Course Details

As a public affairs officer, you are at the center of what is happening in the U.S. Coast Guard and the Auxiliary because it’s your job to enhance our image (public perception) and build our brand equity.

As you can see from this course outline, you will be assigned projects for completion Friday and Saturday evening after class. We will administer a short review exam on Sunday. To get course credit, you must complete all homework assignments and send these electronically to the AUX-12 Coordinator.

The training you gain from AUX-12 is only the beginning. The national PA website www.auxpa.org is your gateway to Auxiliary Public Affairs. Use it!

We hope you will continue to develop your expertise in public affairs and to share that knowledge with others.

Look Into Advanced Training

Since a Public Affairs Officer (PAO) must have multiple skills, we hope you'll also pursue the Auxiliary Public Affairs Specialist 1 designation. PA Specialist candidates take public affairs and ICS courses on line, then finish a series of tasks outlined in a PQS notebook. Here’s a summary:

Completion of AUX-12 counts for all PA 1 requirements except ICS 100 and the Intro to Auxiliary to Public Affairs (AUX-20) courses.

You can find the PA 1 PQS notebook on the national public affairs website www.auxpa.org. Click on “PA Training” then “Public Affairs Specialist.” Download the Study Guide and the Performance Qualification System documents.