Well, odly enough, I did spend a tour on a Coast Guard ship, that was 77 - 79 on the USCGC Comanche out of Eureka, California. It was probably the worst, and the best, two years of my career. Worst in the fact that we patroled the Pacific, which was not, by any stretch of the imagination, peaceful. Best because it was independent duty (I was the only Electronics Technician) and I had to make sure everything worked.

When we had our refresher training in San Diego with the Navy, they were surprized that a ship with all the electronics on board as we had, only had one ET on board. But it was as much fun as it was a pain in the butt. We were out for 10 days, in for 10 days, out for 10 days... and so on. When we were in, we were on 2 hour recall, and often got recalled and headed out.

But, after that, I spent most of my time on terra-firma (land) at various engineering commands within the Coast Guard. I even spent a four year tour with the National Weather Service (Mississippi and trips to South America via Panama Canal Zone). Neat stuff.

Japan was Loran C duty. One year on a 3/4 square mile island, 800 miles from the nearest land. Interesting is a good way to describe that. (Google Earth coordinates: 24 17 18.20 N, 153 58 44.22 E ) You can cut and paste that into Google earth if you wish.

Anyway, I didn't much enjoy going to sea, but worked well with those that did..

CGr.