![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Coastie-and-Horse.jpg\" "\\"Coastie")
<\/a>eafed through a copy of Life Magazine.\u00a0 There, in resplendent black and white photography, was a picture I will never forget:\u00a0 A United States Coast Guardsman was horseback. \u00a0His M1 rifle was slung on his back.\u00a0 Another picture showed his faithful German Shepherd dog.\u00a0 Together, the two were on patrol along the California beach.\u00a0 There was no trace of bell-bottomed trousers.\u00a0 His legs were clad in puttees.<\/p>\n\u201cThat\u2019s the life for me!\u201d I thought as I imagined myself mounted, armed, and in the company of that great dog.<\/p>\n
The pict Those who know me know that I can be terribly obtuse about some details.\u00a0 One of those was the issue of uniforms.\u00a0 The picture of the Coastie on horseback had lingered in my little pea-brain.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until I reported for basic training in Alameda, California that I realized the Coast Guard wore SAILOR SUITS!\u00a0 But I hate sailor suits!\u00a0 It didn\u2019t make any difference.\u00a0 Those moth-ball-smelling woolen sailor suits were issued to me and there I was, clothed in the hated cap and cape, complete with bell bottomed trousers.\u00a0 There were no stables or kennels, either.<\/p>\n While in basic training it was discovered that I had a talent for rifle-flinging.\u00a0 Into the Coast Guard\u2019s drill team I went.\u00a0 I was even held at the training center after graduation in order to march in their honor guard and teach recruits those rifle-flinging skills that I had mastered.<\/p>\n It was while in the Honor Guard that I discovered aviation.\u00a0 We were sent to march in the Seafair parade in Seattle.\u00a0 A grey bus transported us from Alameda to San Francisco International airport.\u00a0 There, the Coast Guard maintained an Air Station.\u00a0 Flashy-painted C-130 turboprops were stationed there and used for search and rescue as well as various logistical missions.\u00a0 One of those missions was to transport the band and Honor Guard to Seattle for the Seafair.\u00a0 Wearing my hated dress blues, I climbed aboard the C-130.\u00a0 I settled into the troop seats in the large, dark hold as the transport took off and climbed toward Washington.\u00a0 Once cruising, I unbelted and wandered back toward the rear \u201cscanner\u201d doors.\u00a0 There, sitting in the scanner\u2019s seat was an aircrewman.\u00a0 A Coastguardsman like me, he was dressed differently.\u00a0 He wore a green Nomex flight suit.\u00a0 A jaunty suit, its utility gave it a far better look than my own dress blues.\u00a0 I wore a \u201cDonald Duck\u201d hat, a bill-less white cap with \u201cU.S. Coast Guard\u201d on its ribbon.\u00a0 He wore a ball cap.\u00a0 \u201cS.F.\u201d was emblazoned on its front.\u00a0 It was very cool.\u00a0 The whole ensemble was perhaps made even cooler by the chewing gum on which the aircrewman chomped.<\/p>\n \u201cHmmm, this is an interesting looking life, this guy is leading\u201d, I thought.<\/p>\n I figured I\u2019d better find out a little more about this side of the Coast Guard.\u00a0 Fighting the light turbulence, I lurched over to the guy.<\/p>\n \u201cHow do you like Coast Guard Aviation\u201d, I inquired.<\/p>\n The young man looked at me casually and then, with a grin I would never forget, raised his thumb in the long-used aviator\u2019s gesture of positivity.\u00a0 \u201cChomp, chomp\u201d.<\/p>\n We were dropped off at Seattle and represented the Coast Guard in the weekend\u2019s festivities.<\/p>\n Back in Alameda, I went back to my routine until I could transfer to a school that would prepare me for a skill and a Petty Officer\u2019s rank.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t forgotten my introduction to aviation.\u00a0 And flight suits.<\/p>\n I put in for a transfer and was sent to Jacksonville Florida to be trained as an aviation electrician\u2019s mate.\u00a0 Thanks to fellow Coastie Ray Wadsworth, I discovered flying at NAS JAX, joined the JAX Navy Flying Club and was soloed by CFI Dwight Thomas.\u00a0 At the completion of six months I had a new \u201ccrow\u201d on my arm and the designation as an \u201cAviation Electrician\u2019s Mate, Third Class\u201d. I was issued orders to Coast Guard Air Station, San Francisco.<\/p>\n<\/a>ure stayed with me and when, years later, the draft loomed large and real, I remembered it and sought out the Coast Guard as the way to satisfy my military obligation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I looked long and hard and found a recruiter with a relatively short waiting list in Eugene, Oregon.\u00a0 I took the physical and waited for the call.\u00a0 The draft board was breathing down my neck, but the Coast Guard came through, calling me up just in the nick of time to beat the draft.<\/p>\n<\/a>