Source: U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary

WASHINGTON – If you’ve ever had a problem on the water, you know how much a friend’s assistance can be.

Put your self on your boat…your fuel gauge fails and you run out of fuel on the open water…what do you do?

Sure, you can call on a commercial towing service, and spend hundreds of dollars trying to get back to your home dock. Or, just maybe a member of your local flotilla has a five-gallon can of gas and can come to your rescue.

That’s just one of the many benefits that you can enjoy as a member of a U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary flotilla. Comradery. Not to mention doing something meaningful that might help protect the environment or…yes…result in actually saving another person’s life.

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary offers any citizen 17 years or older an opportunity to give back something to their community while enjoying the benefits of being a member of the only Congressionally-authorized auxiliary of a military unit in the U.S.

If your talent is teaching, the Auxiliary offers countless courses on boating safety that are made available to the public for little cost…and your teaching skills just might save a boater’s life.

Or maybe you own a boat and want to offer it for use on missions such as search and rescue or routine patrols that help the Coast Guard by taking on a share of duties that the Coast Guard would otherwise have to undertake.

Regardless of what you do in “real life”, there’s a place for you in the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Just call a flotilla in your area and learn first hand what you can do for your fellow man…and how you can benefit yourself.