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Meet the Coast Guard Auxiliary
photo: Norm Heller and Ted Tulis
address a class on tides and currents
Introduction & Brief History
The Coast Guard Auxiliary was established by Congress in June, 1939 to assist the Coast Guard in promoting boating safety. It is presently comprised of more than 33,000 members from all walks of life who are drawn together by their love of the water and their willingness to serve other boaters.
The Coast Guard is a military service -- one of the five armed forces of the United States. In addition to its military duties the Coast Guard is charged with many responsibilities that are civil in nature. Thus, in times of peace the Coast Guard reports to the Department of Transportation rather than the Department of Defense. The Auxiliary is an official element of the Coast Guard, which also includes active-duty officers and enlisted personnel, the Coast Guard Reserve, Coast Guard retirees and a civilian work force. Together they constitute "Team Coast Guard" -- the Twenty-first Century organization designed to carry on a century-old tradition of those who serve on the water. Among these elements only the Auxiliary consists of unpaid volunteers.
In contrast to active duty personnel and reserves, the Auxiliary is specifically declared by statute to be nonmilitary; it functions entirely within the sphere of the civil responsibilities of the Coast Guard.
The 1996 Coast Guard Reauthorization Act states "The purpose of the Auxiliary is to assist the Coast Guard, as authorized by the Commandant, in performing any Coast Guard function, power, duty, role, mission, or operation authorized by law...." In essence, all Coast Guard missions and activities are open to Auxiliary personnel except direct law enforcement and military operations; the term "Team Coast Guard" is used to describe the entire Coast Guard family, of which the Auxiliary is an integral part.
It used to be that wealthy people owned uniquely designed one-off boats and kept them in large boathouses on pristine lakes where the owners employed folks to keep their vessels running and shiny. That's largely finished now -- something like one out of every eight Americans owns and operates a boat. The rich still own them, but so do all the rest of us. The problem is there are a great many boats competing for limited space on the waterways, and many boat operators do not have any idea about the rules and regulations that are supposed to govern their activities. In the old days you "had people" to do it for you. Now, you had better know how to do it for yourself, and do it properly. That's where the Auxiliary comes into the picture.
Auxiliarists assist the Coast Guard in non-law enforcement programs such as public education, boat safety inspections, on-the-water safety patrols, search and rescue missions, marine environmental protection, watch standing and command positions at shore stations, on-board duties at sea, and Coast Guard Academy introduction programs for young Americans. Auxiliary members volunteer approximately two million hours annually to benefit other boaters and their families -- numbers that are rising after the wake-up call on 11 September 2001. And they have a lot of fun doing it.
Auxiliarists are authorized to wear uniforms that are essentially identical to those of Coast Guard officers but with distinctive insignia and devices. Braid and buttons are silver as contrasted to gold, and Auxiliary devices contain an embedded "A" in blue or red enamel. Auxiliarists hold "office" instead of "rank," e.g., while a flotilla commander and a Coast Guard first lieutenant both wear two silver bars, the Auxiliarist was elected to his position by his peers, while the active duty officer was advanced to his rank by his superiors. For a schematic outline of relevant insignia and devices click here.
This is the Web site for Flotilla 33, Division 3, Fifth Coast Guard District (Southern Region), serving the boating public on and around Northern Neck, Virginia -- the peninsula lying between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers on the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay.
Our area of responsibility (AOR) extends from Smith Point at the mouth of the Potomac River south to Stingray Point at the entrance to the Rappahannock River, and up the Rappahannock River to Towles Point and Urbanna. This AOR overlaps in the north with Flotilla 3-10 based at Callao in Northumberland County, and in the south with Flotilla 62 based at Deltaville in Middlesex County. Our operations are generally conducted under the direction of Coast Guard Station Milford Haven -- a Group Hampton Roads station located behind Gwynn Island on the south side of the Piankatank River.
Our flotilla meets at 1930 on the second Monday of each month in the activity room of the Grace Episcopal Church on Main Street in Kilmarnock, Virginia. The first third of the meeting is generally devoted to business and staff officer reports, the second third to a substantive presentation by an Auxiliarist or an expert guest, and the last third to socializing over coffee, soda and snacks. Visitors and potential new members are always welcome and made to feel so with a minimum of fuss. Invitations are not required, and visitors will be quite comfortable in informal dress.
How the Auxiliary is Organized and Integrated
Organization of the Auxiliary, listed in order of most general focus (highest position of authority -- to the extent that that concept has meaning) to the most specific area of focus is as follows:
The Auxiliary functions within the operational responsibility and under the direction of the Commandant of the Coast Guard. The Chief Director, Auxiliary, is a Coast Guard officer at headquarters who is assigned to oversee the Auxiliary. The Chief Director (DIRAUX) is the Commandant's representative at the national level.
The headquarters Auxiliary administrative and policy structure is headed by the National Commodore, who leads the National Executive Committee, which functions as the coordinator for all Auxiliary programs.
Headed by a District Commodore, the District provides administrative and supervisory support to divisions, promulgates policy of the district commander, and promotes national Auxiliary policy.
Headed by a Division Captain, the Division Board and appointed staff provide administrative, training, and supervisory support for area flotillas and leadership and policy guidance as received from the district officers above. The Division Board consists of an elected captain and vice captain, the Immediate Past Division Captain, and the elected flotilla commanders in the division. Our Division 3 Board meets monthly in Richmond, Virginia.
Each flotilla is led by an elected Flotilla Commander and Vice Commander. The flotilla commander appoints a staff with functional responsibilities. This is the basic organizational unit of the Auxiliary and the working level that translates programs into actions.
A sub-unit of a flotilla, not an independent unit. Formation of a detachment enables a small group of three or more Auxiliarists to carry out Auxiliary activities. It allows them to recruit and keep members in remote areas not having enough members to charter or maintain a full strength flotilla. At the present time Flotilla 33 has no detachments.
Click here for Staff Structure
