In 1939, Congress created
the "United States Coast Guard Reserve." That reserve was
composed of unpaid, volunteer U.S. citizens who owned motorboats or
yachts.
In 1941, Congress created
a military reserve and renamed the original volunteer reserve the
"Coast Guard Auxiliary."
The modern Auxiliary
is specifically declared by statute to be nonmilitary. The
Auxiliary role does not extend to any Coast Guard military or direct
law enforcement missions.
The Auxiliary's missions include:
Recreational Boating Safety
Support to the Coast Guard and the States, and
Member Services
Today, the 33,000 volunteer members of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary
are active on the water and in classrooms in over 2,000 communities
across the nation.
Each year Auxiliarists save almost 500 lives, assist about 15,000
vessels in distress, conduct over 150,000 vessel safety checks,
and teach over 500,000 students in boating courses.