U.S. Coast Guard SAR Dogs Search and Rescue Patch

In Coast Guard shorthand SAR means search and rescue, and SAR DOGS is the crew name stitched under this bulldog with a life ring on his shoulder and a heaving line in his fist. The dog is not a search canine; he is the rescue crew drawn as a bulldog, ready to go out and bring someone home. Search and rescue is the mission the Coast Guard is best known for, from the surf stations to the air stations. This patch belongs to the people who go out when everyone else is coming in.

The rescue swimmer side of that work belongs to the Aviation Survival Technician rating, the AST. The rating began in 1968 as Aviation Survivalman (ASM), formed from the Parachute Rigger and Aviation Ordnanceman ratings, and was redesignated Aviation Survival Technician in 1999. After the 1983 loss of the SS Marine Electric, Congress looked hard at Coast Guard rescue capability, and by June 1985 rescue swimmer duties were part of the rating. Rescue swimmers train at the Aviation Technical Training Center in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and have deployed from the HH-3F Pelican and the HH-60 Jayhawk. Boat crews, coxswains and surfmen carry the same SAR load on the water.

The patch is a red disc with a black border, U.S. COAST GUARD arched across the top in black and SAR DOGS stitched along the bottom. The bulldog stands upright in a red vest with a teal buckle and a spiked collar, jaw set and eyes narrowed. A white ring life buoy lettered COAST GUARD rides over his shoulder like a sea bag. A teal anchor is tattooed on his forearm, and his other paw holds a coil of white line ending in a heaving ball, ready to throw. Every piece of gear on him is gear a rescue crew actually uses.

It is a round patch, 5 inches wide by 5 inches tall, large enough to read across a room. The border is a merrowed edge, a raised rolled stitch in black thread. The backing is iron-on: press it to cotton or denim with a household iron, then add a few stitches around the edge for anything that goes through the wash often. On a flight jacket or a work vest it sits well on the back or the shoulder. The colors are solid thread, red, maroon, pink, white, black and teal.

Search and rescue crews remember the cases that ended with everyone home. Sew this on the jacket you wear to the station reunion, put it on a vest, or mount it in a shadow box with your crew photos and qualification certificates. It makes a good gift for a rescue swimmer, a coxswain or a Coast Guard retiree who stood the SAR duty. Anyone who has stood a SAR watch will know what the bulldog means.