220 years ago, today, August 4th, 1790, Alexander Hamilton created the Revenue Marine Service, the first service that evolved into today's United States Coast Guard. With 10 "cutters" Hamilton directed the crews to enforce maritime revenue laws for the new United States, to collect import fees to help pay for the Revolutionary War debt.
A short time later, the Revenue Marine Service was merged with the Lifesaving Service, taking the evolution further.
Advancing up to 1915, the official name of the United States Coast Guard was bestowed upon the service. Today, the U.S. Coast Guard boasts a fleet of cutters, boats and aircraft dedicated to serving the U.S. not just at home but all over the world. About 41,000 active duty members, 6,000 reservists and 40,000 auxiliarists carry out the many missions world wide the Coast Guard is responsible for.
I've had the honor to be part of the Coast Guard since 1981, our children grew up on several Coast Guard bases. We've made many lifelong friendships with other Coast Guard families. Our son, Ryan also joined the Coast Guard in 2000 and serves at a Coast Guard unit in Oregon.
My service in the Coast Guard will allow us to enjoy a comfortable pension to begin our full time RV adventure. We look forward to getting out on the road.
From our family, we wish all the best to our all our friends. Semper Paratus (Always Ready)!
MK1 Ryan Dahl, Marti, CWO3 Paul Dahl, Heather and husband LT Brian Bedford, USNR (our Navy Son-in-Law)
Here is a video of Coasties in action. It has music attached. Enjoy!
Thanks for visiting and please feel free to leave a comment.
does this mean you sent the letter???
ReplyDeleteNo, not yet. You can see it's a hard career to give up.
ReplyDeleteI was going to ask the same thing! I bet there's a lot of camaraderie in the Coast Guard, so no wonder you're struggling licking the stamp.
ReplyDeleteNellie
Thanks for the history lesson on the Coast Guard, alway enjoy learning new things. Also, thanks for visiting our blog and leaving a comment and to answer your questioin. It looks like the post was bad as the wires inside were begining to burn up. The man at Camping World said it's because the plugs get hot and it just happens as he sees it all the time.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the coasties are busy today. I saw some of them in action on the news. They are all in my thoughts tonite.
ReplyDelete