Retired – Now what do I do to keep active?
By Wayne Spivak
National Press Corps
United States Coast Guard Auxiliary
We’re a nation of volunteers. From the first settlers, to those who sought out better lives by following Horace Greeley’s words, “Go West young man”, and this nation has been founded on the principles of volunteerism.
Our continental army was volunteers, as were man of our Civil War combatants, on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. During the 60’s, volunteerism was alive and well, domestically and abroad. Voter registration drives and the Peace Corps come to mind.
Today, the opportunities abound for those who are retired and don’t want to sit home searching for activities to consume their time. An active mind is a healthy mind, and a healthy mind makes a happier person.
Retiree’s and Depression
According to the National Academy on an Aging Society analysis of data from the 1992 Health and Retirement Study, 58% of the people surveyed who were happy with their retirement were not depressed. Another study, the National Academy on an Aging Society analysis of data from the 1992 Health and Retirement Study showed that participation in social activities were a keystone to keeping one’s self out of depression.
So how to you get active when you’re retired? You find an activity or hobby that you enjoy and seek out the opportunities that are in your area, related to that activity. One organization that you may find attractive is the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.
The Auxiliary is composed of approximately 38,000 men and women from all walks of life that assist the United States Coast Guard in almost every single aspect of the countries oldest military service. The only two areas we, as uniformed, volunteer civilians can not get involved in, is military action and direct law enforcement activities.
That’s a lot of ground that you can get involved in. From serving on Coast Guard Cutters, Helicopters and Jets, to working in Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, DC, Auxiliarists, if qualified and properly trained can do it all.
A Sample List
Here are some examples of some hobbies and their counterpart in the United States Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary. Remember, you would be volunteering in the Auxiliary, you’d be a civilian, you’d set your own hours and places you’d want to work, in conjunction with the needs of the Coast Guard.
- Amateur Radio (Ham) – the Auxiliary and the Coast Guard needs trained communicators. On a daily basis, the Coast Guard does and always could use more qualified Watchstanders – these are the people you talk with when you call the Coast Guard on the radio for emergencies and information. The Auxiliary also provides a secondary emergency radio network, as well as a place for social gathering in our off-time.
- Boating – The Auxiliary has a large boat crew program. You see them on the waters, doing safety patrols and Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) patrols. All members who enter the boat crew program must undergo a significant amount of training, but the skills learned are worth it.
Members also have the opportunity to apply for, and train to work on Coast Guard Cutters and patrol boats of all sizes.
- Conservation – The USCG is the primary steward of our oceans. They enforce both fisheries laws as well as environmental laws on our navigable waters. Auxiliarists work hand in hand with their Coast Guard counterparts in every level, except the law enforcement aspect of the large environmental protection aspect fo the Coast Guard Mission.
- Cooking – The Coast Guard is always looking for a few good chefs! In one of our Districts we have even created an Auxiliary Chef School to train and qualify Auxiliarists as Coast Guard Chefs. These people work at Coast Guard Stations throughout the country giving our men and women gustatory pleasure. In the recent Republican National Convention, Auxiliary Chef’s worked round the clock feeding the large number of Active Duty, Reserve and Auxiliary Coast Guard members working at keeping New York and their guests, which included the President and Vice-President safe from water-borne threats.
- Education – The Auxiliary is the primary facilitator of the Coast Guard’s Recreational Boating Safety mission. To this end, Auxiliarists (who have qualified as instructors) teach a myriad of boating safety and navigation courses to hundreds of thousands of students each year.
- Marine Safety – The Coast Guard and Auxiliary spend countless hours protecting our maritime domain. The Auxiliary assists the Coast Guard as acting as their eyes and ears, by conducting Maritime Domain Awareness patrols. Who else knows better then those who live and work in and around our navigable rivers and ports as to what is normal and what is abnormal. The Water Watch program (http://www.cgauxed.org/waterway/ is a major program in the effort to keep our country safe.
- Training – The Auxiliary provides training not only to the public (under our education mission) but to both the Auxiliary itself and the Coast Guard. As someone who has worked their whole life in a particular job function, industry or profession, you have skills that have been honed and sharpened. These skills should not be let to atrophy. You can, and the Coast Guard can use, many of the skills you have to offer.
Almost all the examples required some type of training. And for the greater portion of these training programs, Auxiliarists are the people training Auxiliarists. Some training is given by Auxiliarists on areas that provide an value added benefit to the Coast Guard. An example of this type of training would be Ham Radio classes offered in some areas of the country.
It’s up to you!
So, you’ve retired. You’ve worked hard and now you are faced with some hard choices. You can sit at home, and loose touch with the active life you once led or you can make that leap and walk to a computer or a phone book and seek out the contact person at an agency who is looking for volunteers; someone just like you, to assist in their particular mission.
We would hope you would call the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. We’re on the web at http://www.cgaux.org. To find the nearest Flotilla, point your web browser to this page, http://www.cgaux.org/cgauxweb/getzip.html, and scroll down to the bottom, put in your zip code and the five closest Flotilla’s will be presented.
You can also find us by contacting your local Coast Guard (http://www.uscg.mil) unit, which can be found in your local phone book. They will give you the name of the Auxiliarist who can be contacted.
The Auxiliary works 12 months a year, and in some areas 24 hours a day. So instead of sitting at home, why not help keep America safe?
Note: Membership Requirements are over 17 years of age, a US Citizen and pass a Personal Security Check.
AuxGuidanceSkills.Info is geared to providing "Public Service Articles in the pursuit of Recreational Boating Safety" to that end, we will continue to add to our series on Help Wanted, Homeland Security, Public Education, Public Service, Vessel Safety and Environmental Issues, though the use of 'case studies', as our teaching tool of choice. In addition, our Leadership series offers those within the Coast Guard family, as well as outside, an insight into values that will improve their leadership skills.