Coast Guard new Maritime Enforcement Rate?

[ned]

I am prior service Army and gonna do my IRR time in the CG Reserves/Guard. This new Maritime Enforcement Rate, has anyone been qualified in this rate? what are your primary duties? What is the training? What do they do with you after training and what is your role? Where do they send you and what is the deployment frequency? The more details the better as I still have to go to MEPS. is it a good job with growth potential..? Is this one of those you came to do law enforcement but your really gonna paint and do our ***** work...?

[dacy17]

Big D's obviously got no clue.

First off, you can't switch services to do your IRR time - you can only switch if you become a regular drilling Reservist.

The ME rating is enlisted only. As of now, there are only FOUR ME's in the entire Coast Guard - and all four are E-9's. They're busy writing the curriculum for the ME A School (AIT) and the OJT stuff you have to get signed off as you progress through your career. It is expected that on 01JAN10 the entire rating will be stood up.

A School will be at the FLETC (Federal Law Enforcement Training Center) in South Carolina.

As of right now, it's hard to tell what the actual role of the rating will be, but they are supposed to be the ones that specialize in doing the on-the-water, in-your-face, armed enforcement activities that are now just a collateral duty for nearly any rating. They will be all over, so I would expect a pretty good selection for billets all around the country and overseas. If you are in the Deployable Operations Group (DOG), your chances of being deployed to the Persian Gulf are significantly higher than if you're not, but there are so many things that need to be done first, it's hard to give a good answer.

Also, with a service as small as the Coast Guard, EVERYONE has to do at least a little bit of crap work... and the lower down the enlisted chain you go, the more of that type of work is available.

[colum]

It my undersatnding this is a Commissioned Officers Rating.
The Coast Guard Maritime Law Enforcement Academy
The Coast Guard Maritime Law Enforcement Academy is located at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Charleston, South Carolina, following relocation and merger of the former Law Enforcement School at Yorktown, Virginia, and the former Boarding Team Member School at Petaluma, California.
The Academy presents five courses:
Boarding officer
Boarding team member, which is a small part of the boarding officer course
Radiation detection course, which is a level II operator course
Vessel inspection class for enforcing Captain of the Port orders.
Training ranges from criminal law and the use of force to boarding team member certification to the use of radiation detection equipment. Much of the training is live, using handguns with laser inserts or firing non-lethal rounds.