Hey there boats, very glad to have you looking at the Aux.
The uniform is pretty much bang-on exactly what you're used to. You do indeed have to take your rank tabs off of your ODU's, and Trops and you DO get to wear your ribbons earned while on active duty (true of any branch). You'll also have to get used to the idea that there are no enlisted ranks in the Aux. Everyone is pretty much treated like an officer even though there is no military command authority. The "rank" you might earn is not rank in the classic sense but is instead considered a sort of rank of office. That means for your Trops you'll be wearing shoulder boards as soon as you are officially 'in' and I'd be floored if you weren't offered a slot in the Flotilla Staff Officer position or even Division Staff Officer position as soon as possible upon your joining. Let's face it, you're better trained and better qualified to train others than most Aux. can hope to be. Thus, you'll likely be tapped to do what you know very quickly.

If money's not too tight, I recommend you also get a boat and go ahead and qualify as an Aux. Cox. as soon as you can. It's not outrageously hard, about as difficult getting qualified as crew on a 25 without the law enforcement part. You should breeze through it. I'd also recommend you apply your knowledge of radio procedures and navigation. There is a hungry need for that in the Aux. along with Search and Rescue procedures.

You will be an extra important asset to the Aux. because you actually know how things work in the CG and more, you will continue to have access to some things that run-of-the-mill Aux. cannot do. If your unit has a picnic you can buy beer at the exchange. Regular Aux. cannot. Same with Smokes. I believe you will even continue to have access to some really sweet deals for Disney tickets and other discounts that regular Aux. cannot get. You may be very popular in your unit.

One other thing, as a 30 something you'll likely be one of the youngest in your unit. You may well end up serving alongside a retired ADM from the Navy or a bird Colonel from the Air Force. Take it in stride and feel free to trade expertise and stories. Some of it's extremely cool. One guy in my unit was a Machinists Mate 2nd Class on a Navy K-ship blimp in WW II and honestly it's super cool listening to stories about trading booze to the natives for fresh fruit and hunting Nazi subs.

One other thing, so long as it doesn't violate your medical condition you should be able to keep up your quals on many things you earned in the active duty. The O in C will have final say but if they say you can keep up with your certification on a 41 or a non-standard boat, you should be able to do so. You might have to figure out how to get things strait in the TMT and other computer systems but it should be do-able if you wish to. Comms and shore duty should not be a problem either. There's one Aux. guy down at Air Station Miami who serves as the ODO when he's available. I know other Aux. that serve from time to time on black hulls. So long as your medical situation doesn't get in the way you can still do whatever you want to do.

You'll NOT be able to keep your certs as a boarding officer. Sorry but as Aux. you're not allowed to exert deputized law enforcement authority nor shooting combat operations. You can drive the boats or run the radios for such ops but no guns for you. Also, you're not supposed to handle CG active duty funds. You're no longer under the UCMJ so I guess they don't want you handling money or bang bangs.

LOL, NO Guns WHAT, i currenttly working as a part time cop, so i have no want to carry a gun. i just figure i will miss meeting people on the water and doing public edu for people, and help fellow boaters in distress. And i was the one who qualified the Aux Boatcrew members at south padre island and loved hearing the storys, and the differnces between service life, and i already have all the uniform stuff thats a huge cost to the aux members thanks for the reply Dustin

Hey there DTBM2,
Where are you? One of the cool things about Aux. is that you can choose your own AOR and (mostly) serve with the folks you want to serve with on the assets/facilities you want to serve on. Will you be over here on the East Coast or down in the Gulf or up in the Great lakes or out west?

Just wondering.

Also, you interested in aviation? You can do on-the-water stuff and also do airborne stuff at the same time in the Aux. and it's way cool.

I think one particularly neat option you might pursue with the Aux. is getting certified for PWC (Jetski) duty. I don't believe they have anything like that in the active duty but for the Aux. it's one of those neat missions for things like close-in patrols of small marinas and even acting as a safety watch over some water events like across-the-river (or bay, or lake) swimming events. I would expect that in Ohio you'll end up doing a lot of fresh water stuff on the small lakes and rivers and maybe some Great Lakes duty up north.

I would also highly recommend you hook up with an Aux. Air unit and get into aviation. It's fun and really worthwhile. If you were down in FLA you may have heard some of the Aux. Air guys flying patrols between there and Cuba and also maybe some of the patrols covering the oil spill in the gulf. Good stuff that. Very meaningful work and darn cool to boot. Take a look at http://a091.uscgaux.info/auxair9cr.php and see if there's anything you might be interested in. If you do get involved with AuxAir you'll probably be working with some of the guys at AirSta Detroit or AirSta Traverse City but the AuxAir flotilla may be based quite a bit closer to you since 100 miles in the air (at 140 knots) isn't anywhere near as much of an issue as it would be on the water.

One other thing, you don't have to specifically be a member of a particular aviation flotilla to get certified and fly with that flotilla. You can be a member of a flotilla close to your home but still fly or go on-the-water with a flotilla somewhere else if they're willing to work with you. With that you can be a member of an on-the-water flotilla in Cincinnati but fly with a flotilla's air facilities out of Toledo. As a further thing to keep in mind the AuxAir flotilla might not keep all of their airplanes in one place. My Flotilla has 10 airplanes based in 5 different small or medium sized airports and 2 are located at private fields. Some are over 100 miles away from our flotilla HQ in Gaithersburg, MD and it doesn't get in the way of operations. It does mean a longer drive for some of the pilots and crew when we have monthly meetings but such is life.