History UsefulNotes / CoastGuard

* In a throwaway line from ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', Marty explains away his "life preserver" vest to his future mother and grandmother by saying that he is in the Coast Guard. Later, Doc uses a mind-reading helmet to incorrectly guess that Marty is a member of the "Coast Guard Youth Auxiliary."

And like the US Military Academy in West Point and the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, the Coast Guard also has an academy for aspiring officers in New London, Connecticut, complete with its own collegiate sports teams. Somewhat counterintuitively, their mascot is a ''bear''. If you're wondering why a school for sailors has a land animal as its mascot: it's a tribute to the USS ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bear Bear]]'', one of the most famous Coast Guard vessels of all time. In stark contrast to the storied rivalry between the Army Black Knights and the Navy Midshipmen, the Coast Guard Bears have mostly avoided getting swept up in athletic rivalries with other military teams.

Coast Guard vessels range from small, fast 29' Response Boat Smalls, through 47-foot "self-righting" Motor Life Boats, to 378' High Endurance Cutters and 420' icebreakers, with a wide range of patrol boats, tugs, and buoy tenders in between. The Coast Guard fleet is divided into three categories based on the color of the ships -- "white hulls", consisting of the USCG's combat/interdiction craft, "black hulls", consisting of maintenance and support vessels like buoy tenders, and "red hull" icebreakers. They also have a wide range of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. Interestingly enough, the Coast Guard can also boast to have the only active commissioned sailing vessel in the American armed forces, the USCGC ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Eagle_%28WIX-327%29 Eagle]]'', built in 1936 Germany and seized after the war, which now as a training and public relations vessel.

When wars do come, Coast Guardsmen have been there ever since 1790. They are that hard nucleus of seagoing professionals around which the Navy forms in times of war, serving as additional manpower and fulfilling variations on their peacetime roles-- such as handling small boats or intercepting the same. Many of the American landing craft used in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII were operated by the Coast Guard, with one Guardsman, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Albert_Munro Douglas Albert Munro]], earning the Medal of Honor during the Battle of Guadalcanal when he died while [[BigDamnHeroes evacuating a group of Marines]] pinned down on a beach[[note]]His FamousLastWords: [[HeroicSacrifice "Did they get off?"]][[/note]]. Today, cutters are forward-deployed today in support of counterpiracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden and the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars; and Port Security Units are tasked with defending far-off oil terminals.

** A Coast Guard vessel, having been earlier taunted by Homer and Bart (they were in international waters, outside the Coast Guard's jurisdiction), refuses to assist them and their guests aboard Mr. Burns' yacht in when it is boarded by pirates in "The Mansion Family". Instead of intervening, the Guardsmen take the opportunity to taunt them back via loud-hailer:

* Most often seen as support in a disaster drama. The most potent exception, perhaps, is ''Film/TheGuardian'', a 2006 film focusing on Coast Guard rescue swimmers.

* In ''Film/{{Overboard}}'', Billy says that he used to be in the Coast Guard. Later at the climax of the film, the Coast Guard helps Dean catch up with Joanna's yacht -- complete with the ''Semper Paratus'' march playing in the background.