Earlier today I talked to a Coast Guard recruiter, which was much more helpful than the Navy recruiter I spoke to, and gained some information that interested me. Unfortunately I have to make a decision within the next week or two otherwise I may not be sent to boot camp anytime soon. She told me that I could expect to go to boot camp sometime this summer which has me a little pumped, and honesetly I've been leaning towards the Coast Guard for a while. Anyways, I just wanted to varify some of this with anyone that would happen to know what is truth and what is bs.

Some of the things I was told:
1. After completing boot camp I will enter as a non-rate and from there I can decide what job I want to choose.
2. Depending on how high I score on my ASVAB (scored a 95 on the practice so I'm not concerned), the recruiter told me that I was promised a station of my choice with the exception of Hawaii and Florida.
3. All Coasties aid in some form of search and rescue, or civil law enforcement.
4. (AST concerned) If I were to fail out of A School to become an AST then I am simply sent back as a non-rate and sign up for a different A School.

These next few questions are meant for anyone that has been through/attempted AST training. How hard would you say the training was? Is it true that before you're sent to A school you spend some time doing pre-training with a certain group of people? (Don't recall the group's name.) And is it possible to be an AST while also being a part of Damage Control/Drug Interdiction/etc.? If anyone could answer some/all of these questions then it would be greatly appreciated.