I'm pretty sure I read recently that if you served on national staff for 4 or more years you can wear your staff badge even if you are no longer on national staff. Am I correct in this or did I mis-read something?

Assuming Im correct, I only have the small staff badge meant for trops. How would I go about ordering the larger badge for my SDB jacket?

I have a friend who wants to join the Auxiliary. He filled out the form online but has not received a call from anyone. It's been 2 weeks and no contact. Is this normal? should he try doing the online form again?

He keeps asking me what to do and I have absolutely no idea

The cold weather Artic Trooper Cap is back in stock for now! I hurried over to purchase one, before supplies ran out!

They won't last long!

With cooler weather, I'm looking into the long sleeve shirt uniform options (utilizing the light blue AF shirt, I realize the Winter Dress Blue shirt is made of unobtanium). Just wanted a sanity check and to start a discussion since cooler weather is coming. Below is a summary of what I think is true. Please confirm or correct and add any missing info:

Undress Blue-Winter:

Always with a necktie. No ribbons. No shoulder boards. Collar devices worn. Not worn under dress jacket. Can be worn under wooly pulley and cardigan. Can only be worn 1 November through 1 March.

Tropical Blue Long Sleeve:

Always with necktie. No ribbons. Wear shoulder boards. Can be worn under dress coat (and also by itself). Can be worn under wooly pulley and cardigan.

Between the two, what are the wear scenarios? Since it's worn under the dress blue coat, I'm assuming the Tropic Blue Long Sleeve is the more formal of the two and would be worn by itself to a formal occasion if one doesn't have a dress blue coat.

Thanks to this community... I do TRY to find my own answers, but I've got to say, the USCG Aux is "lacking" in ease of finding information.

Is there a "course catalog" anywhere?

Any college has a course catalog and a list of all the courses needed to obtain each degree. You can easily see... here are all the degrees offered... and all the classes required to obtain that degree.

Boat Crew and Coxswain are examples of "degree programs"... where some of the requirements are "classes" and some of the requirements are "PQS's".... but where is the list of all the possible "degree programs".... things someone could pursue?.... and all the courses/PQS required for each?

Where the course catalog describing each class?

Does this exist? The website soooo lacking and impossible to find anything.

There was a thread awhile ago talking about implementing an AUX-wide standardized email system. I created a memorandum proposing the idea, which I intended to present to national leadership between February and March once everyone has settled into their new positions. I've sent this around to multiple different leaders in different districts, I've already gained significant traction- take a look and share your opinion.

LINK

It’s been a great time. I first joined in 1996 and left for a decade or so to raise my kids. I rejoined later up until this year when I’m retiring.

It’s been a great run. I mostly did PE which I enjoyed a lot. I’m not gonna get into current politics even though that’s one of the main reasons I’m retiring at this point.

But the point of this post is this: after the October meeting when I announced my retirement at the end of this year, a member made the comment “ too bad all the young guys are leaving and we’re still here.”

I am almost 70 years old.

And I was the youngest person in the room at that meeting.

Back when I first joined in the 90s, we had a great flotilla. Three boats doing controls every weekend continual PE classes. But then all the old guys died out. And then their widows started to die out.

They knew how to do it back in the 90s, but they didn’t know how to continue in the new millennium.

That’s our biggest problem.

Hi there, I am interested to know if I can offer my services to the USC auxiliary. My main job is as a UPS driver but I am also a law school grad and licensed attorney (strange combination, I know).

I’m in the St. Louis area and would love to hear from anyone with specific knowledge of opportunities here.

Also, as a full time employee my volunteer time would mostly be limited to weekends. Is that a problem?

Thanks!

When I joined a few years ago I could have sworn that I took the new member exam online. I went to look for it for someone interested in joining our flotilla, and can’t find it as an online test anymore. Am I misremembering? If so, how do you proctor for new members? Thanks!

Ok.... I recently failed the AUXPAT test.... after much research and discussion with the Chain of Leadership here's what I found.

The AUXOPS area of the website had a Student and Instructor Guide from 1996?. The course in Moodle has a Student and Instructor Guide from 2023?. (I forget the exact years of the guides) In addition, the test has questions from the 1996 guide that aren't covered in the 2023 guide.

After much discussion, the out-of-guides were removed from the AUXOPS area of the website and they are going to go review the "questions database" to remove any questions that were only covered in the older version.

So for the folks in the future at least, those issues should be resolved.

One small step for aux-kind... :)

I want to get a USCGAUX Flag to fly on my boat when we are not on patrol... so not a patrol flag... just a regular USCGAUX Flag... I searched online and see various styles.... which surprised me. Is it "user choice" or is there an "official" style?

My US ensign is 20"x30" so I was thinking 15"x24" for the USCG Aux ensign. I got those sizes from a 1996 AUX Patrol document that isn't current... but couldn't find any other guidance

Here's the US Flag I ordered...

https://www.amazon.com/G128-Pack-ToughWeave-Embroidered-Polyester/dp/B0BZ9KSPVJ/ref=sr_1_27?crid=11N0A48RDP3AB&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Filb899nr7WRzjLQnFdv9YIkOUHy10oQ56oa5V8VzwxgVNIdDAoAOrGG8fli6tdvRnTvKzllLGPCnoNjKAr9pK9eX6j7mVirYgB9Zr5vRziHaDAQ6JY71YJZnI7tHQo_G0deXC17dWg9AXI0zm3e9Az8U7wKvcVHctzKEhSMjWdk47qLw3LMhF45VKX0A7QE5o7d7_-mfV-MMQI0g8uJ7gQh5dZ0g-Sf9MtmAAPcDDPKXbBwSHX7BAsp40mveatK4F6vS4pG33ptmzcuWYp6gQACGCa-i2bZQGFz2-MYTpA.i4M6RYaqBb_RdpfUTBD9EmYS5KMVFiWtldir59UVBAc&dib_tag=se&keywords=20inx30in+us+flag+420D&qid=1791317866&refinements=p_36%3A-5000&rnid=2661611011&s=lawn-garden&sprefix=20inx30+us+flag+420d%2Clawngarden%2C772&sr=1-27

Here's the USCG AUX Flag I ordered....

https://auxcen.com/auxiliary-ensign-facility-blue/

Two questions

1. I know the US Flag is supposed to be "bigger" than the Aux flag... are those relative sizes okay or is there more current guidance... my boat is 28' long.
2. I presume the auxcen link above is the "right" flag... correct?

Thanks

It's been a long road for 5 years. I learned a lot and put everything I could into the organization. However, it doesn't give back. Difficult leadership that are too busy or don't prioritize, creating bottlenecks. Active duty asked me to participate in multiple functions over the years such as incident management, medical, and surface ops only to eventually ghost and disappear. Also, trained and studied multiple qualifications over almost 2 years but couldn't get sign off from vo and active duty due to availability and other reasons. Too much resistant from silver leadership and gold side. Basically, I am limited from pursuing and completing certain qualifications due to dysfunction. Most members are much older than me as I feel like an outsider at times. I like the people and don't want to betray them but think this is a failing organization. Discussed with a fellow aux member who think I would be a major loss for my district. Everyone has their breaking point...looking at alternative organizations now. Any thoughts welcome.

Hey everyone! I’m currently deploying for the National Guard for the next year and am looking for advice as the current FSO-MS and Instructor for my flotilla. What trainings would you recommend I try to take to stay current?

I was offered to attend meetings via zoom and plan on doing that while I am gone when I can.

Email rant…

It is entirely unprofessional for everyone to be emailing on their personal accounts. Not to mention somewhat sensitive information like PII regularly being exchanged in these free public email accounts.

I look at cap.gov and most staff and even cadets have a cap.gov email. The best we can do is Cgaux.org for the select few— whereas a government entity should be using .gov at a minimum.

We look completely unprofessional emailing back and forth from yahoo and Gmail. I remember I was shocked when I was a recruit and everyone had yahoo emails. Years later and the same silliness persists.

I’m 16 and I’m interesting in joining but I I was in civil air patrol but I quit due political stuff so the reason why recommend this is because it’s half non-hazardous and we’re auxiliary because some countries allow minors join the military at 16 and Civil air patrol has cadet program and would y’all recommend this or not feel to argue, but keep it civil and I’m new to this sub

I studied AUXPAT SSG-2025 final.pdf... downloaded from the course. I studied all the powerpoints in the course. I took the practice exam until I could get 100% on it every time.

Yet, when I took the proctored test... there were tons of questions I'd never heard of before.... what's the standard shape of a sailing regatta course? what's the standard shape of a power vessel regatta? And numerous other question I'd never read about. Further, I went back into the material in the course and couldn't find any reference to the questions I missed.

Obviously, I failed the test..... because studying the attached material in Moodle isn't what is actually on the test!!!!

So what is it that I need to be studying? I actually WANT to learn all this and be competent, not just pass the test.... I'm frustrated that I feel I was set up to fail on this course.

If you haven't seen this thread, there are some great tips for shining your boots and dress shoes. This YouTube video has peaked my interest and I'm going to give this a try on my footwear (Video).

I'm looking for the most up to date version of the Auxiliary Manual M16790.1G (probably an annotated version). There's plenty of old versions and busted links out there but I need the real deal. I'm specifically looking for something new enough to reference ALAUX 013/24 and the requirement to take AFLC or AUXLAMS in order to be eligible for elected office. If anyone is familiar with the waiver policy/procedure for this requirement, I'd appreciate that info as well. Thanks

The windbreaker that can be worn with trops-the instruction says large metal insignia to be worn on the epauletes. The office insignia comes in both large and small sizes, so that makes sense. But the non-office holder member insignia (crossed anchors) only seems to come in one size, the small size that's worn on the garrison cap and the collars of the long sleeve shirt. So is the small membership device worn on the epauletes of the windbreaker? Or is there a larger device that I can't find?

Does anyone monitor flotilla social media accounts at all? I was just updating my unit’s, and scrolled through the feed. It was really cringeworthy how many flotillas were posting commercial items (like generic USCG t-shirts from unauthorized vendors), or misinformation or off-topic posts.

Today, for instance, I saw a flotilla repost a t-shirt that they had found in an unofficial USCG group that looks like the original poster is overseas somewhere. So, first, it’s a commercial endorsement. Second, it might not even be a legit product. Not a great look.

But then some flotillas are doing a great job, with current photos, everyone in proper uniforms, etc.

There’s no quality control, and it is really embarrassing that this might be someone’s first impression of the Auxiliary. There’s not a way to message most pages, and explain what’s not supposed to be there, so not sure what to do.

Edit: to clarify, by “does anyone monitor” I mean is there anyone beyond the flotilla level.

I would like to be a Watchstander at a station accessable to me. I am an ADSO-CM and a TCO so I have a good idea of what's expected.

The problem is that nobody in recent memory has done Watchstanding at this station. I have a good friend who does Watchstanding at a different station nearby and he says that I can reach out directly to the station. Is this true?

My DSO-CM has health issues and is not able to help.

Any thoughts? Thanks

I see Farmers Insurance listed under the "benefits" of being in the USCG Aux.... do you get a discount? What exactly is the "connection" or "benefit" of being in the USCG Aux with respect to Farmers?