What is the toughest job in the United States Coast Guard? Why?

I think it depends on the type of duty station. When I was stationed on a patrol boat the whole crew routinely went into danger during search and rescue operations off Cape Hatteras. I used get pretty scared as a SAR Controller on the Oregon coast. It was nerve wracking to launch helos and boats in stormy weather and planning their search areas. The hard part was not knowing what they were actually heading into and planning for the worst possibility.

Breaking ice in the polar regions was pretty cool. The seas were pretty rough in some places. Oddly enough the roughest seas I ever sailed were the great lakes in November. Hard to believe but true.

I think Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher answered this one in that documentary.

being brave enough to volunteer to join a service that tells you you have to go out but you dont have to come back.

Hearing that fellow Coasties were lost while attempting to save others.
Followed by reading ignorant posts from service members that are clueless as to what it takes to be a Coastie.

Same as the Navy and Marine Corps. Not falling overboard!

I don't know what the toughest job in the Coast Guard is , all I know is that they do it well. I was happy as all get out when they showed up to save my butt when our fishing boat lost power in the San Diego Ship channel. No,we didn't tell them when they showed up we were US Navy

OK, I see a lot of non-CG responses and I have to say that I appreciated each one. As for the toughest job, you'll get a lot of different responses. Having served for nearly 22 years myself, I can tell you that ANY operational unit has its tough spots. Rescue Swimmers hit the water when others can't, patrolling cutters go out when the weather and conditions are at their worst, small boat units often have a very heavy work load including but not limited to search and rescue, law enforcement, marine environmental protection, event coordination and once again these take place in some of the worst conditions, severe heat, hurricanes, Noreaster's that send most small boats scrambling for the closest port in the storm and all dealing with a public that knows little to nothing about what the Coast Guard is all about. But as a whole, every job in the Coast Guard relies on every other job at some point in time, whether you're a cook, deal with the admin, engineer, deckie, operational specialist, or whatever. Non-stop, peace time, war time, and every minute in between. The Coast Guard has very little "down time." I am proud to have served in the Coast Guard and would do it all again if given the opportunity.

Everyone sees the rescue swimmers as the face of the Coast Guard, and they do amazing work, but there are so many missions within the Coast Guard most folks don't ever hear about. We have folks all around the world training other nations and conducting missions. I wish they would take "Coast" out of our name. LOL That said, for the toughest job that I would never want to do is buoy tender duty. It's gross, rough, hard, dangerous work. Plus, these guys contribute to drug and alien interdiction ops.

I'd have to go with Counter Drug Interdiction. (Sorry, I don't know the acronym for that.) Those guys don't walk into the hornet's nest... they're run into it.

The toughest job in the CG or is right at the top of the list would be that of the Independent Duty Corpsman (IDC) or Independent Duty Health Services Tech (IDHS) aboard a 378 (WHEC) attached to a support unit w/out a CG Clinic & contracted with a Navy MTF ten miles away that doesn't understand CG policy. With a crew of 165 w/out an aviation attachment & 170 w/ an aviation attachment; it can get overbearing while cruising around the Bering Sea in December heading out into 40-50 foot seas with hail winds to save those too ignorant to head in for safety, but we're usually saving those employed in the most unsafe job in the world; the Bering Sea Fisherman. I really enjoy my job, but when 2 or more crew-members get injured at the same time in that environment; it's team work from the tight crew I have to help the injured crew-members & myself through the ordeal. This job will never go away & my hat goes off to all the other 378 IDC's/IDHS's out there.