"Dirty Jobs"

[PAC Jamie Devitt-Chacon ret]

Ok, I know all you ATON folks have seen this show, and ya'll have GOT to want to be ON this show. Push it up the chain. I know that the MOPIC office has been approached, but for some unknown reason, the powers that be have declined the opportunity. The other services are doing some episodes -- and if they can, we can... even legal should be able to see the possibilities...

[BMC John Phillips III]

Jamie,

I have over ten years ATON experience, but none on a buoy tender. I hear they are pretty dirty, but from my experience, it doesn't get much worse than scraping the mud and whatever else comes up with a recovered pile. The CGC MALLET is just coming out of the yards and from what I hear they are looking pretty good! Take that and the fact that they have been in the yards for about five months and that equals plenty of stinky, smelly, rotted piles! Unfortunately I am no longer on the MALLET (well only in the sense that I can't speak on their behalf) but it would be easy enough to contact them to find out. I am guessing there are some other ATON units out there that would have some pretty dirty aspects to them as well, I just don't know what they are.

[BMCS Jim Madsen]

I actually sent a CWO at MOPIC an e-mail about this very thing a few weeks ago. I thought it would be great. Shooting a tube on a whistle buoy, climbing an AID with 2 feet of bird $#!T on it... I was told that is was a definate no go. Maybe they feel that it would not be good for recruiting efforts. I don't know. I would love to see it though.

[PACS Steve Carleton]

Everybody settle down, I already sent video and story treatment to MOPIC in August 2005.

I have not heard anything, but was told by Mr. Midgett that the producers were highly interested.

[PAC Jamie Devitt-Chacon ret]

<carefully speaking here>

Some folks ... thought it would not be a ... favorable ... portrayal of our service. I disagree. MOPIC seems to be for it, so move your thoughts upwards.

[BMCM Stuart S. Slesh]

You can talk about shooting the tube, or being knee deep in buoy critters, scraping the mud off of sinkers, or playing with fire coral all day long. AtoN is a dirty job. But if they interviewed the people doing it, they would realize that it could only help recruiting. To someone sitting in an office somewhere, they might wonder why anyone would want to do that job. To the ones doing the AtoN, they can't imagine why anyone would want to do anything else.

[BMCS R. Scott Pugh]

The first or second time I watched that show, I went to their website and suggested a buoy tender or ATON job; but ATON ain't sexy so I did not think my post/request would go anywhere.

How many buoy deck evolutions did you see on the posters in the recruiting office you went to? Mine was a big zero.

"The other site" had a discussion a few months on the same topic.

[BMC Mark D. Emerson]

I think that it would be great. 10 to 12 years ago they did the shoot the tube with Baywatch - ok get your kicks in but you all watched it! Maybe if the host was a lifeguard in a swimsuit they would think about doing it again. :D

[BMC Ken Gouge]

I was a BM3 on the ANVIL. It was the most physically demanding job i've had (and I worked building houses in high school before they had nail-guns) but it was also fun. The only people that didn't seem to enjoy it were the guys fresh out of boot camp that didn't know the Coast Guard did that type of job. 90% of them loved it once they got the hang of it. The other one was usually the OIC because he didn't get to go out on deck that much :)

If they did an episode, they would be surprised about the attitudes these guys have while doing this "dirty job". They could also show some of the finer aspects like building range towers and such.

[BMCM Deane Smith]

<carefully speaking here>

Some folks ... thought it would not be a ... favorable ... portrayal of our service.

Maybe if a helo or 47' could appear in one scene? Anyone?

[BMC John Phillips III]

BMCS Smith, I think I smell what your steppin' in...

picture this, a boat is sinking and a helo comes in rescues all the people and on their way back in they spot a few buoys off-station. Camera on the ever-cool pilot, who just saved the day calmly and cooly radios the comcenter to report the Aids to Navigation discrepancy. Camera back to the comcen where the controllers are starry eyed thinking that pilot is so smooth. Then lead in to the buoy tender arriving on-scene to work the buoy. They do all the servicing, that guy who is on the show shoots the tube, eats a buoy critter or two, then as the show is coming to a close the buoy tender is returning to homeport as the 47' drives by (waking the $#!+ out of them) on their way to the next SAR case!

I should really be a director, I can see it all so clearly in my head :D

[BMC James M. Clark]

JPIII, didn't you come up with a similar plot line in another thread? As much as you talk up the aviators, maybe you missed your calling in life...

[BMCM Stuart S. Slesh]

Or they could talk about some natural disaster like .............Katrina. And again show the helos pulling all those people up to safety.......and fade back to the rising water........ Cut to the AtoN units that came in, cleaned up the mess and re-established the AtoN so ships could start re-supplying the area. You know, sure the positive side of AtoN, the facilatating commerce aspect.

[PACS Steve Carleton]

Great JP3 "Going Hollywood" on us here -- The world is simply not ready for that, although I suspect he would gladly volunteer up his unit for the show.

[BMC John Phillips III]

Wow, you guys got me all wrong... That post was in reference to BMCS Smith's post. As for me, I am actually pretty camera shy if you can believe that. As far as offering my unit up, we actually receive requests for stuff like that :p The BM1 at the sector is affilliated with a cable tv show called "if it floats" and they want to do a special with us using our 55 as a platform. We were on for last Weds but had to postpone due to a throttle cable failure. Don't worry though, I will have my moment and I won't forget any of the little people :p

ok that even made me laugh. I risk people taking me seriously for the sake of entertaining the few that actually know me. The truth of the matter is in a prefilming meeting I made it clear that if there were to be any interviews or camera time, it would be with my guys, not me.

James, I am not sure what angle you are working with your post, but as far as other jobs and ratings go, they all have a place in my heart. Right there under the ATON Boatswain Mates where they belong :D

[BMC James M. Clark]

Sorry, this is what I get for not going back and looking at the thread first...

It was actually Burt's contribution to your movie idea (Coast Guard The Movie thread):

JP3, Lets go a step higher, it is a movie right? So I have enough flight hours that I know i can fly one so write in a Helo. We will even paint it black! Thats the part I will play, BMC Pilot/DWO/ATON Tech!

The "angle" I was working was that I thought you kept writing aviation into your ATON plots...

[BMC John Phillips III]

I gotcha now! It just didn't make sense to me cause I didn't remember saying anything about airdales before.

[PAC Jamie Devitt-Chacon ret]

I'm just sayin... I personally think it's a great idea, MOPIC thinks it's a great idea, "Dirty Jobs" thinks it's a great idea, ATON folks and a lot of other Coasties thinks it's a great idea... but somebody somewhere doesn't. I say, someone who has some say in such things with a bit of umph oughta give it a green light. I think it would be GREAT for recruiting, as well as visability -- how many civilians really know we do that??!!!

[SKC Raymond Kurtz]

If using the reasoning that crawling up a bouy tube is detrimental to Coast Guard recruiting, please tell me how the episode on Bay Watch in which a sweet young thang was forced to crawl up a buoy tube was allowed to air? I am sure that Bay Watch drew more viewers than Dirty Jobs, if only for the jiggle factor.

I love Dirty Jobs, Mike Rowe is a hoot.

[PAC Jamie Devitt-Chacon ret]

I really disliked the whole Baywatch association we had. A lot. I never thought it was a good pairing for us. I mean, c'mon, we all know what the audience watched was NOT the Coast Guard. Puhleeze.