Advice Please for a parenting issue with 18 year old son

[Pat McCotter]

Someone else pointed it out above: Coast Guard doesn't just rescue lost boaters and protect the shores. The major CG focus is as "maritime police". Unlike other agencies involved in the "War on Drugs", the CG has free rein to stop, board, and search all vessels in "U.S. Waters". A goodly portion of those "U.S. Waters" are ordinary inland rivers and lakes, thousands of miles from the salty shores.

As an aside - not relevant to the discussion - and not to hijack this thread - but there is an exception in the US Code for some NH waters subject to US jurisdiction.

TITLE 46 > Subtitle II > Part B > CHAPTER 43 > ? 4301
(c) Until there is a final judicial decision that they are navigable waters of the United States, the following waters lying entirely in New Hampshire are declared not to be waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States within the meaning of this section: Lake Winnisquam, Lake Winnipesaukee, parts of the Merrimack River, and their tributary and connecting waters.

[Lloyd Danforth]

The drug war is ilegal too Kevin.  You can paint the pig any color you want, but, there is no moral justification for entering any U.S. military organization.  I used to be concerned about people entering the military with the idea they would be defending the US and being deployed to wars that had nothing to do with US security, but, now I  just consider them Enablers and our next generation of Warmongers.
Not doing everything one can to keep their son out of the military makes you an enabler too.

The Coastguard is a nice fantasy, but, there are people with college degrees waiting in line.

I say to anyone with teenage sons.  Keep your kid out of the military!   Encourage him to get a HS degree or GED.  Find a job in the building and repair trades.  Take any job he can get that has training in these trades. 

When people need their toilet fixed or their roof repaired or their car fixed,  they don't  a guy with a college degree or a 'special opps' veteran who speaks in acronyms.