Eighth District Coastal Region, Division 1 Flotilla 1-9 Panama City Beach, Florida

Training

The overarching mission of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is to contribute to the safety and security of our citizens, ports, waterways and coastal regions. We will balance our missions of Recreational Boating Safety and Coast Guard Support with Maritime Homeland Security and other challenges that emerge as a result of our growing understanding of changes required in the post 9/11 era. That is the mission of the Auxiliary. To accomplish that mission to the fullest extent our members must be trained. The Coast Guard Auxiliary has an in-depth training program.

Training begins with the qualification of crewman. The Auxiliary Boat Crew Training and Qualification Guide specifies the standards required to become certified as a Crewman on an operational Coast Guard Auxiliary boat facility. The next level up, is the qualification as a coxswain. Those qualification standards are found in the Coxswain Qualification Guide. Both of these Qualification Guides outline a successful Auxiliary Boat Crew Training Program. The Qualification Guides  outlines standards for the training of both crewman and coxswain on Coast Guard Auxiliary operational boat facilities.

To be successful, boat crew training includes significant amounts of underway time in boat operations. Most of the training requirements in this program can be accomplished coincidental with multi-mission operations. When the frequency or tempo of operations does not provide sufficient underway opportunities, the Operations Officer, in conjunction with the Member Training Officer, schedules training patrols in addition to classroom or on the dock training.