Mission Statement


				*THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE AFRICAN - AMERICAN RETIRED COAST GUARD OFFICERS ASSSOCIATION* *Mission Statement*



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President John F. Kennedy noticed the absence of black cadets from the Coast Guard at his inaugural parade and pressed the Service to integrate the cadet corps.

Changing Guard

Isle of Shoals, New Hampshire

The Mission of the Association shall be:

Sentinel of the Sea

"Sentinel of the Sea"

1. To support the needs and assigned duties of the United States Coast Guard.

2. To encourage young Black American men and women to seek the Coast Guard as a career.

3. To promote affirmative action programs to the Coast Guard in the recruitment and retention of enlisted and officer personnel.

4. To encourage the promotion of qualified Black officers within the Coast Guard.

5. To support legislative action and other programs designed to secure for Black veterans from all the service branches the remuneration and benefits they deserve.

6. To encourage membership in the Association for all individuals who have a common interest in the above purposes, and to sponsor recreational and social activities for that membership and their families where they can associate and interact in a spirit of friendship, brotherhood and sisterhood.

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BECOMING AN OFFICER IN THE COAST GUARD

The Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, has undergone many changes since World War II. Following the war, the Candidates for Reserve Commission School was cut back and moved to Yorktown, Virginia. As the Officers' Candidate School, it now provides roughly half the new ensigns for the Service. The Coast Guard Academy had educated and trained almost all the officers between 1877 and 1942. Very few blacks had been graduated before 1961.

The Academy cadet corps has fluctuated in size since World War II. Enrollment dropped to just under 300 following the war. It rose gradually to around 600 in the early 1960s, and during the Vietnam War rose to more than 1200 in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s. Following the Vietnam War, the cadet corps dropped back to around 750. It is now stabilized at around 900.

Postwar changes in Coast Guard operations and the changing size of the cadet corps have affected the Academy curriculum and organization. Until 1966, all cadets majored in engineering, studied the same courses for four years, and attended classes in the same cadet section for those four years. In 1966 cadets were given the option of studying engineering or humanities. A few years later, ocean science was added as an option, and by the 1970s cadets enjoyed 13 options. As the cadet corps size dropped from its Vietnam War high, the options were changed to majors and reduced to the current seven: civil engineering, electrical engineering, naval architecture and marine engineering, marine science, mathematics and computer science, management, and government.

All cadets graduate with a bachelor of science degree in one of the majors, and all cadets must complete 25 core courses that are heavily weighted in engineering, mathematics, and science. The remaining 15 courses taken by cadets are determined by their choice of major.

All Academy cadets receive an Ensign's commission in the Coast Guard. They take required courses in nautical science each year at the Academy. They go to sea for a total of 23 weeks, and they live under a military system in the Academy barracks. Coast Guard Academy cadets stiil enjoy their first seagoing experience as cadets under sail on board the sailing ship Eagle, a German war prize taken in World War II, during their first summer in New London.

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If this Association had, as its members, only retired African-American officers from the Coast Guard, it would be a small organization indeed.

But it's not.

And we welcome as new members, American citizens from all races who simply join with us in the commonality and purposes of our Mission Statement.

New applicants can email us at uscgretminofficers@yahoo.com.

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was never a member of the Coast Guard but it goes without saying we think he would have approved of our Mission Statement.

This Association, too, has a dream, and it is for an America, and a Coast Guard, which respect equality and are committed to the defense of freedom.

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And don't forget that in 2004 this Association will be one of the veterans' groups underwriting both the Washington D.C. and the Tampa Bay Veterans Yellow Pages, which will both be published on the Internet and also universally distributed in traditional Yellow Pages format throghout the large African-American communities in those two geographical areas. So don't forget to advertise, and also to patronize your black-owned advertisers.

For more information, go to the Veterans Yellow pages website at http://home.talkcity.com/commercest/vetsyellowpages/sales.

You may have to type this url in manually on your own address bar since the proxy servlets between Lycos and TalkCity from time to time seem to have difficulty making the automatic link.