My impression is that the Coast Guard has been somewhat militarized in the drug war, such that any request for equipment to help "save" people has to be in quotes.
>such that any request for equipment to help "save" people has to be in quotes.
Your impression has then taken it too far - yes, there's a lot of drug war stuff, but USCG still does a tremendous amount of rescue work / assistance to mariners in distress / etc.
(Source: a bunch of coastie friends and my dad was one; also sailed a lot and have had enough observation/interaction with them to get a sense of this). Saving people absolutely does not need to be "in quotes" in reference to USCG.
> My impression is that the Coast Guard has been somewhat militarized
The USCG is, and has always been, overtly one of the (currently) five service branches of the US armed forces. I'm not sure what it would mean to “militarize” something that is already fully military.
