At the time I was actually station in Elizabeth City, NC. At that time the Coast Guard only had a small handful of their own EMT's; the school was still very new and had a 50% washout rate.
They pulled all of us they could and put us on the cutters and patrol boats. Talk about a baptism of fire.
As for the 110 cutters...they were pieces of dung when they were built and only intended to be a ten year stop-gap replacement. They're even worse now.
By any chance, have you ever been to the CG station in Emerald Isle, NC?
I was a USCG EMT. I was stationed on a buoy tender out of boston most of my time in, but I started out with a half year up at the small boat station in Gloucester.
I was in from 85-89, and was surprised to nevr get pulled out to go to D7.
I had friends on the 110's as they wer coming in. They agreed, they were junk, but better than the very old 82's and 95's they were replacing. Yeah, 10 year life is what i remember hearing.