The US Coast Guard is 217 years old today and they figure they have saved more than 1 Million people in that time....
After reviewing old log books and records dating back nearly to 1790, when Congress created the 10-boat fleet that would eventually become the Coast Guard, the agency concluded that it has saved at least 1,109,310 lives.
Nearly the only bright spot in the federal response to Katrina, the USCG rescued over 33,000 people.....
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Huzzah.
Posted by: virgotex | August 04, 2007 at 10:27
Huzzah.
Posted by: virgotex | August 04, 2007 at 10:27
Huzzah.
Posted by: virgotex | August 04, 2007 at 10:28
Wow.
They do good work.
Hip, hip, hooray, indeed!
Posted by: The_Other_Sarah | August 04, 2007 at 10:43
georgie still has time to fuck the CG up too.
Posted by: pansypoo | August 04, 2007 at 11:31
Happy Birthday, Coast Guard! They were one of the few federal agencies who did a superb job during Katrina.
The powers keep cutting their funding. Their ships are old and need replacing; their radar is old and needs replacing. No good deed goes unpunished in this maladministration.
Posted by: Grandmère Mimi | August 04, 2007 at 20:07
hey a great flick about the coast guard that i just saw on dvd is the guardian w/kevin costner and ashton kucher. check it out. it's kind of an officer and a wetter man.
Posted by: skippy | August 05, 2007 at 21:41
Up here in Maine, nearly any of us knows someone who'd be dead without them. People piss and moan about the Coasties, because they're the fisheries police, but they also know they'll come and get you or die trying. As the Coasties say "The man says you have to go out. He doesn't say you have to come back".
But there's fewer cutters, fewer helos, based further away with each passing year.
A little budget love for the USCG would be a nice thank-you...
Posted by: Davis X. Machina | August 05, 2007 at 23:15
Yes! I remember seeing Coast Guard helicopters busily plucking people off of rooftops in the very first flurry of post-Katrina TV coverage. FEMA, Bush, etc. may have dicked around, but the Coast Guard didn't miss a beat. Happy birthday indeed!
Posted by: nashtbrutusandshort | August 06, 2007 at 16:00
My son is a Coastie, and I couldn't be prouder!
Posted by: lee | August 06, 2007 at 20:13