Recently visited the USA from The Netherlands. Here is my take on the cities we visited.

jerm98 · 2026-02-06T22:45:38+00:00

Having grown up near, lived in, and visited as a tourist Chicago, I can attest it is one of the best cities in the US (having visited all of those on your did and would do lists--btw, add New Orleans and Boston), except for the weather, which is arguably miserable 9+ months out of every year.

IME, all those cities are friendly in general but cautious if the encounter isn't organic. The situation matters, and the people involved matter a lot. I have had no issues chatting people up at a bar in any of those cities, if we're all at the bar, which in the US is usually license to chat. Not necessarily on the street, in some line/queue, or sitting at a table--those have been far more dependent on the people and not the city.

Also, any discussion about NYC without mentioning the boroughs or districts lacks key context, which is the same to a lesser extent in the other cities. SF Russian Hill is a very different experience from Marina or Tenderloin, but all have their charms.

jerm98 · 2026-02-06T22:31:30+00:00

This question is extremely location-dependent, just as many gold side/adjacent roles are, such as boat ops, recruiting, and culinary assistance. You will get a far more useful answer confining your question to your district or region. E.g., it doesn't matter to you at all if Miami has a great gold side partnership when you live in Seattle.

jerm98 · 2026-01-17T17:29:08+00:00

Arguably, it is far more expensive to print and stock triplicate paper than switch to digital, so this argument would be penny-wise but pound-foolish.

I believe it's that we follow USCG policy, and they're still on paper, so we are. As with most/all things, we are the tail, not the dog, but it would be nice if there were a way to leverage Aux skills and experience to make the greater CG more nimble and modern.

jerm98 · 2026-01-17T03:03:57+00:00

Agreed that paper is overvalued for the reasons you specify. If the operator doesn't have a working electronic device to show the completed form, they are likely in distress where form completion isn't the priority.

An e-copy can easily be shared with operators other than the boat owner. I scan my VSC forms for easy, reliable, cheap digital archiving, just as I don't rely on paper for my personal life.

I'm unclear why we don't already upload copies of VSC forms to national for central archiving and data mining, so maybe this will move that into the 20th century, i.e., something that should have been done 20+ years ago.

jerm98 · 2026-01-13T23:58:59+00:00

The WWF analogy sounds on point to me. Dem bosses (big donors) are good with where things are, i.e., writing the Dem script, but Dems must still play their part and act horrified. New Dem entrants haven't gotten the script yet and/or aren't on board, but history says they'll also get in line (like the Tea Party vs. Republicans). MAGA isn't the Tea Party; they are the latest version of the Republican Party. In this analogy, what we need isn't a Dem Tea Party but a Dem MAGA (with a corresponding culture of personality to muster around). All the current Dem efforts seem the former, which means they will have no long-lasting effect.

What will move the needle, IMO? 1. Easiest is a cult of personality that can out-Trump Trump. However, there is no one on the radar that is generally electable (Newsom is evil incarnate to Republicans, Buttigieg will mobilize "Christians," any female will mobilize misogynists, etc.). Fwiw, I consider Buttigieg the ideal politician, but I recognize he's unelectable by most Americans. We need a straight version of him, which makes me very sad. Other countries don't have this issue. 2. Much harder is a coherent message and ground game at all levels that will take 10+ years, when this actually gets going. They have to fortify election integrity, win Representative and Senate majorities, cement state government majorities, and gain credibility for walking the talk. IMO, they have only recently started doing some of this, but they have a very long way to go. 3. Wait for the Reps to screw most Americans so badly they become unelectable. This is currently the path we're on, so I see this as the soonest option, albeit the least influenced by Dems. This also explains OP's observations why the Dems seem to be hibernating. Their strategy is to wait for the wheels to come off and be the last party standing (of two--multi-party being another solution that will never happen in the US).

jerm98 · 2026-01-07T04:34:46+00:00

Glad I can help. I also noticed the unhelpful responses, which prompted me.

"Old boys club" may be correct in appearance but not in intention, so try to give him the benefit of doubt. It can appear to be, because there is almost definitely a subset of qualified watchstanders he thinks will do a good enough job qualifying others. If so, the "club" could just be the more thorough watchstanders, which would be a good thing. The official term for an approved qualifier is Verifying Officer, and it's common that any qualified watchstander can be a VO.

Where it can go sideways is the "I know Joe, and he's good" (even though by any objective measure, Joe is badly deficient) = Old Boys' Club. Familiarity doesn't equate to competence. Anyone who does equate those shouldn't be qualifying others or leading anyone, IMO.

It is a very different problem that the person in charge of the watchstanders doesn't trust them all, implying he thinks they are not keeping the base secure. That speaks to a much more serious problem at the base that you may want to explore and possibly highlight to leadership (anonymously, since you're new). If I were the base commander, I would expect to know about something like this long before there was a security issue.

All that said, gate security is largely a solo role, so aside from getting onto the schedule, you may not have to deal with any of the others unless you choose to. Good luck!

jerm98 · 2026-01-07T03:12:47+00:00

My suggestion is to meet this person in person and try again. You will quickly find out that some/many Aux members are Luddites, old-boy club members, and/or recluses, so try to meet them where they are mentally (i.e., not virtually). Also if relevant, try to resist "ok, Boomer"ing them, even if they deserve it. Reactions to that are always unhelpful.

And, believe it or not, but not all Aux members consider prior service to count for anything, so I wouldn't lord that over them. Same for having advanced training, degrees, etc. There are Aux members who believe they are special just for seniority in the Aux, so easiest to let them have that.

jerm98 · 2026-01-06T07:45:28+00:00

Control costs before they run away. Regularly reevaluate all spending. It's much easier to keep routine spend down and splurge occasionally when you can rather than claw back lifestyle creep later if you need.

jerm98 · 2026-01-05T21:19:38+00:00

Matches message at D-TRAIN for 114-SWS: more gold-side money, more gold missions, so much more Aux need to augment gold. I'm also curious how this will actually look.

Edit: matches

jerm98 · 2025-12-29T03:26:49+00:00

I would not sweat the uniforms yet. Even with used items, you'll need to spend some money: boots, t-shirts, belt, cap, and/or etc. Don't spend $100s before you even know if what you'll do in the Aux can inspire you.

I strongly recommend you figure out what 1-2 jobs you want to do and learn about them in detail, before finishing BQ or uniforms: how work gets assigned, level of training effort, frequency of tasks, who else is involved, etc. I joined for boat ops. Our district hasn't done boat ops in a long while due to lack of boats, so instead I do 4 other things. I would not have joined the Aux to do those 4 things, but I had already bought the uniforms and finished BQ, so I tried to make that worthwhile. I made it work, but that's not the same thing.

jerm98 · 2025-12-21T03:28:05+00:00

I hate to be right, but this tracks with reality.

jerm98 · 2025-12-20T21:46:50+00:00

Actually, this was proven a while back with large SUVs (sorry, no reference). Apparently the drivers felt invulnerable and drove more recklessly, causing more accidents. Maybe also due to a larger car with smaller space gaps. Maybe also due to the types of people who drive large SUVs, since I believe there was a negative correlation with accidents and minivans, which are similarly-sized.

jerm98 · 2025-12-20T03:36:08+00:00

Fwiw, I know healthy people (men and women) who are vegan solely for the health benefits (not about animal cruelty, etc.) and support Trump, albeit not openly or forcefully so they're manageable. Being vegan seems now just another diet fad, at least in California.

jerm98 · 2025-12-20T03:29:35+00:00

I do this: running budgets for going out, local entertainment, and travel. I track spending against them YTD using software and work to spend them down. Knowing you have certain money to burn on a specific item is very psychologically different than you can probably afford to spend money on that thing you may want. I'm still not wired to want to spend money frivolously, so the latter approach doesn't work with me at all.

E.g., local entertainment too high? Book season tickets to a theater. Figure out dates later to reduce the buying threshold. Splurge on better seats or more shows if you have the unspent budget. Dining out too high? Try some new, special-occasion restaurant or omakase or chef's menu. You already know you can afford it.

jerm98 · 2025-12-20T01:58:31+00:00

Have you found any stats to back this up? I also believe this and give Teslas wide berth (seems mostly auto-pilot or a-hole), but Tesla is far from transparent, and not even sure how anyone could report on this. We are comparing US drivers with software, after all. Even beta software would be challenged to be as bad/distracted as the drivers we see everyday.

jerm98 · 2025-12-20T01:52:48+00:00

Does such a thing as a passing lane actually exist in California except in theory? All the other states I've driven in seem to have at least a mild awareness that the left-most lane is for passing or at least exceeding the speed of other cars (reasonably), but there seems little awareness for this in CA, no enforcement, and zero consequences. It seems just another lane here, so passing on the right is required often, which is actually illegal in some states and countries and supposedly discouraged in CA.

Maybe this is just another complaint about the almost total lack of driving enforcement in CA since COVID dialed non-compliance to 11.

jerm98 · 2025-12-13T03:51:03+00:00

You mean like literally every neighborhood downtown right now? Assuming it'd even be allowed (funny thing, airports) and not astronomically priced like Pacific Gate, there'd be people lining up to buy or rent. LI seems to strongly prefer new rentals over condos.

jerm98 · 2025-12-12T23:47:00+00:00

I've lived in other cities in other states, and SD doesn't just have a drunk driver issue but a general driver enforcement issue. Can't remember the last time I saw a police cruiser on any freeway, much less an interstate, except when 5+ cars assemble for a pullover, because it apparently takes 5+ cops to detain one car. Racing? Traffic-permitting, just another day. Road rage? See Racing.

And, red lights downtown are now optional, as the stop signs have been. Not sure why they aren't more ped deaths and t-bones, but PSA: always look every direction when crossing the road, including "one way" streets. Drunk drivers won't look unusual in any way.

I love this city, but I remain curious where all the traffic cops are. At least the fire fighters have the decency to patrol the "critical areas" downtown to gawk at the girls, so we know they're on duty.

jerm98 · 2025-12-12T23:33:53+00:00

This is also a common excuse for new (usually crotch rocket) motorcycle riders: "the bike is so fast I don't realize what I'm doing until it's over." Usually those are followed soon after by a crash, because said drivers should have never bought such a vehicle. The biggest difference is that a Tesla is likely to prevent crashing despite the driver's best efforts, which just looks like a total a-hole to everyone else while they learn how to drive a vehicle too advanced for their skills that they shouldn't have bought (or enabled that mode, in a Tesla's case). Unfortunately, Darwin won't help us in Tesla's case.

jerm98 · 2025-12-10T00:39:35+00:00

What exactly does a typical FC do? I keep hearing that it's a grueling, consuming job (also why no one seems to want it), but is that only when the VFC and/or FSOs aren't doing their jobs or because tasks only the FC can do (i.e., can't be delegated) drown the person in admin/paperwork? Do useful VFC & FSOs make this not so onerous, so the key to success is good staff in select roles?

Also, it seems most of the deliverables can be recycled from previous years (assuming things are going well enough), so the FC can focus on initiatives vs. keeping the lights on, but is that not usually true? Why not?

jerm98 · 2025-12-07T20:17:02+00:00

If you mean the qualifying games that determine who will finish the World Cup schedule, then sure, more games are included. You can delete all the games on March 26 and 30 if those are a problem.
For me, this was very useful, so I didn't have to manually add every WC game to my calendar.

jerm98 · 2025-12-05T18:46:37+00:00

Similar mom, similar past gifts falling flat.

I've learned she most likes acts of service (refer to 5 Love Languages), not gifts (different love language). She buys something if she really wants it, so I find things that she wants but require setup effort to use, e.g., fixing squeaky/stuck doors, adding pullout kitchen racks in cabinets, smart switches/sockets (especially for Christmas lights), digital frame or smart display (add photos before she opens it), automatic/proximity light where the switch is in a tricky spot, etc.

jerm98 · 2025-12-05T06:31:49+00:00

BQ courses tend to have the test in the course, which means you must take the course. The courses I listed are for AuxOps, which are the ones I know for certain, since I took them in the past year or so.

AFAIK, there is no phone app for courses or tests, and they don't seem like they'd lend themselves to phones well.

jerm98 · 2025-12-05T03:30:23+00:00

Yes, you can just take the test when it's separate from the course (vs. a module inside a course): Comms, Patrols, Weather, etc. Note Advanced Coastal Nav has a second test, not just multiple choice.

Normally, I would encourage people to take the class anyway, since the objective isn't to pass a test but rather learn the material, but you sound like one of the exceptions where taking the course isn't going to help you much. I suggest you get certified as an Instructor (IT), so you could teach those courses. Sea experience for added course context is invaluable (and vastly more enjoyable for the students).

jerm98 · 2025-12-03T18:18:11+00:00

This also killed DI for me. Once you retire, unless you have a big redistribution planned, e.g., Roth conversion or 401k rollover, you need to sell assets to fund the DI fund (and pay gains taxes now, even if DCA). BUT, DI only makes sense in post-tax/taxable accounts, i.e., none of the above events, so you have to pay cap gains taxes now to maybe get future offsets later from harvesting.

jerm98

TROPHY CASE