On Thu, 23 Nov 2017 19:21:44 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

wrote:
On Thu, 23 Nov 2017 05:20:40 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 11/22/2017 6:51 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 22 Nov 2017 14:44:56 -0500, John H
wrote:

We did CS (tear gas) but never did the pepper spray drill:

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...y-3-years.html

Nothing like that in the Coast Guard and the Norfolk cops did not have
spray. They just beat the **** out of you.



The Coast Guard now does pepper spray as part of side arm
qualifications. My grandson recently went through it.

I am really not surprised. They have changed from a search and rescue
operation to a police force. I suppose that is really just a throw
back to their roots. They were originally enforcing federal import tax
laws and stopping smugglers in "Revenue Cutters".
That is probably the service that changed missions the most in the US
over the years. When I was there we were doing missions that the Navy
should have been doing and that started in WWII, continuing up into
the 70s. I had a shield on my sleeve but I was really in the Navy
Reserve.
The CG does not even have FTs now from what I can tell.


What was an FT?

Fire Control Tech. Once they gave all of the ships we had with 5" guns
away to the Vietnamese, there was no fire control equipment on a
cutter so the writing was on the wall.
I suppose they all got rolled into the Gunners Mate rate if they had
not already left or retired. We were Gunners Mates anyway. That is one
reason I tried to change my rate. It would have actually opened up my
opportunities and I might have even stayed around, at least in the
reserves. I had the GM 3&2 courses on the books before I got my FT
crow.