For my first official post I thought I'd start off with the right mood.

A friend of mine recently told me about Sinbad the salty sea dog. If you're a Coast Guardsman you likely know all about this character. Being a blue blooded Airman I hadn't heard of this mascot before - following mascots just isn't my thing. So I decided to learn more.

Each service has it's mascot. What dog lover can forget Chesty, the Marine Corps bulldog, who refused to sit at a parade honoring Defense Secretary Gates? The Air Force has its falcon, a great symbol of air superiority - the entire reason we have an Air Force. But, really, how much personality does a falcon have? A goat represents the Navy, which seems silly at first but makes sense after reading up on it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_the_goat). And, of course, I can't fail to mention the Army Mules (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Mules), one of the many things in the Army which is rooted in tradition but just doesn't really make sense.

The Coast Guard takes the post of mascot to a different level. Still rooted in history and tradition, they seem to shirk away from latching on to an animal which seems to represent something about them, and instead bring along a critter who becomes part of the team. Also, they don't have one mascot for the whole service (not that I could find), but a team of mascots at a number of stations who serve a number of different jobs. Take a look at this website: http://www.uscg.mil/History/uscghist/Mascots.asp to see a sampling.

Standing out above the rest is Sinbad the salty sea dog. Most mascots were along because they represent a tradition of being food (Bill the Goat), or being conscripted (The Army Mules), or representing an ethos (Bulldogs and Falcons), but, according to legend, Sinbad the salty sea dog actually joined the Coast Guard on his own and served honorably. I won't go into it much more but check out this link: http://www.uscg.mil/History/faqs/Sinbad.asp to learn more about this honorable pup.