# Why is the Coast Guard underrepresented in fiction? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 19, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469 "2012-11-19T03:29:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/42 "2013-02-02T00:02:21Z")
Alex Haley started writing during his 20 years in the Coast Guard. He served in the Pacific during WW 2. He might be the most well known CG alum. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/43 "2013-02-02T04:29:55Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Location, location, location. The other four branches of the military can go places, both across the country and internationally, expanding storyline possibilities. The Coast Guard has very defined and limited territory. You don’t say? > **[Military Benefits News and Resources](https://www.military.com/benefits)** > > Military.com provides millions of active military, retired and veterans with benefits information including health, education, military discounts, jobs and more. [http://www.uscg.mil/history/articles/PersianGulfChron.asp](http://www.uscg.mil/history/articles/PersianGulfChron.asp) > **[U.S. Coast Guard rescues 6 Iranians in Persian Gulf | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2012/01/10/world/meast/iran-us-rescue/index.html)** > > The U.S. Coast Guard rescued six Iranian mariners at the northern end of the Persian Gulf early Tuesday, the Pentagon said. [http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online\_books/npswapa/extContent/wapa/coast\_guard/cg1.htm](http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/npswapa/extContent/wapa/coast_guard/cg1.htm) > **[Office of Legislative and Public Affairs (OD/OLPA)](https://www.nsf.gov/od/olpa)** > > NSF's mission is to advance the progress of science, a mission accomplished by funding proposals for research and education made by scientists, engineers, and educators from across the country. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/44 "2013-02-02T19:09:50Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > The other four branches, Army Navy, Air Force, and Marines seem to get a lot of love from the cinema, TV, and literature. Why is that? Lack of advertising funds? Lack of recognition from the public? Or are they (as unlikely as it sounds) just not as “sexy” as the rest? My dad was a Coastie, so I may be prejudiced on this account. Going on memory , some russian sailor jumped ship and wanted to defect to the states, and the coast guard ship that he got picked up by, handed him back to the soviets. Or am I misremembering that it was a CG ship. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/45 "2014-01-05T02:45:39Z")
You never know where the Coast Guard might turn up: [http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/04/world/antarctica-ships-stuck/index.html?hpt=hp\_t2](http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/04/world/antarctica-ships-stuck/index.html?hpt=hp_t2) ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/46 "2014-01-05T20:22:47Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > I remember an episode of **That 70s Show** where Donna’s father insisted on marching in the Veterans’ Day parade in his Coast Guard uniform, to Red Foreman’s chagrin. I think Red would have respected the Coast Guard more. Mr. Pinciotti was in the National Guard. Lt. Dangle on _Reno 911_ had been in the Coast Guard, which wouldn’t have done much for its prestige. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/47 "2014-01-05T20:57:37Z")
Here’s the USCG’s website’s [compilation of their filmography](http://www.uscg.mil/history/faqs/filmindex.asp). (My A-school was at Fort Benjamin Harrison Indiana, which had a billet for one lone CG; who was inevitably dubbed “the post coastie.”) ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/48 "2014-01-06T07:42:58Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > This despite being one of the safest branches to serve in since if anything happens to your boat you can just wade to shore. > [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > That seems…dismissive. It is. Coasties quickly get used to what passes for humor among Squids. Although the USCG is one of the Armed Forces, except in times of war, it’s NOT part of the Department of Defense. It’s missions are different. It’s been in Treasury, Transportation (when I was in it), and now it’s in Homeland Security. Its being in HS now saddens me. I saw a couple pickup trucks with CG markings pulling some 25’ boats in trailers behind them. Of course, I gave them as good of an eyeball as I could as they passed me. There was NO pump for dewatering/fire fighting, no cleats to take a boat under tow, and no deck space to take an injured person in a stokes litter. What they had were mounts fore and aft of the pilot house for machine guns. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Einstein\_was\_a\_Hippie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e99b99/32.png) [@Einstein\_was\_a\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einstein_was_a_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/49 "2014-01-06T11:08:17Z")
I served on the [USCGC Jarvis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Jarvis_(WHEC-725)) from 1982-1984. Apparanetly she was decommissioned recently and became part of the Bangladesh Navy. We were stationed at Sand Island, Honolulu and would stay one month in port. Then we would do ALPATs (Alaskan Patrols) where we would sail up to Alaska and patrol the Gulf of Alaska, the Bering Sea, and sometimes enter the Arctic Ocean. Our patrols would last 2 months then we would head back to Sand Island, stay in a month usually doing REFTRA (Refresher Training aka War Games) with the Navy out of Pearl Harbor. Then back to an ALPAT for 2 months, then back to Sand Island etc etc ad nauseum. We did all of our Shipboard firefighting, damage control and other training at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor with the Navy. Biggest deal for us was when Korean Airlines Flight 007 was shot down, we had to go racing out there and secretly try to find the black box. It was a race between us and the Russians to find it. We also seized a couple of Japanese fishing vessels during my stint there, rescued fishermen twice, and found the remains of people who died in a sailboat accident. Other than that it was sometimes 50 ft waves and 90 knot winds in the Bering Sea (major pucker factor) during the bad times, and sunrise at 10:00 AM and sunset at 3:30 PM also. Trippy to watch the sun come up, stay just above the horizon, move over a little then dip down again. Seen it light at midnight also. Navy called us “Puddle Pirates” but the reality was any stooge could get in the Navy, or the Army, or the Marines…you had to have higher ASVAB scores (at least back then) to get into the Coast Guard. Our boot camp was as tough as the Marines, and even if you went the whole distance of boot camp, if you couldn’t get tossed into an Olympic sized swimming pool, tread water for 5 minutes, swim 5 laps around that pool, and tred water for another 15 minutes, you would not graduate boot camp. But, as far as I could tell, day to day life wasn’t as stringent as the other branches as far as protocols and inspections (although we had those, too). Scheduling was nice for me, I was a cook and on the Jarvis we had a 3 on 3 off schedule. Work three days, off three days, period. Cooks had it the best. We are more likely underrepresented because we are a smaller branch, thus, fewer writers probably have direct contact with Coasties. Like someone else said, however, the Coast Guard has a presence and deep respect from the people of Alaska, that’s for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/50 "2014-01-06T16:32:55Z")
The Coast Guard stands between America and America’s favorite drugs. And you wonder why they’re not loved? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/51 "2014-01-06T16:38:23Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > It’s not just in fiction. I work for a retail chain that sells, among other things, keychains and lanyards that commemorate the military. You can display your pride in the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marines. I work in a military museum and we have Coast Guard merchandise. I’ve had a lot of people who were delightfully surprised to see we sold a few Coast Guard items. I’ve also had to explain to a few people that the Coast Guard _is_ one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces. Oddly enough we don’t have a single Coast Guard artifact in our collection. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/52 "2014-01-06T18:21:01Z")
Few fictional accounts of the army involve its role as protector of our U.S.-Canadian border. There’s some fiction covering the Mexican border, but there’s more danger there. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/53 "2014-01-06T23:44:34Z")
YO JOE! > **[Cutter (RAH)](https://gijoe.fandom.com/wiki/Cutter_(RAH))** > > Cutter is a G.I. Joe character from the A Real American Hero series. If there is one word to describe Cutter, it would have to be persistent. He actually wrote to his congressman for an appointment to get into Annapolis for two years! In the end, he... ---
**Author:** ![bunyupp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@bunyupp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bunyupp)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/54 "2014-01-07T22:42:57Z")
The Duffel Blog has a few [stories](http://www.duffelblog.com/category/coast-guard). (think Onion) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/55 "2014-01-07T22:49:54Z")
> [@bunyupp](#): > > The Duffel Blog has a few [stories](http://www.duffelblog.com/category/coast-guard). (think Onion) Funny stuff - thanks! The Lincoln ad popup (on the back of a grizzly bear, toting a machine gun) was good, too. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/56 "2014-08-27T02:05:03Z")
The Coast Guard’s back in the news, firing on an Iranian fishing boat: [http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/world/u-s-coast-guard-iran-incident/index.html?hpt=hp\_t2](http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/world/u-s-coast-guard-iran-incident/index.html?hpt=hp_t2) ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/57 "2014-08-27T02:42:46Z")
As a former Coastie, I’d say it was poor marksmanship by the crew of the Monomoy. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/58 "2014-08-28T23:36:16Z")
It’s not just in media that the Coast Guard gets overlooked. The USCG has a station on Hatteras Island in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, and Bankers have a long tradition of sending their sons (and now, daughters) to serve. Furthermore, the Coast Guard used to maintain the seven historic lighthouses along the North Carolina coast. But there’s no memorial to the Guard anywhere that I know of in the islands. There is, however, Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station, a restored facility of one of the Guard’s ancestor services in Rodanthe. Seems to me that it would also be a perfect place for a small Coast Guard museum. Or, if not there, then in the Graveyard Of The Atlantic Museum in Hatteras Village, which, last time I saw it, had a nice big building with not nearly enough to fill it. But I don’t think either of those suggestions have ever been floated. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/59 "2014-08-29T00:31:05Z")
There are displays as to the Life-Saving Service and the Coast Guard at both the North Carolina Aquarium in Manteo, and at Owens’ Restaurant in Nags Head, N.C. [http://www.ncaquariums.com/](http://www.ncaquariums.com/) > **[Local Seafood Restaurant in Nags Head 🦐 Owens' Restaurant](https://owensrestaurant.com/)** > > For 78 years, Owens' Restaurant has served Fresh Local Seafood in Nags Head Outer Banks 🦀 Steaks, Shellfish, & More Coastal South Cuisine ---
**Author:** ![CheshireKat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheshirekat/32/1207_2.png) [@CheshireKat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheshireKat)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/60 "2014-08-29T01:44:47Z")
> [@Einstein\_was\_a\_Hippie](#): > > Like someone else said, however, the Coast Guard has a presence and deep respect from the people of Alaska, that’s for sure. And you have my deep respect and the respect of every other serious sailor I have known, on all three coasts. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469/61 "2014-08-29T03:48:38Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > There are displays as to the Life-Saving Service and the Coast Guard at both the North Carolina Aquarium in Manteo, and at Owens’ Restaurant in Nags Head, N.C. > > [http://www.ncaquariums.com/](http://www.ncaquariums.com/) > [http://www.owensrestaurant.com/](http://www.owensrestaurant.com/) Glad to see that. I didn’t know - when we’re in the OBX, we rarely get north of Buxton (and frankly avoid Nag’s Head like the plague). But still, a honest-to-Neptune museum seems to make a lot of sense, especially for the Graveyard Of The Atlantic Museum in Hatteras Village. I found out today that the Midgett family (which has lived in the OBX for three centuries) numbers 150 USCG veterans, including about 30 currently serving, among its members. There’s even a cutter named after one of them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-coast-guard-underrepresented-in-fiction/641469.md?page=4)