Coast Guard Auxiliary Past Officer Device

Auxiliary uses a unique system for appointing members to various levels in the management chain of leadership, in which Auxiliarists elected to serve in leadership positions appoint staff officers to perform administrative duties.

This system of elected leaders and personally appointed staffers, combined with relatively short terms in office (one year for elected offices up to Division Captain, two years for higher elected positions), means it’s very possible for Auxiliarists to have once held a higher officer than the one they currently hold. What’s more, the Auxiliary Manual makes it clear that past appointed and elected leaders are authorized to permanently wear the insignia representing the highest office they have ever held, provided they served in that role for at least half of its designated term.

To make it clear that an office insignia does not reflect the member’s current status, Auxiliarists who wish to wear an insignia of a previously held elected or appointed office that is higher than their current officer must wear the Past Officer insignia