Coast Guard team offers stability and flexibility

She may be retiring after 20 years of service in the U.S. Coast Guard, but Ainara Farina is not planning to rest on her laurels.

Farina, 39, of Swansea, Ill., is set to retire in November as a yeoman first class. Her career included duty stations up and down the East Coast and in St. Louis, and an award for being a role model for Latina women in the armed forces.

She now plans to devote herself full-time to the family restaurant business she and her husband built and moved from one Coast Guard station to another. They currently operate two restaurants, Gauchos Argentinian Steakhouse in Fairview Heights, Ill., and Buenos Aires Cafe at City Foundry STL, and a food truck. All feature foods that honor their Spanish and Argentinian roots.

High school sweethearts

Farina, who was born in Spain, moved to Florida when she was six years old. In high school, she met her future husband, Oscar, who grew up in Argentina.

Ainara and Oscar joined the U.S. Army together after high school graduation. After basic training, the two married and were stationed in Germany, where Farina served as a pharmacy technician. But after starting their family, which now consists of three sons, Farina decided the Army wasn’t a good fit for her and returned home to Miami. Her husband soon joined her and launched their first food truck.

It wasn’t long before Ainara found she missed the structure and stability of military life and decided to give the Coast Guard a try. After training, she was stationed at Coast Guard Station Chatham, a historic lighthouse and rescue station on Cape Cod.

Mentoring young people

From Massachusetts, her service took the family to other posts on the East Coast, from Rhode Island to Virginia to Florida. Her duties shifted to human resources, and in recent years she has served as a recruiter. She said she enjoys mentoring young people who are considering joining the Coast Guard.

“This has definitely been a huge highlight for me, just being able to let people know about our service,” she said. “With my oldest son now 19, I deal with a lot of parents my age. I’m not going to lie, I’m going to be an open book – there are days that are not going to be as bright as others.”

Farina said because the Coast Guard is so much smaller than the other military branches, with just 40,000 active-duty members, it feels more like a family.

She said the Coast Guard benefits include not only a career, health insurance and housing, but the opportunity to earn a college education. For her, it also meant a chance for adventure plus the flexibility she needed raising her family and running a business.

“It expanded my horizons and dreams and goals,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons I like the recruiting job – to show people what you can do. I’m female. I’m Hispanic. I’ve got a family. And I’m an entrepreneur.”

Serving with pride

One of her proudest moments was in 2017, when she received the Coast Guard LATINA Style Distinguished Military Service Award for leadership, service and achievements.

“That was one of my goals,” she said. “I had noticed that everybody winning that award were officers. Some people said to me, don’t even try for it. You have to be high up to even be considered. I just didn’t let that stop me. I was proud to show my other lower enlisted (colleagues) that you don’t have to be high in rank to grow in leadership.”

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Soldiers Memorial Military Museum offers programs and outreach services including special exhibits, tours, services for the military community, school programs and lectures.

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