Visitor to my Garden: Friend or Foe?

The other day while making my daily rounds throughout my garden, I noticed a bug on one of my Phlox that I did not recognize.  Immediately I thought what damage is it causing?  I did not observe any damage to the leaves, but I thought I better find out the name of this strange bug.

My favorite book on identifying insects is “Guide to Colorado Insects” by Whitney Cranshaw and Boris Kondratieff.  Sure enough on page 35 I found my strange visitor to my garden.  The visitor was a Goldenrod Soldier Beetle.  The soldier beetle are close relatives of the fireflies, but they do not produce that magical flashing like their relatives.  Growing up in PA. I remember catching fireflies in jars just to see their flash up close.