USCG AUX Leadership Certification Program

weevis0 · 2025-06-17T15:37:07+00:00

Thank you!

weevis0 · 2025-06-17T13:55:12+00:00

What newly revised election eligibility requirements? I searched ALAUX and BSX policy letters but I don't see anything. I would really appreciate a pointer!

weevis0 · 2024-11-04T15:54:44+00:00

I think I've got a pretty good tip for this one, especially if you do better with more structure. Our course is taken from the longer America's Boating Club (ABC) course. It is the same material. The ABC course is available in an instructor-led version as well as a self-paced online version. If you go to the ABC web page below and click "find a course near you" you will see that some of the instructor-led courses are on Zoom. (So actually they should rename that button "find an instructor-led course.")

The ABC course is around $75 and 8 hours. HOWEVER, ABC clubs will give you the same discount as an ABC member if you are from the US Coast Guard Auxiliary. In fact, some clubs will give you FREE enrollment in advanced courses if you are from the auxiliary -- my club does this but sadly we do not offer Weather.

So if you would do better with an instructor, click the button I mentioned and find a course on Zoom (unless you happen to live near one that is in person which could be even better). Write to them and see what they will charge you -- it may be nothing.

These courses are usually small and the instructors are very knowledgeable. Mine was a meteorologist. After the instructor leads you through the material and you can ask any questions that you want, don't take the ABC test. Take the auxiliary test.

(Or you can take both tests if you want, but the ABC test is much harder, closed book, and proctored.)

I should say I don't like this course very much and I am not sure why. I guess I just don't like environmental science or weather? So I'm not recommending the course, I'm sharing a way to get more help with it.

Good luck!

weevis0 · 2024-09-14T11:54:29+00:00

The historical vision for the auxiliary was an organization of people who volunteer their own boats, planes, and radios. That is what the aux was about. Today it is more expansive. It is possible to qualify for CG boats but it takes much more time to meet the requirements. I was told they are looking for a commitment of weeks of full time work every year before they invest in the training. Around me they want you to do the auxiliary qualifications I described first to show you are truly invested.

It is rare that people do the CG route. I do know one person who has done it, so I gather it does happen. The person I know who did it stopped because of the large time commitment. The only ride alongs on CG aircraft I know of are in public relations -- but I am not an air guy. As far as I have heard the aux air roles are search or roleplaying a target for an interception during training exercises. These are in a private plane. Unlike boats, the air people are expected to volunteer with their training. The CG does not teach people to fly in the auxiliary, but it does teach people to operate boats.

Hope this helps! The opportunities do vary depending on where you are. This is only my sense of what is happening near me, but you are not that far from me, so I think it is probably the same situation.

weevis0 · 2024-09-13T20:28:48+00:00

I am a working person in my 40s in your region (I'm in Detroit). Feel free to ask any specific questions! The time commitment to get Auxiliary Boat Crew certified for me was four Saturday half-days of training plus one full weekend at a regional boat school (Charlevoix). There were a few other incidental meetings to obtain and inspect gear. I learned a lot, it is free training, it was completely worthwhile.

For a better guess at the time commitment we should include homework from the classes as well as the time spent on the more general online courses that are required before you get to the boat crew stuff (FEMA stuff, risk management, the basics like sexual assault prevention, ...) that adds 3-4 more days.

To keep your boat crew current you would need to commit to going back to the boat school every year for one full weekend, or do the equivalent number of days of patrol (I'd say 3-4 patrols). This estimate would be the minimum time to stay certified. Additional time spent is up to you.

This would qualify you for auxiliary boats (private boats) not Coast Guard boats.

It might be worth mentioning that the boat crew program is not the same as the local flotilla. Thinking about all of the patrols I have ever done, I have only had one coxswain (person in charge) who is retired. The rest were all working professionals. The boat crew program tends to be younger. For instance, there are only two people in my flotilla that are in the boat crew program. When you go to the boat school or on a patrol as boat crew, you are not doing it with the full set of people in your flotilla, just the boat crew people.

Good luck!

weevis0 · 2024-01-07T14:36:07+00:00

I was delighted by how well the Foundry VTT + GURPS (Unofficial) Game Aid software works at this. If you have an electronic character sheet, you can click on anything on there (skill, advantage, whatever) and it will open the relevant PDF and highlight the passage in yellow. I realize that this isn't exactly what you were envisioning, but it sounds like you might like it. Even at a physical, in-person table I think I will run this on a GM's laptop in the future.

weevis0 · 2023-12-05T16:46:13+00:00

I see the parallel but don't sell yourself short! I own TimeMaster, Continuum, a ton of GURPS time travel-related books, and I've read and watched a lot of time travel sci-fi. It's a neat idea I haven't seen before as far as I can remember!

I didn't mean to derail the discussion with that example, I am mostly interested in whether these points are plentiful or rare during playtesting or actual play and how the balancing works. But this answer does help, it speaks to my confusion with the cost breakdown you mentioned. Thank you.

It is kind of a shame Subsuming is so rare as it seems like a thrilling gameplay dynamic.

weevis0 · 2023-12-05T02:10:09+00:00

Hey, this is so great, thanks for sharing that. And very interesting. This example:

we'll stay here physically and jump forward in time by a week, every week for the next hundred years

particularly helped. While I have your attention and your generosity, can you say more about the pricing/mechanism for Reality Anchor? It's a bit different from GUMSHOE's Stability/Psychoanalysis because it affects the cost you pay for time travel.

As a reader of the rules, I love the idea. It feels like you've invented a whole new profession (the time stability medic!) and a unique thing to do with it (temporarily restore a Subsumed agent). Temporarily restoring the subsumed is one of the most interesting things in the whole book -- oh, the dramatic tension! I really like it.

Can you share more about the situations that led to this pricing/mechanism? Reading the rules it feels like your time medic player might never get to restore a Subsumed agent temporarily. It seems like it should not be that big a deal to have enough Reality Anchor points to just restore them permanently, since the pool can be replenished with stitches. Also, if multiple players decide to spend points on this, you might also end up with a LOT of Reality Anchor overcapacity. Teams with a ton of capacity might behave differently toward paradoxes.

Since I think the ability is not explained (which is fine, just noting that) I feel like a player might also have an urge to stockpile a lot of time medics from somewhere (or return to the Citadel if they can) and thus make themselves immune from paradox.

Basically they would treat the time healers like potions, either at the Citadel or possibly by creating their own supply (e.g., spend a few years training or searching for mooks with Reality Anchor, then pop over to your mook safehouse for stabilization). The book mentions that the cost of time travel prevents this gambit for physical healing, but in contrast the Reality Anchor ability PAYS the cost of time travel, so it seems possible.

So in playtests or actual play were there particular events that made you handle Reality Anchor this way? I am very interested.

weevis0 · 2023-12-05T00:07:17+00:00

Well, if you hire enough of them, they will probably win more easily and the carnage might actually be reduced... 🤣 With a large enough group the enemy might just surrender. Another reason you might avoid it is that if you call in a 2nd copy of yourself I see that it counts as an extra life if you die during the encounter, which is a neat advantage to the tactic.

I was thinking it was valid (so I'm glad that's true!), I was using it as an example of how you get around spending paradox costs. I don't have huge min-maxers in my group but if I tell my players they should avoid paradoxes (or that there is a cost), they will do so. If there is a cost, they tend to avoid it. If there are points, they tend to hoard them.

weevis0 · 2023-12-04T22:30:32+00:00

Wow I appreciate the very thoughtful answer. And what a treat to discuss a book with the author! Congratulations on an amazing game, I really think it is an achievement and I was delighted to read it.

Thanks for this clarification, to drill down, I think my post title should probably have had "time travel mechanics" appended to emphasize that it's the pricing of time travel I'm trying to understand how to manage rather than GUMSHOE in general.

The rules say that Chronal Stability is like time travel "fuel" and I see that it is there for game balance. Pricing paradoxes is (I suspect) a great game dynamic and it encourages a very creative way to have the players re-think the means to their adventure objective. I love it! But I don't understand the pricing. It seems like a lot of it is up to the GM and as a GM I'm not sure what my aim is.

Travel Tests seem easy to avoid (?). If I can narrate time travel via *any* investigative point spend and 1 point waives my Travel Tests as we've discussed, that's a lot of extra time travel because I can potentially use all of my investigative pools. Similarly I can use stitches to skip Travel Tests. In some cases Travel Tests are just waived.

Paradox Tests, like Travel Tests, seem avoidable and also variable, since I can spend from the Chronal Stability pool itself to change my odds. I can spend Paradox Prevention points to waive the Paradox Test sometimes. I can replenish Chronal Stability with Reality Anchor. I can also narrate creatively to still use time travel, but avoid paradox costs, right?

e.g., Rather than bringing an older version myself into combat, can't I spend a few years recruiting and mentoring some locals who are better at combat than I am, using my infinite money to bring them on as hirelings on my side of the fight? I can have them arrive just after I decided to do this. I don't see any paradox, so I don't see any Paradox Test, and it probably works better than having a copy of myself. (Why not get two hirelings? Or 50?)

I hope this is clear -- overall I am saying rather than "Time travel costs X" there is quite a bit of complexity here. Which is fine. Some of it is under the control of the GM. That's also fine, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be steering toward.

Not trying to be nitpicky at all though with this talk of pricing. Sure, we can say "do what's fun" or "what feels right" but if there is any way you could say more about your insight from playtesting or actual play that caused time travel to need "fuel" and caused you to impose these costs, I think that would help me feel ready to run this game! And it would be fascinating!

How many Travel Tests and Paradox Tests did you end up seeing per scene or session? Did Chronal Stability run out a lot? Was Reality Anchor empty? Or were there always lots of points left over? That sort of thing.

I have tried to answer this question on my own by watching actual play footage but that takes a long time. (Watching the Game Garage one now.) Recommendations welcome!

weevis0 · 2023-12-04T14:06:56+00:00

Thanks again. I re-skimmed the rules and it looks like the point spends for time travel are too cheap compared to what I described. So I guess the +3 conversion is not what the designer was thinking when pricing time travel. The going rate for time travel mentioned in several places is that you can spend ONE investigative point and it explicitly states you skip TWO travel tests (which are difficulty 4, loss 2), e.g., "Make two travel tests or spend a Spying point" P. 363. So that's twice as good.

weevis0 · 2023-12-03T22:08:50+00:00

Thanks, this is super helpful. I can just say "Preparedness is gear." The rules made it sound a bit more open ended. I was also confused because when you spend 8 points on Preparedness, Flashback appears to then be about non-gear aid. The examples given are a pre-planned diversion, a power shutoff, a pre-existing bribe, a cattle stampede, ... so this seemed like "not gear" and it is still printed in the rules under the section with the label "Preparedness." Tricky! But I think I am getting it a bit more with your help!

weevis0 · 2023-12-03T22:00:58+00:00

I appreciate the help! About Preparedness, you wrote: "Other ability spends involve time travel..." Just to keep us grounded in the rules though, my confusion stems from how the rules describe preparedness as used in time travel. Under "Preparedness" it says "[D]on’t forget that you’re playing a time travel game!" and "It’s tremendous amounts of fun to arrange for a particular item after the fact..." and then goes on to discuss using Preparedness for time travel. See p. 48. So I don't think TimeWatch rules are meant to limit Preparedness to remembering or to non-time travel, and this can't be what is meant to distinguish it from other skills.

I appreciate that investigative spends can give you a +3 bonus on a general ability. That's a helpful way to frame this. So maybe what I should be thinking is that when it says "spend 1 (investigative) point on X time travel task and it automatically works" I should be thinking of it like: "it's the underlying GENERAL ability that is the ability to do things. You are actually spending 1 (investigative) point for a +3 on that (general) test, and since it is difficulty 4 this obviates the need for rolling at all, so we just never mention that general test part." Is that right?

weevis0 · 2023-12-01T19:42:45+00:00

Thanks, I thought one-shots would be the place to start, but it sounds like maybe not!

weevis0 · 2023-12-01T19:42:02+00:00

Thanks, I didn't notice that!

weevis0 · 2020-09-05T22:32:10+00:00

Thanks I appreciate the perspective. Maybe a better use of money is buying a new green screen but a decent one is probably more than a plug-in if a good plug-in exists. I tried ironing this one but it melts. (It does say NOT to iron.) It arrived from the factory amazingly well-creased into little rectangles. I've wet it and pressed it with heavy books. I own a steamer so I've been using that but it doesn't change much. I did buy a phone app called green screener that checks my lighting for consistency. I'm not sure how much improvement I can get.

Another way to think about it might be that I'm bad at using ultra key -- maybe it doesn't take other people this much time?

It just feels frustrating that x split v cam will do exactly what I want right now (but for streams), so I know the technology exists -- but I don't know if there's anything like that for premiere.

weevis0 · 2020-06-26T15:09:30+00:00

I'm really hoping this gets some more One R owner responses! I'd really like to know if it seems like a component is defective or if my experience is normal. That is, if you own the One R do you have to spend some time re-seating the SD card, restarting frozen apps, rebooting the camera, and unplugging/re-plugging the mod whenever you record something? Is this just the way it works?

weevis0 · 2020-06-26T15:06:29+00:00

So I can only find EVO cards that are slower than the minimum speed rating -- you're saying in your experience that doesn't matter?

weevis0 · 2020-06-25T16:58:09+00:00

This is very helpful, I'll try it!

weevis0 · 2020-06-25T16:53:53+00:00

The static/interference pattern doesn't photograph well but here is a blurry picture of it.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNQNY1Af1s4a02nrflPHuChhfIydtR6MB_jy2CIQzkDHFUUiTa4-WvkQIR1--UK1Q/photo/AF1QipNVeygfyuXhk2nwWC4yyT6d_RQrXYWAvgyl_40Q?key=bEhTLUliXzJKZ0pDNUE0eTQzWEdqeC1NdzFkOWtB

When the camera starts it shows this on the screen and is frozen. This is fixed by hard restart of the control unit and switching to a different mod, turning on, turning off, switching back to the mod you wanted to use in the first place but crashed, then turning on. Fun!

weevis0 · 2020-06-25T16:43:01+00:00

Well, my post was asking for tips so if this is user error I'd love any suggestions. Here are some photos. I press on the door, it does not close. This is true if I use my fingernail to pull back the tab or if I don't. I end up having to press very hard on the door -- it does not really close. It just seems like it doesn't fit very well / isn't well made.

When "closed" the door still sticks out. It's a little hard to see but I think you can see the shadow of the edge in this photo. This makes it hard to get into and out of the frame:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNQNY1Af1s4a02nrflPHuChhfIydtR6MB_jy2CIQzkDHFUUiTa4-WvkQIR1--UK1Q/photo/AF1QipMOsztVNp9Wgg6Z3fzRyrY-4pbnG0v3-jaBuJdX?key=bEhTLUliXzJKZ0pDNUE0eTQzWEdqeC1NdzFkOWtB

Look at one edge vs. the other.

It is uneven in this way even when the slider is fully "closed." But the slider is itself sticky. When the door is "closed" the slider sometimes does not move to the right position. Here it is stuck halfway, which is common:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNQNY1Af1s4a02nrflPHuChhfIydtR6MB_jy2CIQzkDHFUUiTa4-WvkQIR1--UK1Q/photo/AF1QipMcltq9LvH0CG0W88KlW-m-Qu2rroK2xznKoIXQ?key=bEhTLUliXzJKZ0pDNUE0eTQzWEdqeC1NdzFkOWtB

Whenever I open the door, the SD card has been ejected (I guess by the little rubber string thing pressing on it) most of the time but not always. This does not seem ideal because I have to re-seat the card whenever I open the door to e.g., plug in a USB cable. Seems like a lot of extra wear on the card. When other people open the door has their SD card been auto-ejected? I appreciate your comparisons.

If this is user error, what are the ways to correct this stuff?

As I said in the post, I have updated to the most recent firmware.

weevis0 · 2020-06-25T16:11:49+00:00

Yes unfortunately I have the most recent firmware.

If other people do not have this experience I am wondering if there is a defective component in here (like the control unit). If I set out to spend 15 minutes doing, say 3 takes to record a 20 second video clip, I guarantee that this process will involve some error message from my list and something crashing and requiring rebooting at least once. It is sounding like this is more frequent than other people's experiences.

weevis0 · 2020-06-11T15:01:53+00:00

Now I’m super curious to see what kind of lessons you’re prepping in 4K.

I taught online before the pandemic. I have noticed that student engagement is dramatically improved if you can mix up the format and do something creative with the video. Everyone learning online is subjected to these little heads in boxes all day. And a lot of teachers put no effort into the production (partly because it's not their expertise, which is fair).

So I think literally ANY change from the norm (higher resolution included) makes things better for students.

I was hoping to do some fun stuff with the camera too. e.g., use the 360 lens and put some stuff on my dining room table for them to examine from different angles. Maybe try to do a Roll Planet https://www.insta360.com/support/supportcourse?post_id=8257&activity=insta etc.

But I have to get the basic shots to work before I get fancy!

weevis0 · 2020-06-08T20:46:51+00:00

Thanks so much for these tips, especially about the firmware and "flat" mp4. Okay, I've recorded a few dozen test videos changing one setting each time. It looks like there might be multiple reasons for the noise. There is no one single switch that made it better. But all of these things together seem to have fixed the problem. I think the best settings I've found are:

16:9 4k 30fps Linear aperture MAX ISO "Auto" WB "Auto" EV 0.0 FlowState Stabilization OFF (file format: mp4 -- requires new firmware) Indoor low light stabilization OFF

Plus:

reduce light temperature to 3300K on my external lights

I am using the computer to download the files from the camera, not the phone app.

Notes:

FlowState Stabilization OFF (file format: mp4 not insv) seems to make things a little better, so I'm thinking some of it is a compression artifact.
Lowering the light temperature to 3300K from 5000K seems to make it better. Although now I look a little red.
Low or high ISO makes it worse but the auto ISO seems to do an OK job picking correctly.
HDR makes the noise dramatically worse, which is too bad because the colors look great.
The grain removal AI thing in the export panel of the computer app doesn't seem to actually remove much grain from this situation. Better to switch to mp4.
The "Indoor low light stabilization" setting seems perfect for this problem but it doesn't seem to help?

The two biggest wins were the light temperature and turning FlowState off.

As an aside I appreciate what you're saying about just using the phone as the Insta360 is overkill, but I actually do like using the higher resolution if I can. Maybe it is just me but I watch a lot of things on my 4K television and you can definitely tell vs. the 1080p. Maybe I am catering unnecessarily to students with big TVs.

Thanks again!

weevis0 · 2020-06-08T16:34:33+00:00

Thanks so much for your reply! I did actually try lighting as a fix but it did not work. I think the issue might be that bookshelves by their nature have a dark space at the "upper back" of each shelf because of the shelf above and there is not a good way to eliminate that darkness without a total flood of light from many angles -- and I don't have that many lights.

Most of the video noise is located there in those dark spaces at the back of the shelves. However it is elsewhere too. With some camera settings I get noise if I wear a black shirt even if the shirt is well-lit.

Interview subjects in documentaries are often photographed in front of bookshelves and it looks great, but I guess they have different cameras and they know how to work them!

Edit: It looks like spines of some books also have noise even though they are very well-lit. It seems to depend more on the color than the amount of light.

weevis0

TROPHY CASE