We use to say you had to be at least 6' 1" tall to join the Coast Guard. That way, if your ship went down you could just wade home.
Seriously, the Coast Guard is (or, at least was, until Homeland took it over) a prime example of what a police force should be, and I have nothing but the highest respect for them.
Do you know their unofficial motto? "When a ship is in trouble you have to go out. Nobody said anything about coming back." To live and work by that philosophy takes balls of the first order!
My visit to PR was a two day liberty. We were having our Operations Readiness Inspection, at Gitmo, and that was one of two weekend cruises we made---the other was to Montego Bay; which remains my favoritest spot on the whole earth, even though I experienced the greatest danger of my life while there.