When they're busted pretending to be veterans, Peter and his pals are forced to join the Coast Guard. Unfortunately, none of them (except Quagmire) take the job seriously.
This episode features examples of these tropes:
- Big Damn Heroes: Quagmire shows up to rescue Peter, Joe and Cleveland and disposes of the bomb on board the yacht.
- Brick Joke:The Hydraulic Grapple Winch, First, Quagmire lists it off during the Coast Guard inspection. Second, When they are out on patrol. Third, during Quagmire's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the guys about not knowing how to operate it. Joe even lampshades this by saying he has said that three times and asks if it's going to be important later.Quagmire: Hydraulic Grapple Winch!Cleveland: Oh yeah!Joe: From earlier!
- Chekhov's Gun: Quagmire keeps bringing up the the hydraulic winch to his friends and later uses it to save Peter's life.
- Global Ignorance: Peter thinks that Fort Lauderdale is in Iraq, and pronounces it, "Fort El-Aud-er-D-Ali".
- Leeroy Jenkins: Cleveland straight-up namedrops this trope when Peter, Joe, and Cleveland have to face off against a group of guys with Uzis.
- Only Sane Man: Quagmire is the only one in Peter's group who is offended about pretending to be a veteran, since he himself is an actual veteran. In fact, he gets so fed up with his friends' shenanigans that he walks out on them.
- Phony Veteran: What lands Peter and friends in trouble. They pretend to be veterans to get assorted perks before finally getting caught. Since he is an actual veteran, Quagmire is spared any of the legal ramifications, but Ida, a veteran herself, demands he join the others in the Coast Guard to atone for participating in their antics.
- Running Gag: Peter, Joe and Cleveland eat at The Olive Garden when one of them says the Coast Guard motto: "When You're Here, You're Family". At the end, Cleveland stops Quagmire before he can mention it.Cleveland: I'm not going back to that restaurant!if it's going to be important later.e:
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After having had enough of his friends not taking the Coast Guard seriously, Quagmire leaves the hotel.
- Take That!: Namor the Sub-Mariner of Marvel Comics makes an appearance where the guys are unimpressed and instead prefer the newly arriving Aquaman.
- We Are Not Going Through That Again: A Downplayed example. Throughout the episode, the guys eating at Olive Garden upon saying the Coast Guard Motto gets them feeling more and more bloated with each instance. When Quagmire is about to say it at the end of the episode, Cleveland shoots him in order to avoid eating there again.
