Hurricane Katrina: How The Coast Guard Gets It Right

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That's what first attracted Milam, the Coast Guard rescue swimmer from Alaska, to the Coast Guard. Before he joined, Milam was in the Navy. One day he and a friend took a small boat out into the ocean off San Diego. A wave flipped the boat, and it was the Coast Guard that came to rescue them. "I'm looking at the guy sitting in the door of the helicopter and I am thinking, man, what a cool job! I want that guy's job!" After 13 years, Milam has it, and he is still a true believer. "In the Navy, it was all about the mission. Practicing for war, training for war," he says. "In the Coast Guard, it was, take care of our people and the mission will take care of itself."