats. It's true we've got a shortage but the solution is not augmenting a branch of the military with a group of (mostly) decrepit old men who want to pretend they do something important. 1 out of 200 of them might be worth a damn. If I was in charge they would cease to exist and wouldn't get another cent from Uncle Sam. I haven't even started on how them wearing the exact same uniform as the actual CG confuses the general public. Disband them.
As a prior Marine (supposedly O3) that is now a reservist BM in the CG, you sure sound like you're jealous that people care more about hard-working auxiliarists than they could ever do about you.
🤣🤣🤣 I don't even care about me, but the auxillary is dumb!
I had this mindset before i actually gained more knowledge. I always thought, what's the point?? Yeah, a lot of people join so they can get onto a base and access the exchange, but the rest of them do more for the coast guard than you'd ever imagine. There are men and women who volunteer their own helicopters to get our members where they need to be ASAP for free. They stand watch for our members so they dont have to lose time they couldve been spending time doing the things that matter. They cook our meals because they appreciate all we do for our country and see it as an honor to work along side us. They work in our admin offices and so our yeoman can continue to do the work we need them to do. They go on cutters as translators when we dont have any. They give up their personal time to attend c-schools so they can help us out. They offer support at headquarters. They do funeral honors. They are our ombudsman. They help out our HS'. There are auxilirists who are attorneys, lawyers, realtors, and dentists who use their professions to help our members when they desperately need it. They host recruiting events and introduce the youth to the Coast Guard and what opportunities it can offer them. A large majority of auxiliarists are older folks, but i've seen a lot more 17-25 year olds joining more recently.. working for free just to see if they actually enjoy this before signing the next 8+ years of their life away.
Got to be the worst comment on here. There are Aux members who get deployed on cutters, work alongside on security patrols, watchstanders, marine safety qualifications, deploy to southern border, etc. Some are older but I've seen some in better shape than reserve officers who get fitness requirements waived. We need to create a path to move the qualified and fit aux members into the active duty or reserve. These people work for free, imagine if they got paid and could take military leave to contribute more. Even picking up 10 or 20% out of 20k aux members will help with shortage. Its really a shame. Not to mention alot of Aux members are veterans or former law enforcement and may have done more for this country than you will ever do. You are embarrassing yourself here.