Guarding the Coast

Popeye Banned From Coast Guard: The d'rigouritude of body art can trace its lineage back to your grandfather's classic navy tattoos. The anchor, the battleship, the waving flag and the skull and bones may not be stretched as tautly across Grandpap's chest as they once were, but they're still occasionally on display. However, they don't seem to stop him from shaking his head at your tribal bands and eyebrow piercings. New Coast Guard regulations restricting tattoos and other body modifications were reported today in the P-I to put an end to it all. No more sleeves, face tats or split tongues - Sorry, Seattle, the Coast Guard isn't for you. "The 1940s, party-hard sailor is not the image we're going for," Chief Petty Officer Keith Alholm was quoted as saying.

From the P-I:

COAST GUARD POLICY

# No-no's for potential recruits: tattoos on the face, head, neck or hands, no more than a quarter of a tattooed arm or leg and nothing considered "racist, indecent, extremist or supremacist, violent or sexually explicit."

# Piercings: Unadorned, small earrings in ears is about it. Nipple and navel rings are "strongly discouraged, due to the potential for infection and medical complications."

# Miscellaneous: no gold or painted teeth, no tongue-splitting or branding.

# Exceptions: Current active and reserve Coast Guard personnel with full-limb tattoos are grandfathered in but can't get more tattoos that wouldn't meet the new standards.

Fake Terrorists: Check out a few of the images from the preparedness exercises of a few weeks ago. Who knows how things might have gone awry were there any exposed tattoos on hand.

Ship On Ship Action: While not exactly a Coast Guard item, this description of a near collision between the 900' freighter Quan Xi Hei and the U.S.S. Nimitz aircraft carrier outside of Seattle just caught our eye..

You see, I had finally come abeam of the Quan Xi Hei and watched her pass by bow. I then steered north following in her path. I had also been able to see the Nimitz for some time. The Foss tractor tugs that had assisted the Nimitz had cast off their lines and were steaming off to port. The carrier was sailing free and clear, and could presumably maneauver. And she was. She was slowly creeping passed Bainbridge Island on a perfect west to east passage. . . directly into the path of the Quan Xi Hei.

At this point the radio silence from the behemoth was rattling everyone on the radio.

I was scanning as fast as I could. The pilot hailed the tugs, went to the tugboat working frequency, 19 alpha, and tried the Nimitz there. Traffic was hailing on every frequency not being tried by the freighter. From the initial hail on 13 to the first responce, it was ten minutes of radio pandamonium.