The Long Blue Line

SamAca10

10-Year Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2009
Messages
1,045
For the pure sake of debate, does the "Long Blue Line" more appropriately belong to the USCGA or USAFA, because both schools use it.
 
A good question. USCGA is far older than USAFA, but the Coast Guard has worn blue for a slightly shorter time (called Bender Blues after the Commandant that switched from the uniforms similar to Navy).

The line is longer at USCGA....but I would be interested to know how many total graduates have come from USAFA.
 
A good question. USCGA is far older than USAFA, but the Coast Guard has worn blue for a slightly shorter time (called Bender Blues after the Commandant that switched from the uniforms similar to Navy).

The line is longer at USCGA....but I would be interested to know how many total graduates have come from USAFA.

42,880 including the Class of 2011.

Stealth_81
 
For the pure sake of debate, does the "Long Blue Line" more appropriately belong to the USCGA or USAFA, because both schools use it.

Or maybe both schools could stop copying from West Point, as the "Long Blue Line" was taken from USMA's much longer Long Gray Line moniker for the Corps and grads.

Oh well...imitation is the sincerest form of flattery :thumb:
 
Long what line? Oh, it's "gray" always thought it was something else. I always thought West Point just copied VMI... interesting. :wink:
 
A good question. USCGA is far older than USAFA, but the Coast Guard has worn blue for a slightly shorter time (called Bender Blues after the Commandant that switched from the uniforms similar to Navy).

The line is longer at USCGA....but I would be interested to know how many total graduates have come from USAFA.

Just read Adm. Bender's bio. Quite impressive. Especially because he was an aviator that became the CO of the 311-foot cutter Bering Straight as a captain. I thought that aviators didn't go afloat once pinning on their wings...
 
Just read Adm. Bender's bio. Quite impressive. Especially because he was an aviator that became the CO of the 311-foot cutter Bering Straight as a captain. I thought that aviators didn't go afloat once pinning on their wings...

Just proves that aviators can be sailors, but sailors can't be aviators. :wink:
 
Probably got bored flying and wanted a hair cut. Or maybe he just felt guilty. :eek:

Actually he was a "sailor" until offered the command of a carrier and group...BUT...he was told he had to be "aviation qualified" which meant "observer."

He felt if he was going to command aviators, then he better be one himself. SO at the ripe old age of 52 (still the oldest in USN history) he went through pilot training in the navy and qualified as a carrier pilot.

I've found him to be a fascinating leadership exemplar in my studies.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
I also dug this up when searching on the internet:

CGC Mellon’s first Commanding Officer, Captain Robert P. Cunningham, was thefirst Coast Guard aviator to command a 378-foot cutter. Her first crew numbered approximately 150 personnel. The crew began training at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, HI before Mellon's commissioning.

source: http://www.uscg.mil/pacarea/cgcmellon/history2.asp

This implies that there have been other aviators to command WHEC's. My guess is that, due to the limited billets in aviation at the senior level, These aviators sought command in other communities.

I wonder if this still occurs.
 
I can't think of ANY aviators qualified to be an operations officer, much less a commanding officer of a cutter.


No, I would say it does not occur anymore....certainly not with a seasoned pilot.
 
Yeah that's what I'd think. And we have so many more officers now it wouldn't seem right for a pilot to get that command when there are so many more qualified afloat types.
 
Not just more qualified, but the fact that an airdale isn't at all qualified.

To add onto that general fact, cuttermen and airdales aren't the best buddies. I don't see many qualified cuttermen appreciating an airdale onboard any longer than an AVDET has to be. A pilot hasn't earned his "lumps" like a cutterman has at sea. 30 ft. seas look much smaller 500 ft. in the air.
 
Not just more qualified, but the fact that an airdale isn't at all qualified.

To add onto that general fact, cuttermen and airdales aren't the best buddies. I don't see many qualified cuttermen appreciating an airdale onboard any longer than an AVDET has to be. A pilot hasn't earned his "lumps" like a cutterman has at sea. 30 ft. seas look much smaller 500 ft. in the air.


Ever been at the controls of "feet wet" aircraft on a zero-illum night with a high sea state and no visible horizon? Try it sometime. When you're trying to maintain a steady 30 feet AWL and the waves try to grab you the seat gets uncomfortable because you've puckered so hard the cushion is up your...

And then you get to land on a pitching deck.
 
When they're out there for 90 days straight in those seas on a ship that's maybe 5-6 times as long as that helo, let me know. It's the cuttermen who are hanging out below those blades...with a cranial to protect them.

So no, I've never been hovering over the seas while the ship below me rises and falls 30 feets, but I have been under a helo as I rose and fell, and eventually that helo returned to solid land.


The "have you evers" only work for people who have "never ever" seen anything like it. Appreciate airdales, but the hardships don't compare.
 
Back
Top