Armed Forces

[McGruff]

Is that military?

 

[Ripper]

Sgt. M. A. Fitzgerald's imitation of a Coastie:

"Bale for Customs, bale for me. Bale for Customs, bale for me." etc. etc.

 

[AD]

I am almost a 100% sure that coast guard ships in Britain are not armed. There aren't even alot of boats. They rely on getting boats and funding from charity. The personnel definately would have anything more than a flare gun. Not even most Brittish cops are armed. Only the Brittish equivelant of SWAT teams are armed. The rest only have batons and CS spray.

Yeah, thats part of the point. In the us the Coast Guard is essentialy military while only a step away in Canada (like many places elsewhere in the world) the Coast Guard is not afiliated with the military per se.

http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/vessels-navires/main_e.htm
http://www.mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/cg/ops/roc.htm

Part of the role of the Canadian Coast Guard is described as follows:

a single point of contact for the RCMP Coastal Watch program for the receipt and dissemination of reports concerning suspicious vessel activities;

So they have closer ties to the RCMP (police) than the Navy. Interestingly it seems as if it actualy is under the jurisdiction of the DFO (department of fisheries and ocean) with has a lot to do with controling fisheries, (conservation) and such. Aparently you dont go to any Boot Camp to be a Coast Guard officer but rather a specific college.

(interesting side note: My father-in-law - before early retirement - was with Environment Canada, which is essential the department that looks after weather stations and offices and puts out the weather forcasts and such and was a bit into the research part, flying around in the arctic and sailing through the Ice flows on Icebreakers (which acording to the list are actually coast guard vessels). Another time He was posted on the weather monitoring station on Sable Island for awhile. He can be seen there in an issue of National Geographic (1960's era, dont remember the date but it has fighter jets on the cover))

Sable Island: http://collections.ic.gc.ca/sableisland/english_en/index_en.htm

Sable Island, 300 km south-east of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, is renowned for its wild horses and shipwrecks. It is also an island with a fascinating geology and natural history that reflect the challenge of surviving wind, waves and isolation.

For many sailors, this sandy island hidden by waves, storms and fog meant death and destruction. Since 1583 there have been over 350 recorded shipwrecks on Sable Island. The map shows locations of known wrecks.

Map:http://collections.ic.gc.ca/sableisland/images_im/history_hi/graveyard_gr/EnglishMapLarge.gif

An overly simplistic description of the island would be that it's basicaly a big huge sand dune out in the middle of the ocean.

 

[criticalmass]

Oh my, seems like I'm the only grunt in here. And not even a real one.

1 year Army training camp coordination, a couple of months of transport coordination for Desert Storm (the UN part), 5 years active reserve & IT projects, after that I'm in passive reserve. Now I'm doing consulting jobs for the German & Swiss army.

 

[Happy Camper]

Cool where abouts in Scotland is she from.

Glasgow.

 

[Porthos]

I ship out to Air Force basic on October 25th.

 

[Sgt_thomson]

Happy Camper Quote:
Originally Posted by Sgt_thomson
Cool where abouts in Scotland is she from.

Glasgow

My mum is from Glasgow too.

 

[Happy Camper]

Excellent. Rangers or Celtic?

 

[AD]

If you go back far enough, apparently I'm from scotland too.


Somewhere around 1852 some of the the Dunbars (my last name) moved here to Canada (although that would be before confederacy probably). I guess before that they lived somewhere called Millbank, not that I know where that is.

Mind you though, if your going back, I'm also from england (sherwood, jefferson), france (langille, cossett) , germany (wentzell), china (lee), and almost for sure north america.

 

[Quarto]

Mind you though, if your going back, I'm also from england (sherwood, jefferson), france (langille, cossett) , germany (wentzell), china (lee), and almost for sure north america.

Of course, some would point out that if you go back far enough, you're from Africa .