Cutter Command- USCGA major

Emmagirl

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If my primary goal of a career in the Coast Guard is command of a cutter, which major should I apply for at the USCGA? Does any one major have an advantage over another when it comes to working my way through the command structure? Are there any majors I should avoid with cutter command being my primary goal? Thank you for any information and advice!
 
You major doesn't really matter if your desire is to be in the operations afloat specialty. You may want to think about what you want to do for your shoreside tours because that may steer you towards a particular major. Once you graduate from CGA, you will go afloat as a deck watch officer and from there you will learn your specialty at sea. If you are interested in engineering, you generally go to a ship on your first tour as a student engineer and you can eventually work your way to command afloat through that path, although it take a bit longer to get to command. Good luck!
 
You major doesn't really matter if your desire is to be in the operations afloat specialty. You may want to think about what you want to do for your shoreside tours because that may steer you towards a particular major. Once you graduate from CGA, you will go afloat as a deck watch officer and from there you will learn your specialty at sea. If you are interested in engineering, you generally go to a ship on your first tour as a student engineer and you can eventually work your way to command afloat through that path, although it take a bit longer to get to command. Good luck!
Thank you. What type of responsibilities would I have during my shoreside tour with a naval architecture degree? Can you tell me which major would typically get to cutter command the fastest? I know it would depend a lot on me, but with my goal of cutter command, are there any majors that would help me get there faster? Also, can you provide any info on the ranks and USCGA majors that would be in command of coastal small boat stations, heavy weather, or surf stations?
 
As a Career Coast Guard vet I can say that in my experience command comes from all majors and is primarily based on your performance and career path. NAME is an excellent major but be sure that marine engineering is what you want to study and will do the best in. NAME is in high demand in the Coast Guard right now but it is a very difficult major. As for station commands most are commanded by Senior Enlisted and Chief Warrant Officers as well as Junior Officers. Good Luck
 
Former NAME major here! One thing that I don't think you're fully grasping is that most any career is open to any major. Management majors can be engineering officers, and engineering majors can be deck watch officers. The fastest way that anybody can get to cutter command is to be LTJG and take command of an 87' patrol boat. This would be your second tour. I won't say it's impossible for a Student Engineer (that's what they call first tour officers who work in the engineering department on the ship - again, no direct relation to major), but it is incredibly unlikely. Much more likely is Executive Officer on a Fast Response Cutter or Icebreaking Tug for your second tour. This would help move you onto the path for command. If you're talking major command (210+ foot cutter), neither one is really faster than the other. Being a student engineer from the Academy leaves every job in the Coast Guard open for your second tour, which isn't true of anything else. So, to be perfectly clear: No major will help you get there faster. You should do what you enjoy the most, because that is most likely what you will do the best in, and a high class rank could help you get there faster.

Again, open to many other majors besides NAME, and you don't have to this because you're NAME, but typical shore tours for NAME majors (or anyone in the Marine Engineering Specialty in the Coast Guard) may include working at The Yard, being a port engineer, working for a specific product line, or working at a Project Resource Office overseeing the building of new cutters.

As alluded to above, many stations are commanded by senior enlisted and Warrant. For those that are commanded by O's, you would need to be a minimum of an O-3 LT. Realize that being a station CO and a cutter CO are somewhat competing goals, because station CO's come from the Response Ashore community, while cutter CO's come from the Response Afloat and Prevention Afloat (cutter) communities.
 
I would agree with the comments above. Something to consider is that patrol command is going to be 2 years of your career. If you are planning to do 20 years(or more), you should also consider how you are going to spend the other 18 years, that is why I chose to be a NAME major at the CGA and I went student engineer for my first tour. If you don't plan to remain in the Coast Guard that long, what are you going to do on the outside? In that case, you CGA major could be important.

I originally went to CGA because I wanted to be a 110' WPB commanding officer and while that didn't work out, the last 21 years have been great! I was eventually a WMEC commanding officer so I was able to meet a lot of goals along the way.

A final thought is to not be in too much of a rush for command. There is something to be said for getting experience as a division officer, department head, and executive officer to groom you for command.
 
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