Breeze Summer 2011

Breeze Volume LVII Number 2 Summer 2011

United States Coast Guard Auxiliary 7th District http://www.cgaux7.org/

Is the official publication of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary

7th District http://www.cgaux7.org/

Volume LVII Number 2 Summer 2011

UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

District Commander: RADM William D. Baumgartner,

USCG

Director of Auxiliary District 7: CDR Jose Quinones

Operations Training Officer: CWO Ursula Walther

U.S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARY

District Commodore COMO Walter Jaskiewicz

District Chief of Staff

John Tyson

Immediate Past District Commodore COMO Donald L. Frasch

District Captain North

Robert Weskerna

District Captain West Melvin Manning

District Captain East J. Pat Feighery, Jr.

BREEZE is the official and educational tool of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 7th District and is intended as a publication to keep the membership apprised of the activities of the Auxiliary. All articles and photographs sub-mitted must be consistent with the policies of the Coast Guard and the Auxiliary and may not be returned. Electronic submissions are encouraged.

Personal information of members is protect-ed by the Privacy Act of 1974. The use of these rosters, addresses and telephone numbers on any computer or online service including the Internet is prohibited by the Act.

Comments are encouraged and may be sent to Dorothy Riley, Editor (District Officer-Publications) at: [email protected]. Articles in the BREEZE may be reprinted provided credit is given and a copy is sent to the above Editor and Publications Officer.

Do not send changes of address to the BREEZE. You can obtain a change of member information report (7028) from your Materials Officer and submit it through channels.

Commodore Walter Jaskiewicz, District Commodore D7 3

John Tyson, District Chief of Staff D7 4-5

Commodore Donald Frasch, Immediate Past District Commodore 5

Robert Weskerna, District Captain North 6-8

Melvin Manning, District Captain West 10-11

J. P. Feighery, Jr., District Captain East 12

James Dennen, Logistics Directorate Chief 14-15

Richard Leys, Response Directorate Chief 16-18

Puerto Rico: Ready-Set-Inflate 19

Bruce Lindsey, Prevention Directorate Chief 20-21

WWII Image of Coast Guard Pipe Band by Alejandro deQuesada 22-24

Auxiliary Assists in Development of NASBLA Program by Melvin Manning 25

Division 12 Coxswain/Crew Training Academy by Barbara Burchfield 26-29

NSBW Highlights from throughout D7 30-31

Saving Whales by Ann Hedberg and Ted Giesbrecht 32-33

Tradewinds 2011 by Dan Jacquish 34-36

Water Wise by John DeFalco 37

Learning the Ropes by Constance O. Irvin 38

Lifejackets and Baseball? by Barbara Burchfield 39

Always Ready by Randall Moritz 40

Protecting the Marine Environment by Constance O. Irvin 41

Air-Sea Rescue Training by Bob Adubato 42-43

VSC at Bassmaster Elite Series by Charles E. Truthan 44-45

D7 Virtual Library 46

From the Editor 47

NSBW Highlights from throughout D7 13

NSBW Highlights from throughout D7 48

In this issue:

Cover Photo: Ed Hemas from Flotilla 59 hands stickers to children who are ‘talking’ to “Coastie,” at an early National Safe Boating Week kick-off at Station Ft. Pierce. Coast-ie’s voice is provided by Daniel Dilorenzo from Flotilla 59, off to the side with a head-set. While their faces are not shown, the children’s posture expresses how enrapt they are with the talking boat. Photo by Gary Barth, DCDR 5

Breeze, Volume LVII Spring 2011 3

From the Bridge

We call upon those who held leadership positions in the past to be mentors; to offer their skills, talents and ma-turity, and if need be, to sit down and guide newly elect-ed officers. In addition, our changing times bring forth new challenges, new positions, and titles. We must be adaptable and understand these new policies and the reasons for them, and work towards their success.

By utilizing our educational training programs in one of the many formats available, be it in house or online, we can help to insure the future destiny and resilience of our 7th District Auxiliary.

All members are part of our District 7 team and I to urge you stand side by side with me on a taut watch that will continue to exemplify our missions and support to the United States Coast Guard.

Remember that our September district conference in Jacksonville is fast approaching. I assure all members that we have something of interest for everyone. Here are a few highlights: online course testing, ICS 210, first aid, crew training, leadership, and an anti-terrorist class to name just a few. Of course, the opportunity to attend great social events and to meet old friends and make new ones waits as well! Ω

Thank you for all that you do, Semper Paratus

This year’s National Safe Boating Week was extremely successful throughout our district due to the great plan-ning of our members. I acknowledge all partici-pants for a job well done and for all the time and energy they devoted to

this great mission.

I hope everyone has taken the time to review our District Strategic Plan and our Organizational Plan on our web site. (Click on link at bottom of page: http://cgaux7.org/index7.htm?page=members) We are right on course accomplishing the goals and objectives outlined. Bravo Zulu to all for maintaining the dedication and spirit and for keeping up the great support to the active Coast Guard units throughout our large area of responsibility, on land, the seas and in the air with our great Auxiliary Air team.

To maintain our dedication to our missions and tasks, we should all stop and review the commitment we made when joining the Auxiliary. Hidden in the words of our membership oath is an understanding that each of us will provide compassion and understanding to help any member should their course sail into rough seas. True, we are volunteers, but we are also human and must always make time to as-sist any member in need.

Commodore Walter Jaskiewicz District Commodore D7

The Navy League chose the Division 14 Honor Guard as the primary Color Guard for the organi-zation’s annual ceremony honoring veterans of the Battle of Midway during WWII. The annual cer-emony was held June 6, 2011 at the Renaissance Hotel located at the World Golf Village in St. Au-gustine. More than 600 attendees paid tribute to ten remaining local Veterans of the battle. The Division 14 Color Guard was joined by active duty personnel from each of the five branches of the Military and the Merchant Marines to form a nine person Color Line. From left, they are David Green and David Hensel, USCG Auxiliary, PFC Vargo, US ARMY, Sgt Yoh, US Marine Corps, LTJG Wallace, US Navy, A1C Kozdras, USAF, MK3 Cory Morris, USCG, ME2 Montgomery, USCG, Paul Davis, USCG Auxiliary. Photo by William Sekeres

4 United States Coast Guard Auxiliary District 7

When I was younger, my grandmother would tell me she thought some people just needed to “stick to their knitting.” That was a nice way for grandma to say she thought their attention should be on more

important things. Over the years, I learned that grand-ma was seldom wrong about such matters.

As Auxiliarists, we sometimes hear our shipmates sug-gest the need for a new activity or program. Some of those suggestions are good and offer exciting opportuni-ty; others remind us of grandma’s advice about sticking to our knitting. But thank heaven we have some Auxilia-ry grandmas (in the form of our longer-serving mem-bers) who help us stay focused on our missions of pro-moting recreational boating safety, supporting the Coast Guard in maintaining the safety and security of our citi-zens, and providing educational programs to the boating public. Each of these missions is supported by goals

and strategies outlined in the 2011-2012 District Strate-gic Plan. By “sticking to our knitting” when it comes to fulfilling our missions and goals, we will remain the most productive district in the Auxiliary.

So, where are we in meeting our goals at the mid-point of the year? Well, I am pleased I can say that through the diligent work of our district’s nearly 6,000 members we are off to a great start. Our flotillas, with leadership from 125 flotilla and division Human Resource officers, have done a super job recruiting new members. District membership is up a net six percent so far this year, and if we continue recruiting at the current pace and hold disenrollments and retirements at or below their current level, we will meet our 2011 goal of a 10 percent growth in membership. To ensure that result, we need every-one’s help in keeping our newer members engaged in productive activities while also letting our longer-serving members know how much we appreciate their unique skills, knowledge, and service.

In the first half of this year, there were many other signif-icant accomplishments. Our Auxiliary Sector Coordina-tors and Auxiliary Aviation Coordinators did a great job

(Continued on page 5)

John Tyson District Chief of Staff

From the Bridge

Glenn Leroy from Flotilla 79 Tampa

conducts a Vessel Safety Check

during NSBW. During the first six

months of 2011, D7 accomplished a

sizable increase in the number of

Vessel Examiners and Program

Visitors. Our Vessel Examiners

conducted an impressive 18,000

plus Vessel Safety Checks. Photo

by Jeff Young


helping their Sector and Air Station Operational Plan-ners better understand and utilize Auxiliary capabilities and assets. This has led to greater tasking for the Auxil-iary, and is reflected in the more than 14,000 hours of Direct Operational Support to Coast Guard units provid-ed in the first half of the year. An additional 31,000 hours were provided by operational missions, during which district Auxiliarists saved 11 lives and assisted 165 persons. Those achievements should make us all very proud!

During the first six months, D7 accomplished a sizable increase in the number of Vessel Examiners and Pro-gram Visitors. Our Vessel Examiners conducted an im-pressive 18,000 plus Vessel Safety Checks, and Pro-gram Visitors made over 7,000 visits to recreational boating safety Partners and marine dealers. Those Safety Checks and Partner visits, together with the Na-tional Safe Boating Week programs conducted by nearly all units, made a major contribution to meeting the dis-trict Auxiliary’s goal of reducing boating accidents and fatalities by five percent a year.

There were other achievements such as the streamlin-ing of several work processes and the resolution of problems with AUXDATA (Auxiliary database main-tained by the Coast Guard) and Patrol Order Manage-ment System (POMS). The benefit of those actions will become more and more apparent as the year progress-es. Also completed was the first step in meeting a goal of standardizing the district’s leadership training. The Flotilla Leadership Training road show and an AMLOC (mid-level leadership) course were completed in the first half, and courses offering advanced leadership skills training and flotilla planning will be conducted at the Dis-trict Conference.

And speaking of the District Conference, which will begin September 22 in Jacksonville, Commodore Jaskiewicz and I hope all our D7 shipmates will consider attending. The agenda will be posted on the District Seven Auxiliary website shortly, and the Conference will offer training opportunities for everyone. If you plan to go, make your reservations early as meeting space and hotel rooms can fill quickly.

Again, thank you for your service, hard work and contri-bution to getting D7 off to a great start for the year. I look forward to visiting with many of you at the Confer-ence. Ω

John Tyson District Chief of Staff

I cannot believe it is already June, six months since I hand-ed the reins of D7 over to COMO Jaskie-wicz. I also cannot believe how busy I have been in my new job. Since taking over as Deputy National Commodore, Opera-tions Policy and Atlan-tic East, I've attended a National Change of Watch, four District Training Conferences, a National Executive Committee meet-ing, a District Seven Executive Committee meeting, a three-day meeting with the Atlantic East (LANTAREA) Commander and his Deputy, and a LANTAREA Commanding Officer and Command Master Chief Conference. I'm tired, but have enjoyed it tremendously.

The good part of all this is that I get to experience how the other four districts in Atlantic Area-East oper-ate. I can tell you all that D7 does not take a back seat to anyone. You are the best of the best!

In April I had the pleasure of attending the D7 Execu-tive Committee meeting in Jacksonville. What im-pressed me was how well your new Bridge has come together as a unit, all pulling in the same direction. They have gotten over the fright of putting together a new team and staff, have gotten to know and trust each other, and are truly committed to your success as a district. I have no question or hesitation that they, with your support, will be wildly successful.

Moving forward, I ask you to do three things: 1. Al-ways keep a positive attitude 2. Always do the right thing 3. Take care of each other. I guarantee you that if you do these three things, your Auxiliary experi-ence will be fantastic.Ω

Semper Paratus

Don

Commodore Donald Frasch Immediate Past District Commodore Deputy National Commodore Operations Policy and Atlantic Area East


District Captain North

One of the best parts of fulfilling the duties of a District Captain is on occa-sion, to attend Divi-sion Meetings around one’s area. Since my previous

posting in the Breeze, I have traveled to a number of divisions, and this article reflects a small part of what I have observed and learned. My thanks to the six outstanding Division Commanders and Divi-sion Vice Commanders from the north; you renew my sense of pride in this organization by the dedi-cation and energy that you give every day to your members and to the Auxiliary.

This odyssey began in early February with a visit to Co-coa, Florida and Division 17. It was great to visit with George Peek, Division 17 Commander, Carl Motes, his Division Vice Commander, and the many members at-tending that meeting. As is often the case, the story of one young member caught my attention for his extraor-dinary efforts. The member who caught my attention was Wagner Nolasco, Flotilla Vice Commander 17-11. Wagner’s unusual activities included developing and implementing an About Boating Safely (ABS) class in

Spanish. National and D7 offices approved this feat, and this effort, as I understand it, resides in our E-library. Both Wagner and associate Richard Navas of Flotilla 17-11 took to the airwaves and were able to get the word out to the Hispanic Community to promote their course. They also ran notices in local Hispanic newspapers. Great job, and Wagner’s story continues.

On March 19, while sitting in on Division 14’s regularly scheduled meeting, Captain Andy Blomme, Sector Commander of Sector Jacksonville, presented the Coast

Robert Weskerna, DCAPT-N

District Captain North’s Excellent Adventures

Top of page: COCOA, Fla.—Wagner Nolasco, Flotilla Vice Commander 17-11 (at far right), Richard Navas (to his right) and friends at radio station to promote the flotilla’s About Boating Safely class in Spanish. Photo provided by W. Nolasco Left: JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—Captain Andy Blomme, Com-mander Sector Jacksonville, presents the Meritorious Team Commendation to the Division 14 Honor Guard, March 19, 2011. From right are William Sekeres, Director of the Division 14 Honor Guard and Vice Commander Divi-sion 14, David Hensel, Scott Thomas, CAPT Andy Blomme, Tom Hayden, Commander Division 14, and LTJG Grant Johnson, Auxiliary Liaison Sector Jacksonville. Not present were Honor Guard members, Paul Davis and David Green. Photo by Robert Weskerna


Guard Meritorious Team Commendation to the Sector Jacksonville Auxiliary Honor Guard.

The actual citation was thoughtfully written, saying in part, “…Sector Jacksonville active duty and Auxiliary personnel worked together seamlessly for extensive planning, preparation, and execution of the rigid military standards necessary to ensure proper honors were ren-dered for all events.” You can see the pride in Division Commander Hayden’s body language as he listens to this fine honor read, including the team’s participation in 15 Military Funeral Honors, the presentation of colors at three Jacksonville Jaguars National Football League games, and on and on. A terrific accomplishment and it is ongoing as I write this.

On March 22, I attended an Auxiliary Sector Coordinator (ASC) meeting at Sector Charleston. At this meeting, representatives from Divisions 2, 10, and 12 attended, with Ron Goldenberg, Auxiliary Sector Coordinator

(ASC) Charleston (now retired as ASC) at the helm.

About Ron Goldenberg… It wasn’t too many years after I got involved in the Auxiliary at the District level that I first met Ron Goldenberg in his capacity as Rear Com-modore North, now referred to as District Captain North. My first impressions of Goldenberg were very positive. Here was a thoughtful, soft spoken, articulate, and very intelligent individual. I have worked with Goldenberg many times over the years, but mostly in his capacity as ASC Charleston. His temperament is as steady as they come, and I will miss his thoughtful advice and warm friendship. Best of luck in your new “digs”, Ron.

A second candid shot from this same ASC meeting at Charleston shows our Chief of Prevention, Bruce Lind-sey, looking on as Everbridge guru John Vanosdol, Flo-tilla 21, lectures the group about the Auxiliary Incident Management System (AIMS). Everbridge is slowly be-coming a fact of life for the Auxiliary. Vanosdol has trav-eled to Sector Charleston to instruct Division 12 mem-bers about this system a number of times and proved himself to be very patient and extremely well versed on this subject. Lindsey seems very comfortable assisting him.

On April 16 I sat in on a Division 10 (coastal Georgia) meeting. Standing in the photo at right is Commander


Left: CHARLESTON, S.C.— Warren Wilson, Ted Phillips and Ron Goldenberg at an Auxiliary Sector Coordinator meeting at Sector Charleston in March 2011. Right: At the same meeting, Bruce Lindsay, Chief of Prevention, looks on as Everbridge ‘guru’ John Vanosdol, Flotilla 21, lectures the group about the Auxiliary Incident Management System (AIMS). Photos by Robert Weskerna

SAVANNAH, Ga.—Warren Wilson, Division Commander 10 (at head of table), listens attentively as CDR Lonnie Harrison, Com-mander of Marine Safety Unit Savannah, makes his final presenta-tion to the Division 10 members on April 16, 2011. Photo by Rob-ert Weskerna


Lonnie Harrison from Marine Safety Unit Savannah. Warren Wilson, Division Com-mander 10, listened attentively as CDR Harrison made his final presentation to the Division 10 members attending that morn-ing. CDR Harrison is well liked and a good friend to the Auxiliarists of Division 10.

It is always an occasion to mark when a new flotilla becomes chartered. On April 30, the latest flotilla to be born (at least in Divi-sion 12) is Flotilla 12-4. Sector Charleston Commander, Captain Mike White, swore in the members of Flotilla 12-4 Central Grand Strand.

The final chapter in my article was a big event for Division 12 and a fitting end to my odyssey. This is a success story for Flotilla 12-6 East Cooper, which through the heroic efforts of flotilla members Fes-tus Burchfield, Barbara Burchfield, and with the invalua-ble help of Ron Foreman, Flotilla Commander 12-6, more than 26 members from around South Carolina and one member from Georgia attended the Auxiliary Boat Crew and Coxswain training program.

With Festus Burchfield as the organizer, manager, and developer of the syllabus—and more, this program be-gan their training on March 5 and completed the final Qualification Examination on May 25. Training took place every Saturday at Station Charleston with stu-

dents traveling to attend from Augusta, Aiken, Columbia, Lake Marion, Georgetown, Myrtle Beach, Edisto, and Charleston. The objectives of this training program were to increase proficiency through the standardization of boat crew training personal qualification standards (PQS). All who completed this course passed their Qual-ifying Examination. Having active duty Coast Guard in-structors interlaced with Auxiliarists provided both the students and Coast Guard members a great opportunity to gain mutual familiarity, recognition and respect.

The adventures continue next time. Ω

District Captain North’s Excellent Adventures, continued

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.—Flotilla 12-4 Central Grand Strand is chartered on April 30, 2011. CAPT Michael White, Commander, Sector Charleston swore in the flotilla’s members. Pho-to by Robert Weskerna Below: CHARLESTON, S.C.—CAPT White, Commander Sector Charleston and Commodore Walter Jaskiewicz, D7, flank Walter Spall, elected as the new flotilla’s first commander. Be-tween them, they hold out the flotil-la’s charter. Photo by Ron Foreman


District Captain West

Melvin Manning, DCAPT-W

Three flotillas celebrated their 50th anniversary this year. Flotilla 87, Englewood, Florida was established Jan 7, 1961. Flotilla 98, Charlotte Har-bor, Florida was estab-lished May 19, 1961, and Flotilla 7-16 in Gulfport, Florida stood up on May 22, 1961. Appropriate ceremonies were held

including receiving the 50th Anniversary Certificate and unit flag banner. Flotilla 75, Ruskin, Florida, which was chartered on December 28, 1960, received their 50th Anniversary Certificate and flag banner at the Division 7 meeting on April 16, 2011 in Tampa, Florida.

The Auxiliary Chef (AUXCHEF) program arrived on the west coast of Florida with a bang. Paulette Parent, Vice Commander Division 8 was appointed point-of-contact by the District Captain-West to plan and organize AUXCHEF classes. Budget constraints, lack of instruc-tors and suitable facilities provided significant challeng-es. With the support of the District Bridge, Auxiliary Sec-tor Coordinator - St. Petersburg, Sector St. Petersburg,

and most notability Air Station Clearwater, the program launched with its first class at Air Station Clearwater on April 16. Elizabeth Gallagher, imported from Flotilla 45 Sanford, Florida, Toni Borman, Flotilla 84 Sarasota, and Parent conducted the class. To date, they taught three classes with Parent and Borman as instructors and sev-eral others including Jeff Lawlor, Flotilla 11-1, who com-pleted the requirements to become an instructor. Over thirty students from all divisions in the west completed the course. They will augment the food services staff of the Coast Guard at Sector St. Petersburg, Air Station Clearwater, on-board Cutters, and at various small boat stations. Air Station Clearwater provided the training fa-cilities, staff, and food for the classes. Along the way, Parent was appointed Assistant District Staff Officer-Human Resources, Auxiliary Chef Program (ADSO-HR AUXCHEF D7).

For several years, boat crews, mainly from Division 11, supported HC-130 Hercules aircraft pilot training by providing surface vessels and crews to deploy with per-sonnel from Air Station Clearwater aboard in the Gulf of Mexico to serve as “targets” and retrieve rescue items such as pumps and life rafts dropped during Aerial De-livery System (ADS) training. Until February of this year, these missions were all conducted during daylight hours.

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla.—A 47-foot Motor Life Boat from Station Sand Key arrives

at the Tarpon Springs Boat Docks on June 24, 2011 to participate in a National

Safe Boating Week public information event planned by Flotilla 11-9 Tarpon

Springs, Fla. Constantine Beyko, member of Flotilla 11-9, keeps the children watch-ing their arrival at a safe distance. Photo

by Darren Hart, Flotilla Staff Officer-Publications, Flotilla 11-9 Tarpon Springs.


The Air Operations Officer at the Air Station proposed to the Auxiliary Sector Coordinator (ASC) that night ex-ercises be included. The first night mission was suc-cessfully conducted on February 22. With the approval of the Air Operations Officer and the Commanding Of-ficer of Station Sand Key, the Auxiliary is now support-ing Hercules ADS drop training every Thursday night in the Gulf of Mexico.

National Safe Boating Week (NSBW) continued as a highlight event of the year. Commencing on May 21, divisions and flotillas participated in boat parades, pub-lic exhibits, and vessel examination blitzes. Special boating safety classes were offered. Cities and counties at council and commission meetings issued NSBW recognition proclamations. Representatives from Auxil-iary units received these proclamations. Coast Guard Stations provided surface vessels for static displays and dockside public boardings. Air Station Clearwater staged flyovers at several events with Hercules aircraft and MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters. Several newspaper articles appeared featuring Auxiliary NSBW activities and coverage on television news programs as well as boating and fishing oriented programs were widespread through the west area. The positive impact of the

NSBW effort is immeasurable, however, increased at-tendance at boating safety classes, overall attention to safety on and around the water, and decreases in recre-ational boating accidents that result in injuries and death are the ultimate goal.

The Hurricane Griffin functional exercise was conducted by the Coast Guard from May 19-25, 2011. This year, pursuant to the 2011 Hurricane Personnel Accountability Policy Guidance for D7, the responsibility of accounting for Auxiliarists was delegated to the Sectors. CAPT Sheryl Dickinson, Commander Sector St. Petersburg, attended the regular District Captain and Division Com-mander meeting at Sector St. Petersburg on May 2. Guidelines were established to account for Auxiliarists in the Sector’s area of responsibility. A validated list of Auxiliarists for whom accountability is required was pre-pared for the Sector and the divisions. During the exer-cise, each flotilla contacted the listed Auxiliarists and reported the results to the Exercise Coordinator at Sec-tor St. Petersburg via the chain of leadership. A 99% accountability success rate was achieved. The guide-lines developed are in effect throughout the hurricane season. Ω

TAMPA, Fla.—National Safe Boating Week activities were most successful throughout District 7-West. Flotilla 79 Tampa participated in Ready Set Inflate, an event sponsored by the National Safe Boating Council and its partners to promote life jacket wear and to set a new record for the number of life jackets inflated at the same time, world-wide. Tampa City Councilman Harry Cohen (center front), members of Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 79 and other Division Seven flotillas, Coast Guard Station St. Petersburg, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Com-mission and the public participated in the event on May 21, timed to kick off National Safe Boating Week. Flotilla 79 ranked first for the num-ber of participants within District 7 and third nation-wide for all events recorded. Photo by Jeff Young, Jeff Young Photography


District Captain East

J. P. Feighery, Jr., DCAPT-E

Boating is a year round activity in the east area of responsibility and awareness to boating safety is a never-ending marathon of the six divi-sions that make up Team East.

I am proud that all six divisions turned the mar-

athon into a sprint over the course of National Safe Boating Week (NSBW). From Fort Pierce to Key West, from San Juan to Ponce and from St. Thomas to St. John, members of Team East were busy pursuing one of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary’s primary missions: Safe Boating.

The Flotillas of Division 1, Puerto Rico, had boating safety booths in many locations and participated in the “Ready-Set-Inflate” event in conjunction with partner agencies. Division 1 drove home the importance of wearing life jackets no matter what manner of boating you participate in.

Division 3, Broward and South Palm Beach counties, hosted open houses at flotilla facilities, conducted week-long Vessel Examination blitzes and Boating Safety booths including a booth at the Hillsboro Lighthouse which was open for a public tour.

Division 5, Palm Beach and Martin counties, Florida continued the long tradition of open houses at Stations Ft. Pierce and Lake Worth Inlet. Florida Wildlife Com-mission,

Customs and Border Patrol and the Palm Beach and Martin County Sheriff Departments were just a few of the partner agencies who participated in these events. The highlight of each event was a demonstration by Air Station Miami of how Coast Guard helicopters and res-cue swimmers work with surface facilities.

Division 6, Miami Dade county, Florida held several events which focused on youthful boaters. Division 6 personnel conducted a Boating Skills and Seamanship course at South Ridge Senior High school and held a graduation ceremony for the 80 students who participat-

ed. Personnel from Station Miami Beach and the Florida Wildlife Commission supported the graduation. Two Di-vision 6 flotillas combined efforts to present a Youth Safe Boating program to 200 participants. The program consisted of a three-hour classroom presentation and then two hours of outdoor “hands on” activities. With the help of Coast Guard Station Miami Beach, the division held a media event at Miami’s Bayside Marina and Mall. Speakers included United States Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen and Captain Chris Scraba, Commanding Of-ficer Sector Miami. At the conclusion of the formal cere-monies, the USCGC Dolphin was open for public tours.

Division 13, the Florida Keys, marches to the beat of a different drum. By the time NSBW rolls around, boating activity in the Keys slows down as many residents re-turn north for the summer months. However, the sum-mer migration does not stop Division 13 members from promoting boating safety. The Division continues to fo-cus energy on paddlecraft safety and cautioning the boaters on the dangers of boating in shallow water.

Division 16, U.S. Virgin Islands was full speed ahead during National Safe Boating Week. Flotillas collaborat-ed with the National Park Service at the Park Services Visitors Center in St. John to talk about boating safety and to give tours of National Park Service vessels. In St. Thomas, a cutter was available for public tours and flotil-la members conducted life jacket and fire fighting de-mos. The St. Croix Flotilla collaborated with the Park Service and local police and fire services for a daylong event that culminated with a Coast Guard Helo rescue demonstration courtesy of Air Station Borinquen.

I want to congratulate all of Team East on a job well done. Lives will be saved as a result of your efforts dur-ing NSBW 2011 and well into the future. Ω

Bravo Zulu.


Highlights of National Safe Boating Week activities throughout District 7.

Division 1 Puerto Rico -participated in Ready-Set-Inflate on May 21. See page 19 for full story. Photo by Gladimar Molina

Division 5 Florida’s Treasure and Gold Coast -held many events (May 14 at Station Fort Pierce and May 21 at Station Lake Worth) including Vessel Safety Checks, information booths, Coast Guard aerial demonstrations, the BatPak, and special appearances by Coastie and Sammy the Sea Otter, seen here with Terry Barth. Photo by Gary Barth

Division 3 Boca Raton to Miami Dade Florida

Ready-Set-Inflate opened the division’s National Safe Boating Week activities at John U. Lloyd Park, Dania Beach, Florida. Members participating included from left: Brian Lichtenstein, Don Banas, Bob Hackney, Glenn Wiltshire, Jan Cox, Ed Duda, Dave Cox, Rita Lasser, Joe Aleba, John Narducci and Bill Hanlon. Photo by Marie Duda

Various National Safe Boating Week activities are highlighted throughout this issue. Our Prevention and Public Affairs Officers spend months in preparation and planning for this annual event. The time and effort invested in this event deserve recognition!


Logistics Directorate James Dennen, DDC-L D7

COMO James E. Vass, USCG Auxiliary National Commodore, and the National Executive Com-mittee established a Dis-trict Staff Officer-Diversity (DSO-DV) posi-tion for all United States Coast Guard Auxiliary Districts. COMO Walter Jaskiewicz, District7 Commodore, appointed Bruce L. Perri to the po-

sition of DSO-DV D7.

Staff officer positions at the division and flotilla levels have not yet been authorized. However, division and flotilla commanders are encouraged to appoint a "Diversity Advisor" for each unit. The position is not mandatory but is highly recommended. When each divi-sion and flotilla commander appoints a "Diversity Advi-sor", please provide Perri with the name, unit, address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the appointee. Perri will forward information about the diversity pro-gram to each appointee. Units are encouraged to ac-complish this task as soon as possible so that we can expeditiously pursue this program. Please direct your questions to Perri.

We cannot overemphasize the importance of this pro-gram. Admiral Papp, Commandant of the Coast Guard, has issued a "Diversity Policy Statement," which closes with his statement, "I am personally committed to mak-ing the Coast Guard the Service of choice for all Ameri-cans who seek to serve our Nation and its people. Achievement of this goal is an all-hands evolution."

More information about the Diversity Program is availa-ble on the Coast Guard Auxiliary National web page at: http://cgaux.org/leadership/diversity.php

The District 7 Logistics Team consists of the following DSOs: Tom Loughlin, Public Affairs, Angela Pomaro, Human Resources, Dottie Riley, Publications, Terry Barth, Materials, Nestor Tacoronte, Communication Ser-vices, Bruce Perri, Diversity, Sue Hastings, Information Systems and Nestor Tacoronte, D7 Webmaster. They are the “best of the best” at what they do. Ω

Next Practices in Achieving Diversity and Inclusion By Donald Lloyd, ANACO Diversity / Inclusion

The Auxiliary has already created its Diversity Policy Statement and strategic plan to develop diversity and inclusion initiatives throughout the organization. Our Plan addresses the purpose, vision, specific goals, and action items toward managing diversity.

Next, its incumbent upon the Auxiliary’s elected and ap-pointed Leadership to incorporate and carry out our di-versity policies and objectives into every aspect of the organization’s functions and purpose. It is our Leaders who’ll be expected to carry out an active role in imple-menting our diversity processes helping the Auxiliary maintain the competitive edge as a volunteer organiza-tion; our actions will be aligned with the core values of Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty.

Now is also the time to move beyond viewing diversity and inclusion as merely the numerical representation of certain groups. It’s time for a systematic application of diversity concepts to the business of our organization. Diversity and inclusion are business priorities of Team Coast Guard and it takes people with diverse talents and perspectives in an inclusive culture.

What is Diversity and Inclusion?

“Diversity includes all characteristics and experiences that define each of us as individuals.” A common mis-conception about diversity is that only certain persons or groups are included under its umbrella, when in fact, exactly the opposite is true. Diversity includes the entire spectrum of primary dimensions of an individual, includ-ing Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Age, Religion, Disability, and Sexual orientation. Secondary dimensions com-monly include: communication style, work style, organi-zational role/level, economic status, and geographic origin. It is a simple fact that each of us possesses unique qualities along each of these dimensions.

Leadership Commitment

The degree to which our leaders are actively involved in implementing initiatives, taking ownership and com-municating the vision will be a test of their leadership.


Managers manage change, but best-in-class leaders create change by inspiring their members, they also recognize the importance of diversity and inclusion be-ing infused into all of the Auxiliary’s pro-cesses.

Diversity and inclusion is both a top pri-ority and a personal responsibility for our leaders.

Empowering through Leadership

As a part of our next practices, diversity and inclusion will not depend on a single leader because it will be woven into the fabric of the way we will conduct busi-ness. And because our leaders will come to understand that being competi-tive on a global front requires full utiliza-tion of the skills and talents of all our members and potential members to bet-ter serve and meet the needs of a di-verse community.

“Success will only be achieved through inspired people operating in an environ-ment based on mutual trust, respect, openness, candor, empowerment, teamwork, innovation, risk taking, integ-rity, and encouraging and valuing diver-sity.”

Accountability

A key element to ensuring the success of any organizational initiatives especially diversity and inclusion is accountability. Accountability is achieved by making the appropriate leaders responsible and ensuring that “everyone is on board” and ac-tively engaged in the diversity process.

We will begin with a monitoring system to measure diversity and inclusion representation by function at all levels to: 1.) en-sure a balanced workforce, and 2.) strengthen the organization’s ability to attract, retain, and de-velop the most highly qualified

members. Specific measures in-cluded in the plan are: positive responses to member surveys, positive articles in publications, sustaining the reputation as a vol-unteer organization of choice, improved representation of diver-sity at all levels, effective remedi-al action when appropriate, awards, and other recognition.Ω

Bruce Perri receives the National Safe Boating Week Proclamation from Patricia Northey, Volusia County Council member District 5 in May 2011. Like many members, Perri wears several hats. Perri serves as both Staff Officer-Public Affairs Division 4, and Flotilla Staff Officer-Public Affairs 44. Photo provided by Bruce Perri


Response Directorate Richard Leys, DDC-R D7

The Response Department consists of four District Staff Officer positions: Aviation: Cecil Christopher, DSO-AV; Operations: Janee Henderson, DSO-OP; Communica-tions: Joseph Colee Jr., DSO-CM; Navigation Services: David Cawton, DSO-NS.

Each branch is proactive in their support to the Coast Guard and ready to respond when needed in such diverse areas as search and rescue, migrant interdiction sup-port, weather related emergencies, watchstanding or a public event, including providing Auxiliary facilities on a stand-by status.

In this issue, we highlight Auxiliary communications in an article by Joseph Colee, Jr., District Staff Officer-Communications.

The District 7 high frequency program is going strong and we conduct a net every Tuesday night at 10:00 p.m. as well as on the first Sun-day of every month at 5 p.m. Stations from as far away as New York, Delaware, and Virginia, as well as some from the Midwest check in, and we are excited about having a high fre-quency station in Puerto Rico. We tested digital communications with stations in New York with favorable results.

High frequency (HF) uses short wave frequen-cies and is the type radio used for long dis-tance communications. By using HF, we can communicate with our entire district to include Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, the islands (Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), as well as with other districts. We support the Coast Guard by supplementing their long dis-tance communications. This is very important in an actual disaster such as a hurricane where regular communications may be out.

Anyone interested in participating should con-tact Joe Colee by email. Ω

District 7 High Frequency

Program By Joseph Colee, Jr., DSO-CM D7

Right- Joseph Colee, Jr., District Staff Officer-Communications D7, participates in a net drill in his vehicle dubbed the “staugmobile.” Photo provided by Joseph Colee, Jr.


Safety Corner: Mishap Reporting By Doug Hansen, District Flight Safety Officer/District Surface Safety Officer

Reporting mishaps is one of the most overlooked re-sponsibilities of any Auxiliary member. Unfortunately, many think that if no one gets hurt and nothing is dam-aged, it is not a mishap! The definition of ‘mishap’ is a minor mistake or accident and by this, a mishap can al-so be when procedures are not followed or an operation-al rule gets broken. Close calls, near misses, and proce-dural errors are also reportable and this is often over-looked because there is an inherent fear of getting into trouble for reporting a mishap.

A mishap does not mean someone will be in trouble! The only times people may be held accountable are when procedures that they agreed to by virtue of their designation were not followed and they tried to hide it. Members coming forward and admitting an error firsthand provides a chance at amnesty and the event is treated merely as a learning experience. Truth be told, there are very few instances where punitive actions have resulted from mishap investigations of minor inci-dents. The reason is to promote reporting of mishaps without fear of reprisal. Four big reasons to report mis-haps:

Review and refinement of procedural policies. The number one reason for mishap reporting is to review ex-isting policies and establish new policies to keep mem-bers and facilities safe.

Learn from others mistakes. Most mishaps are consid-ered FOUO (for official use only) which limits the num-ber of people who see the documents. In some cases where repeat incidents and bad practices arise, some incidents will have individual names removed and used as examples in Team Coordination Training and Crew Resource Management training. This allows the word to be spread without embarrassing the individuals involved, and focuses on the corrective action to prevent a reoc-currence.

Documentation of personnel injuries for future medi-cal care. There are times when people get hurt, disre-gard it, or shake it off, then encounter medical problems later on. Without the record of the incident, it becomes very hard to support that member’s medical needs or link the medical problem to a duty injury. Under 14USC823a-b.7, while assigned to duty, members are able to receive medical care and compensation for inju-ries sustained during the course of duty.

Documentation of dam-age for reimbursement. Did you experience some damage due to hitting the dock hard? Did personal equipment get ruined while underway? Code of Feder-al regulations 10USC2733 covers compensation of property, injury and acci-dental death. Without a mishap report to document the incident and damage, the owner will most likely receive nothing.

In a few paragraphs quoted from ALCOAST message 460/10 from Admiral Papp…

“3. Safety is a 24/7 duty and state of mind. We as an organization must continue to place safety at a premium. We will execute all missions the right way, the safe way, every time. We will extend this ethos beyond our places of work to our off-duty time.

“4. Promotion of safety both on-duty and off is in keeping with my guiding principles of honoring our profession and respecting our shipmates. Safety requires leader-ship, accountability, and situational awareness for both yourself and others. While on duty, we often operate in an inherently dangerous environment. Despite our best efforts, mishaps sometimes occur. Mishaps also occur off-duty, when our shipmates might not be exercising the same vigilance they demonstrate on the job.

“5. There is no higher compliment than to be called a shipmate and no better goal than being a good one. Be-ing a good shipmate means holding yourself and others accountable and being someone who can be counted upon when the alarm sounds. Safety is the responsibility of every member of the Coast Guard family. Don’t let your guard down - be a good shipmate: when in doubt, err on the side of safety and speak up when you see something wrong.”

So when you have any mishap: 1) Take care of medical needs first.

2) Take Photos (if you can) with emphasis on damages


Doug Hansen


and the incident area.

3) Have members draft written statements from all your crew or personnel in attendance to provide to a safe-ty or officer later. If a law enforcement agency is in-volved in the investigation, get the agency, investi-gating officer’s name, phone number, and report number.

4) Notify your Division Commander and/or Aux Air Op-erations Officer.

5) Fill out mishap reporting worksheet: http://cgauxsurfaceops.us/documents/

(Continued from page 17) WorksheetShortFormDec04web.pdf. Aviation is nor-mally provided a worksheet by the Air Station.

6) Provide the mishap information to your order issuing authority Auxiliary Liaison Officer (AUXLO) who will assign an officer to coordinate collecting the infor-mation, Sector Safety Officer, or in the case of an Air Station, will notify the Flight Safety Officer who will send you a worksheet.

Since I handle both Surface and Aviation Safety, you should also notify me. I will report to the Commodore and follow the mishap status as it proceeds.

Learn from other’s mistakes and be safe! It is a better world with you in it!

Safety Corner: Mishap Reporting

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--On March 15, the YMCA of Broward County held a "Drown Proofing" Day" as a part of their camp program. The event was held at three different locations including Hollywood, Ft Lauderdale, and Lauderdale to promote water safety in an effort to prevent accidental drowning. An estimated 500 children in-cluding some with special needs participated. Various organizations including the Broward Sherriff’s Office Di-ve Team, Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, life guards, and counselors demonstrated and provided hands-on experi-ence. Stations included demonstrations in scuba diving, water rescue, and firefighting equipment. The Coast Guard Auxiliary and Coast Guard Station Fort Lauderdale provided CPR demonstrations at all three locations as well as safety information. They assisted with fitting lifejackets and teaching the proper way to wear life jackets as well as when to use them. The Auxiliary booth is visible behind the children jumping into the water. Photo by Brian Lichtenstein

WaterWater Safety: Safety: “Drown “Drown Proofing Proofing

Day”Day”

Brian Lichtenstein


GUAYNABO, Puerto Rico – Coast Guard Auxiliary Division 1 organized and sponsored the First “Ready-Set-Inflate” event held on May 21, 2011, in the Flotilla 1-10 booth located at the San Patricio Plaza Shopping Center in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, as part of the 2011 National Safe Boat-ing Week Activities. Ready-Set-Inflate is a national event sponsored by the National Safe Boating Council in partnership with the Canadian Safe Boating Council. Fourteen Auxiliarists from Flotilla 1-10 San Juan, Puerto Rico, along with some local children participated by gathering around the booth wearing life jackets. The event is intended to both increase awareness about life jacket wear and to break the world record set last year for the number of people inflating life jackets at the same time, worldwide. Other organizations and private sector sponsors gathered across the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico to participate in “Ready-Set-Inflate,” timed to kick off National Safe Boating Week.

The Auxiliarists, chil-dren, and members of the public visiting the booth had a fun time wearing their life jack-ets. The anticipation of setting a new world record added to the fun and the excitement as they also learned about the importance of safe boating and wearing life jackets. All of the members participated in this activity by giving out information regard-ing the Auxiliary’s Pub-lic Education Courses, Vessel Examinations, safe boating practices, the Sea-Partners Pro-gram, USCG Auxiliary recruiting, and much more.

Angel Benero, Acting Division 1 Commander, Lourdes R. Oliveras, the Ready-Set-Inflate event organizer and Public Affairs Officer Division 1, along with Jose Caban, Flotilla Commander, Jorge Velez, Vice Flotilla Commander, Sonia Ro-lon, Flotilla Staff Officer-Public Af-fairs, and other Auxiliary members gathered at the 2011 National Safe Boating Week booth of Flotilla 1-10

San Juan, Puerto Rico.

As this event served as the kick-off for the National Safe Boating Week activities held around the island, both Benero and Oliveras were pleased with the level of par-ticipation and outcomes. They note it is a great way to let others know that Puerto Rico also supports and pro-motes national safe boating endeavors. Congratulations and Bravo-Zulu for a job well done, and Puerto Rico stands ready for a much bigger event with even greater participation next year! Ω

Members of Flotilla 1-10 San Juan, Puerto Rico at the 2011 Ready-Set-Inflate event are from left: Jorge Velez Flotilla 1-10 Vice Commander, Lourdes R. Oliveras, Staff Officer-Public Affairs Division 1 and event organizer, Jose Caban, Commander Flotilla 1-10, Angel Benero, Acting Commander Division 1. Kneeling is Sonia Rolon, Flotilla Staff Officer-Public Affairs 1-10. Photo by Gladimar Molina

Puerto Rico’s “Ready-Set-Inflate”: Helping to Set a New World Record By Lourdes R. Oliveras, SO-PA1


Safe boating is never out of season, nor is the Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Auxiliary’s mission of Recreational Boating Safety and Pre-vention. The status of safety and the issues to address are illustrated by accident statistics, and the 2010 Recrea-tional Boating Statistics recently released by the Coast Guard Prevention

Policy Directorate contain both good news and bad news.

First the good news: boating accidents, injuries, and fa-talities decreased from 2009 levels by 2.7%, 6.1% and 8.7% respectively. The national boating fleet also de-clined in 2010, with 2.2% fewer boats registered. The bad news: there were still over 4,600 accidents resulting in $35.5 million in damages, 3153 injuries and 672 deaths. Interesting statistics from the report:

Almost 75% of all fatal boating accident victims drowned with 88% reported not wearing life jackets.

Only 9% of deaths occurred on boats where the op-erator had received boating safety instruction, and only 6% of deaths occurred on boats where the op-erator had received a National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) approved course.

Eight out of 10 boaters who drowned were on ves-sels less than 21 feet in length.

Operator inattention, improper lookout, inexperi-ence, excessive speed and alcohol are the top five primary contributing factors in accidents.

Alcohol use is the leading contributing factor in fatal boating accidents, listed as leading cause in 19% of deaths.

The most common types of vessels in reported acci-dents were open motorboats (46%), personal water-craft (20%) and cabin motorboats (14%).

These figures emphasize the need to educate boaters

Prevention Directorate Bruce Lindsey, DDC-P D7

before they get on the water. The full report is available at www.uscgboating.org.

The Recreational Boating Safety (RBS) Team of Public Affairs (PA), Program Visitors (PV), and Vessel Examin-ers (VE) are reaching out to the boating public with safe-ty information and education, and are referring boaters to the fourth element of the RBS team, Public Education (PE). Vessel examiners need to be aware of national and local trends and advise boaters of safety issues dur-ing vessel exams. Bill Riley, District Staff Officers-Program Visitors, emphasizes that Program Visitors can do more than provide information and literature to part-ner businesses and agencies: arrange to set up a table and talk directly to customers. Program Visitor is one of the quickest qualifications to obtain, requiring an open-book on-line exam and two, count them, two mentored visits. We all go to marine dealers or businesses that support boating; we know what the Auxiliary is and can do, so we need to help spread the message. The Na-tional ‘V’ Department wants to develop the image that Program Visitors and Vessel Examiners are Educators. Every member could be Program Visitor qualified, and Riley reports a nearly 7% increase in Program Visitors in District 7 during 2010.

Now, news from within the Prevention Directorate:

Personnel: Frank Lann has moved up from Assistant District Staff Officer (ADSO) to District Staff Officer-Member Training (DSO-MT) following Reggie Hollar’s appointment as Auxiliary Sector Coordinator for Sector Charleston. Other recent appointments are Louis Conti as ADSO-PE for south Florida, Gary Bowerman as AD-SO-PV for the East, and Philip Goodman as ADSO-Marine Safety for Pollution Investigations and Clean Ma-rina Program. Responsibilities and contact information are on each District Staff Officer’s page under the Pre-vention Directorate on the District web site.

Marine Safety (MS): John Sprague-Williams, DSO-MS, reports that 35 awards for the Marine Safety Training Ribbon (MSTR) have been made in District 7 this year, with 14 processed in June. The requirements are com-pletion of the Good Mate and Introduction to Marine Safety and Environmental Protection (IMSEP) and Inci-dent Command System (ICS) courses. The full details, course materials, tests, and ribbon application are at


http://pdept.cgaux.org/MarineSafetyTrainingRibbon.htm.

Vessel Examinations: The National ‘V’ Department website at safetyseal.net has news regarding paddle-craft and forms, the new VE Manual, nationwide statis-tics and more. The new form 7012A, Paddle Craft Ves-sel Safety Check is now in stock and can be ordered from Auxiliary National Supply Center. The new pad-dlesport decals are especially important to provide to paddlecraft owners as this allows owner identification on normally unregistered vessels and greatly speeds return of lost vessels and elimination of unnecessary searches when an unoccupied vessel is found. District 7 VEs have completed nearly 18,000 vessel exams so far this year, keep up the good work!

Awards: Vessel Examiners should be aware of the Na-tional Commodore’s VE Award for 40 or more vessel examinations in a year. In addition, the RBS device is awarded to members for a combined count of 120 quali-fying Public Affairs Hours, Vessel Safety Checks, Pro-gram Visits and Public Education classes taught in each of two successive years.

National Safe Boating Week (NSBW) in the week prior to the Memorial Day weekend, is the annual Boating Safety kick-off to focus the public’s attention on boating safety. The NSBW photos in this issue are examples of NSBW activities in our area.Ω

Please check the Prevention

Directorate pages on the District 7 Auxiliary website

http://www.cgaux7.org/ for information, updates and answers to frequently asked

questions. The site is growing, so please check often and let us know if there are questions that we need

to answer and post.

VENICE, Fla.‐ Patrick

Wheeler from Flotilla 86

Venice uses a Vessel

Examination as an

opportunity to educate a

boater. The Vessel

Examination was

performed at the Venice

boat ramp on May 21, 2011

in conjunction with

National Safe Boating

Week activities. Photo by

Judi Bidwick, FSO‐PB 86


A Rare Image: Uniforms of the Bagpipe Band by the United States Coast Guard Temporary Reserve During World War II By A.M. deQuesada

Following up on “Uniforms of the Bagpipers of the United States Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Auxiliary” (Vol. 58, No. 4) an image has surfaced showing the Bag-pipe Band by the United States Coast Guard Tem-porary Reserve Unit from Massa-chusetts during World War Two.

The image was found in Reminis-cences of Your “Hitch” in the Unit-ed States Coast Guard during World War II: A Pictorial Record of U.S.C.G. Temporary Reserve activi-ties in Division 5A First Naval Dis-trict (Boston, MA: Division 5A Publi-cation Committee, 1946).

With the outbreak of the Second World War, numerous bands were formed in the military services, es-pecially within the United States Coast Guard. These bands were never quite official and were formed by permission of the individual Coast Guard District Commanders as a means of instilling morale. Of interest is the formation of a sixteen piece Bagpipe Band by the United States Coast Guard Temporary Re-serve [USCGR (T)] Unit of Win-throp, Massachusetts. Units of the Coast Guard Temporary Reserve were occasionally assigned to pa-rade duty.

According to a postwar history of

the Coast Guard during World War Two: “...it was wholly natural that a desire for military bands should de-velop, especially at ports with a large number of TRs (Temporary Reservists). Flotillas and regiments included in their memberships many amateur and professional musicians who were active in organizing and managing bands many of which were started early in the period of Temporary Reserve duty. These bands usually rehearsed once a week, and with permission of their District Headquarters, played at pa-rades in their general localities, at flotilla functions, many public cele-brations, occasionally broadcast on radio programs, and accepted no money under any circumstances. Most bandsmen were members per-forming regular boat, guard, or arti-san duties, and band work was ex-tra. However, some bands were

augmented by men enrolled for the purpose, to provide properly balanced musical organizations. The total number of Temporary Re-serve bands is not known.” (1)

By studying the image of the uni-forms worn by these “Coasties” it appears that they had adopted quite a bit of “non-standard” uni-form materials that differed from those prescribed

in the uniform and insignia regula-tions of the United States Coast Guard. Amongst these unofficial items was the Scottish Glengarry Cap with Scottish regimental badge and the tartan.

The bonnet was made part of the uniform of the Glengarry Fencibles when they were formed in 1794 by Alexander Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry, of Clan MacDonnell of Glengarry, who has been described as having invented the cap, though it may have originated earlier when balmoral bonnets were bent and creased.[2] In his Dictionary of Mili-tary Uniform, W. Y. Carman notes that the first recorded military use of the glengarry may have been that of a piper of the 74th Foot. It is not clear whether earlier pictures of civil-ians or fencible infantry show a true glengarry or simply a folded highland bonnet.


Capable of being folded flat, the glengarry became a characteristic part of the uniform of the Scottish regiments of the British Army. By 1860 the glengarry, without a diced border and usually with a feather hackle, was adopted by pipers in all regiments except the 42nd (Black Watch), who retained the feather bonnet. By 1914 all Scottish regi-ments were wearing dark blue glen-garries in non-ceremonial orders of dress, except for the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) who wore it in rifle green, and the Scots Guards and Royal Scots Dragoon Guards who wear peaked forage caps or bear-skins instead, albeit with a diced band on the former in the case of the Scots Guards. The diced bands were usually in red, white and blue but the toories on top could be red, royal blue or black, according to regiment. The diced bands along with a black cockade date back to the Jacobite risings when they were used to symbolize allegiance to the House of Hanover, whereas the blue bonnet and white cockade symbolised Jacobitism. The diced

band of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was unique in omitting the black square in favor of three rows of red checks, in homage to the Battle of Balaclava and the stand of the 93rd Sutherland High-landers later immortalized as The Thin Red Line.

For a period from 1868 to 1902, and also in more recent conflicts, the glengarry was adopted as an un-dress cap for ordinary duty, and walking-out dress for most British soldiers. A cap described in a 1937 amendment to the Dress Regula-tions for the Army as "similar in shape to the Glengarry" became the Universal Pattern Field Service Cap (garrison cap) of the British Army in World War II. The badge worn by the “Coasties” in the image is basi-cally a silver Highland regiment style badge consisting of an 8 Point Star with St. Andrew's Cross in cen-ter.

The Tartans appear to be a Royal Stewart, generally referred to simply as the Royal Tartan, and has been associated with the Royal House of

Stewart for several centuries. The Stewart monarchs were descended from Walter, High Steward of Scot-land, who married Princess Marjory, daughter of King Robert the Bruce. Their son, King Robert II, was the first Stewart king. The male line of the Royal House of Stewart ended with the death of Prince Henry, brother of Prince Charles Edward. The Stewart tartan is worn by the regimental pipers of the Scots Guards and was referred to by King George V as "my personal tartan". Currently, H.M. The Queen is chief of the Royal House of Stuart and “chief of chiefs”.

It is said to be appropriate for all subjects of the British Crown to wear the Royal Stewart tartan, much in the same way that clans-men may wear the tartan of their clan chief. Officially, the tartan is worn by the pipers of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and the Scots Guards, as well as a select few civilian groups. The 5th Bolton Scout Group and the 5th Potters


The modern Coast Guard Pipe Band marches in the St. Pat-rick’s Day Parade, New York City, 2008. Photo courtesy of the USCG Pipe Band


Bar Scout Group wear the scarf, (neckerchief/necker) officially, with permission from the Queen, and the Queen's Bands (of Queen's Univer-sity) wear the tartan as part of their official uniforms. So too do the Win-nipeg Police Pipe Band. The tartan may also be worn by members who took part in a patrol leaders training course.

Therefore, it seems natural for the-se “Coasties” to adopt the Regi-mental badge and tartan worn by the Scots Guards Regiment.

Their tunics appear to have been modified in the Scottish style by

(Continued from page 23) rounding the front, however, stand-ard Coast Guard collar insignia, rank, and other insignia were worn as prescribed in the USCG uniform regulations. Non-regulation knee high white knit socks with gaiters and Scottish style black dress shoes were standard amongst the bandsmen. The Drum Major ap-pears to be wearing the headgear normally prescribed for someone in his position in Scottish bands - a bearskin hat. A truly interesting as-pect of Coast Guard history and a link to our modern U.S. Coast Guard Pipe Band.Ω

References:

(1) ˜The Coast Guard at War: The Tem-

porary Component of the Coast Guard Reserve XX˜. Washington, D.C: Histori-cal Section, Public Information Division, U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, 1 Jan-uary 1948: 103.

(2) The King's Jaunt, John Prebble, Birl-inn Limited, Edinburgh 2000, ISBN

1-84158-068-6, states that MacDonell invented the cap. However, "Glengarry Cap – Diced --- Scots Connection". Re-trieved 2009-02-01. states that the idea came from Balmoral bonnet wearers who bent and creased their bonnets, then was popularized by MacDonell when he raised the Glengarry Fencibles in 1794 and made the glengarry bonnet part of their uniform.

Uniforms of the USCG Bagpipe Band, continued

Division 6 Miami‐Dade

Commissioner Carlos Gimenez, Miami‐Dade Board of County

Commissioners presents a proclamation declaring May 21‐28 National

Safe Boating Week to Captain Christopher P. Scraba Commander, Sector

Miami and Commodore Walter Jaskiewicz, Commodore D7, at Bayside in

Miami on May 22, 2011. The USCGC Dolphin and other Coast Guard assets

were on hand for public boardings and display. Photo by Vickie Aponte


TAMPA, Fla.—Commodore Thomas Venezio, Past Deputy National Com-modore, at the request of the Chief Director worked with the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) on a pro-gram called Boat Operations and Training (BOAT). The NASBLA Boat Operations and Training Program provides a course of instruction which gives maritime law enforce-ment and emergency responders a basic learning framework to become more proficient with the skills neces-sary to operate in the maritime envi-ronment. A key element of this course is the preparation of partici-pants to become qualified in the tasks necessary for response to maritime safety and security opera-tions, and Coast Guard/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recognition in the national qualification database main-tained by and through NASBLA.

The Auxiliary was asked to assist in developing the cur-riculum along with Coast Guard and NASBLA person-nel. The program is de-signed to have two levels of training: Boat Crew Member (BCM) and Boat Operator Search and Rescue (BOSAR). Each course is five full days (40 hours). This past September, a pilot of the BCM course was offered at Station Castle Hill in Rhode Island.

The first offering in District 7 took place June 6-10, 2011 at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. The BCM course consisted of class-

room and on the water training each day for security personnel from U.S. Air Force Units at Cape Canaveral, Charleston and MacDill. The lead instructor was Mark DuPont, National Director, NASBLA Boat Operations and Training Pro-gram. The six-member MacDill in-structor team also included Pete Louzao, former USCG Station Commanding Officer at Station Fort Myers Beach, and Sector St. Pe-tersburg’s Auxiliary Liaison Officer. Mel Manning, District Captain-West D7, served as the instructor from the Auxiliary.

The reference material for the course included the USCG Boat Crew Seamanship Manual, Rescue and Survival Systems Manual, Nav-igation Rules International-Inland, Nautical Chart Symbols, Abbrevia-

tions, and Terms Chart No. 1, The American Practical Navigator, Equip-ment and Vessel Manufacturer Guidelines, Chapman Piloting as well as local area charts.

The course is similar to the Auxiliary course set out in the Auxiliary Boat Crew Qualification Guide tailored to the specific requirements of the Air Force maritime security personnel. The training was conducted for five days from 8 a.m. to 4: 30 p.m. The morning training was in the class-room and the afternoon was onboard Air Force security vessels.

The BCM and BOSAR courses pro-vide an opportunity for Auxiliary par-ticipation in a new arena working with NASBLA to train and expand maritime operational skills for vari-ous governmental agencies at a

Auxiliary Assists in Developing New NASBLA Program By Mel Manning, DCAPT-W

Students and instructors for the National Association of State Boating Law Administrator’s first Boat Operations and Training Program conducted in June at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa pose for a group shot beside the Air Force Police fleet. Melvin Manning, District Captain-West D7 is in the front on the far right. Photo provided by Melvin Manning


A Need Makes Itself Known

It was clear to Festus Burchfield, Flotilla 12-6 East Cooper, that there was a shortage of Auxiliary cox-swains and boat crew members in Division 12 South Carolina. He heard about it often and everywhere he went in the Division and thought it could become a real concern in a few short years. That concern was reiterated this spring when the Aux-iliary, having experienced a number of coxswain and operational facili-ties leaving the Auxiliary nationwide, sent out a survey to find out why. But, that’s another story….

Evolution of an Idea

Burchfield had an idea: “What if we held a coxswain and crew training academy? And, what if we make it available to everyone in the Divi-

sion?” Ron Foreman, 12-6 Flotilla Commander, agreed and gave it his full support. It is unclear if either knew how much work it would end up being!

As this would be the first of its kind of training in South Carolina, it all started pretty much from scratch. Burchfield, who had been trained and received his initial Coxswain rating in District 13’s Puget Sound area, contacted John Milczewski, Commander of Flotilla 11 Belling-ham, Wash., who gladly shared their training agenda items. Burch-field worked it over for District 7 standards and Personal Qualifica-tion Standards (PQS) requirements and built a 12 week training pro-gram for coxswains and boat crew candidates. He incorporated train-ing he learned firsthand from a

Coast Guard and Auxiliary program in Bellingham, designed to increase boat crew skills and proficiency.

The syllabus included structured classroom education beginning March 5, 2011, followed by on-the-water training, and ending with mid-May Qualification Examinations (QE). It was designed to be a fo-cused, fast paced, teach-to-the-tasks training program that required students to do homework and study. It became the 2011 Coxswain/Crew Training Academy. Students were advised that courses such as Navi-gation Rules testing, Incident Com-mand System (ICS) and Team Coor-dination Training (TCT) require-ments must be completed prior to scheduling the QE session. It was all posted online and also sent via the chain of leadership to Auxiliarists in Division 12.


2011 Coxswain/Crew Training Academy Article and photos by Barbara Burchfield, SO-PA 12

Increase Number of Coxswain & Crew

Teach to PQS Task Requirements

Standardize Boat Crew Training Increase Proficiency & Skill

Levels

Authenticate the Auxiliary Mission

Cross Utilization of Boat Crew Camaraderie and Fellowship Charleston Harbor/Local AOR

Familiarity Integration with CG Counterparts Familiarity with USCG Station

Charleston

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

Coxswain Festus Burchfield, Flotilla 12-6 East Cooper, conducts a pre-departure briefing with Tommy Timberlake, Flotilla 12-4, Central Grand Strand, Jay Byrd and Paul Berka, Flotilla 12-8, Charleston in preparation for navigation training in Charleston Harbor.


Bringing It All Together

Arrangements were made for classroom instructions to be held on Saturdays at Coast Guard Station Charleston. This would require a big com-mitment on the part of the student; giving up one day a week for 2 ½ months and many people making a costly, long drive to Charleston. Burchfield expected possibly 12-15 students to enroll in the program. Applications went out in January, and 29 people had signed up by March, in-cluding one Auxiliarist from another division who lives in Georgia and heard about the program. (Sure, why not? We’re all in this together.)

A team of three, Festus Burchfield, Barbara Burch-field, and Ron Foreman, set up instructors, training specifics, aids and materials, operational facil-ities, communications and logistics, and even galley meals for the pro-gram. Arrangements with FS2 Ste-ve Carson, Coast Guard Station Charleston galley manager, for addi-tional meals proved to be another important and positive aspect. It was this simple thing, eating in the galley with Coast Guard personnel, which linked a connection between the Gold and Silver, and gave a sharper meaning to ‘proper uniform stand-ards’. The students learned Coast Guard etiquette and conduct while on the base, and assimilated well into the culture.

It was apparent that the desire for training and qualifications was sig-nificant, and this Coxswain/Crew Training Academy was a way of ac-

(Continued from page 26)

complishing that. Taking this seri-ously, Festus and Barbara Burch-field moved their Operational Facili-ty from their home in Lexington to Charleston for the three month train-ing program, and then set up their 5th Wheel recreational vehicle (RV) in Charleston (dubbed the “Coastal Condo”) for the duration. Fortunate-ly, the RV Resort had a swimming pool, which turned out to be a con-venient way for crew candidates to get their swim task completed.

Off to a Good Start

By “Day One”, 26 Auxiliarists came to class, including two people who did not intend to QE this year, but wanted to observe and learn. Hav-ing two separate coxswain and crew groups complicated the training and, in some cases, doubled the instruc-

tors. Some classes were held jointly, becoming stand-ardized training refresher courses for coxswains. In-structors were brought in be-cause of their knowledge and experience in the field:

First Aid and Survival: Arlene Sutherland, 12-6 East Cooper, and Robert Lippert, 12-4 Central Grand Strand

Boat Handling: James and Karen Andrews, 12-12 Edisto Island

Coxswain Tasks: Festus Burchfield, 12-6 East Cooper

Coxswain Search & Rescue: USCG: BM/E-5 Shae Cur-rington, BM/E-4 Cameron Justice

Flare Shoot: Ron Foreman, 12-6 East Cooper, assisted by USCG ME3 William Deford, SN Peter Ingelman,

and ME1 Debbie Certeza

Survival Equipment: USCG BM3 David Baumgartner, BM2 Davis Olsgard, BM3 Derek Pal-omares, ME1 Debbie Certeza, and Barbara Burchfield, 12-6 East Cooper

Navigation: Larry Moran, 12-6 East Cooper

Marlinspike: Susan Ecklund and Scott Heisler, 12-6 East Cooper

Communications: Dave Ram-sey, 12-6 East Cooper

Doing More With Less

By March 26, the training pro-gressed to include on-the-water tasks after the morning classrooms


2011 Coxswain/Crew Training Academy

ME1 Debbie Certeza, USCG Station Charleston, lays out a display of personal flotation devices for instruction on the wear and care of safety equipment.


and galley lunch. This is when it started to get a little dicey because of a critical shortage of Operational Facilities (OPFACs) available for training. Burchfield’s “Voyager” and Foreman’s “Dreamer” served as the primary training vessels, with much appreciated help from James and Karen Andrews, Flotilla 12-12 Edis-to Island; Be Moore, Flotilla 12-12 Edisto Island; Tony Presson, Flotilla 12-4 Central Grand Strand; and Joe Fleming, Flotilla 12-8 Charleston.

Then Fleming’s vessel went into “Charlie” status for maintenance. In addition to the shortage of boats, Coast Guard Station Charleston needed operational facilities for sev-eral days of regatta support for the Charleston Harbor Sailboat Races, Ashley River and Charleston Kayak Races, and scheduled safety pa-trols. In one instance, “Voyager” supported a Helicopter training mis-sion from Air Station Savannah dur-ing a night navigation cycle. Cox-swain and crew candidates were informed of the challenges; they understood and remained resilient and flexible.

Due to the number of students in-volved by early April, Burchfield and Foreman began on-the-water train-ing exercises three days a week in order to accommodate everyone. The goal was to have the students ready for QE by mid-May and avail-able for duty when boating season begins in earnest. Even Easter weekend and Mother’s Day were not days off from training as individ-ual needs were met to train, learn and sign-off PQS tasks. Mean-while, vacationers started to see unfamiliar people swimming with life jackets in the RV Resort’s pool.


It’s Not Just About the Boats

Along the way, students talked with each other, shared time and made friends. Camaraderie developed in addition to boat skills and proficien-cy throughout the weeks. They wore the uniform smartly; they showed themselves as good repre-sentatives of the Auxiliary.

Never without her camera, Barbara kept Flotilla 12-6 website full of training photos when she wasn’t assisting in class, doing duty as boat crew, or providing administra-tion and records support in a seem-ingly endless array of paperwork. Photo opportunities were countless and wide-ranging; the group got used to seeing her taking photos in the classroom, while throwing a line to catch a cleat or throwing the heaving ball to an object, anchoring, towing, doing navigation and chart work, preparing for underway train-ing, performing pre-departure checks or debriefing, even during

lunchtime. This turned out to be a special time with other Auxiliarists, sharing a little competition and a lot of laughter.

Having the “Right Stuff”

By the end of April it was apparent that a core base of 17-19 students would be ready for the Qualification Examination, and Foreman applied for QE sessions in May. Others would have to arrange for QE ses-sions later: some still needed to pass the Navigation Rules test or needed the eight- hour Team Coor-dination Training (TCT), and a cou-ple of people had begun jobs out of town.

Believed to be a record for South Carolina, two new coxswains, four coxswain re-certifications and 11 boat crew were scheduled for QE at one time. The oral board and ‘dockside’ exams took place before on-the-water examinations, spread



Dave Ecklund, Flotilla 12-6 East Cooper, shows Laura Meehan and Robert Dyer, Flotilla 12-8 Charleston, the intricacies of knot tying while Ann Graham, Flotilla 12-6 East Cooper, inspects her finished square knot.


out during the period of May 16-23. This was not a ‘wink-wink-you’re good’ affair that you might find in some organizations – the coxswain and crew candidates had to have the ‘right stuff’ and prove their knowledge and skill to be qualified. A new QE requirement for cox-swains, added in April, included per-forming night navigation an hour af-ter sunset, necessitating additional night sessions. As it turned out, Burchfield had originally incorpo-rated that event into the syllabus and had conducted several sessions of on-the-water night navigation.

A Successful Finale

All 17 passed their QE sessions. 100% success rate is a very good number!

They all showed up for class, worked hard and proved them-selves; they will become valuable assets to the Auxiliary surface oper-ations. Six of the eight flotillas in South Carolina benefited with new coxswain and crew from the 2011 Coxswain/Crew Training Academy.


Burchfield sends this message to the graduates, “We all owe our thanks to the instructors, cox-swains, crew, boat owners, and Coast Guard Station Charleston who all helped make this happen. Congratulations and Bravo Zulu to the newly qualified coxswain and

crew. It was my pleasure to be with you and be a part of this.” Ω


Dave Ramsey, Flotilla 12-6 East Cooper, weighs anchor during training while Ann Gra-ham, Flotilla 12-6 East Cooper, assists with a good grip on his belt to avoid an unplanned Man-Over-Board drill.

Coxswains Andrews, James 12-12

Andrews, Karen 12-12

Berka, Paul 12-8

Ecklund, Dave 12-6

Moore, Be 12-12

Songer, Cliff 12-12

Boat Crew Bray, Pam 12-8

Byrd, Jay James 12-8

Chirila, Chuck 12-8

Duncan, Kelly 12-8

Ecklund, Susan 12-6

Graham, Ann 12-6

Harris, Dwaine 12-8

Hayes, William 12-1

Lippert, Robert 12-4

Timberlake, Tommy 12-4

Unger, William 12-10

Paul Berka, Flotilla 12-8 Charleston, coxswain candidate, throws a heaving ball to a target in a friendly competi-tion during the 2011 Coxswain/Crew Train-ing Academy at USCG Station Charleston.

Division 12 Graduates of the Coxswain/Crew

Training Academy


Highlights of National Safe Boating Week activities throughout District 7

Division 8 South Tampa Bay/Boca Grande Pass

-started their festivities with a proclamation from Sarasota City Commissioners Carolyn Mason and

Nora Roberts designating May 21-28 as National Safe Boating Week . Photo by Judi Bidwick, FSO-PB 86

Division 9 Southwestern Florida

On May 21, 2011, Duane Ising offered a vessel

Examination to a young couple who recently acquired a

sailboat in need of much restoration. After 2 1/2 hours,

the couple realized that while their boat was in need of

restoration, they were in need of boating safety

education! Photo by Duane Ising, ADSO‐PB‐W

Division 11 Madeira Beach north to Hudson

In addition to Public Affairs booths, Coast Guard

aerial displays and public vessel boardings and vessel

examinations, Flotilla 11‐9 graduated 10 people from

their Public Education program. Photo by Darren

Hart, FSO‐PB 11‐9



Division 17 Southeast Central and Central Florida

‐conducted a Blessing of the Fleet on May 21 on the Indian

River to usher in NSBW. Securing a priest was no problem.

Flotilla 17‐2 member Dan Freitas “Fr. Dan” performed the

ceremony. Behind him is Terry Riley from Flotilla 17‐6. Photo

by Mike Donahue, FSO‐MS 17‐2

Division 4 East Central Florida

In addition to Vessel Examinations, Lt. Bob Turner from

Daytona Beach gave a demonstration on fire safety especially

for boats at sea or in marinas. Gretchen Bacon, FSO‐VE 44,

beside Turner, demonstrated a life jacket inflation. Photo

provided by Bruce Perri, FSO‐PA 44

Division 15 Northwest Florida

Members of USCGAUX 15‐3, US Power Squadron

Ocala, BATPAK, USCG Station Yankeetown, Florida

Wildlife Commission participate in "Ready Set Inflate"

NSBW 2011 on May 21 at Carney Island Boat Ramp,

Lake Weir, Marion County, Fla. Photo by Charles E.

Truthan


Environmental Protection Mission: Flotilla Assists in Saving Whales By Ann Hedberg and Ted Giesbrecht

BIG PINE KEY, Fla.—The beaching of 22 Pilot Whales near Cudjoe Key, Fla., on the afternoon of May 5, 2011, brought out the best in several Auxiliary members from Flotilla 13-3 Big Pine Key, Fla., who made their way to Blimp Road to see how they could help.

Recovering and treating the whales was a major event that entailed several days of intense caregiving by doz-ens of volunteers who showed up to assist the Marine Mammal Conservancy based in Key Largo. The rescue effort was staged off Blimp Road, Cudjoe Key, in a sea pen constructed with yellow boom and plastic fencing.

The whales, debilitated and lethargic, received round the clock hands-on care. During the hottest part of the day, they were kept covered in wet sheeting and sup-ported by three to four volunteers stationed with each ailing whale. The operation took a lot of coordination on the part of the Conservancy. A check-in booth kept track of the flow of volunteers and discouraged curious by-standers. Local merchants provided a large tent over a table laden with food and plenty of drinking water for all of the volunteers. Portable lights kept the site well lit through the nights of operation.

Members of Flotilla 13-3 provided assistance over the course of the event both on land and on the water. Members Dick McCausland, Ted Giesbrecht and Marco Prieto stationed their facilities in Cudjoe near the holding

pen at the foot of Blimp Road to keep curious boaters away from the ailing mammals. Phil Goodman from Flotil-la 13-1 assisted with Raymon Felix from Flotilla 13-3 as crew. Two Flotil-la 13-3 members, Nick McManus and Raymon Felix, donned wetsuits and assisted by providing several four-hour caretaking rounds in the water. In addition, members Tom and Dottie Anderson, John and Ann Hedberg, John Rhode, and Robert Morrow assisted as crew and on shore. The Coast Guard Auxiliary members working the Blimp Road ramp maintained communication with the flotilla facilities on the water. Probably the most unique assign-ment went to Felix, who was tasked with delivering the skull of a de-

ceased whale to the Conservancy in Key Largo, where it was frozen and shipped to scientists who will do fur-ther studies on the beaching phenomenon.

Ted Giesbrecht, Flotilla Staff Officer-Operations 13-3, set up a schedule in accordance with requests from Sector Key West for facilities to patrol the rescue area and keep on-lookers at a distance. These missions last-ed May 5-8, 2011. Coast Guard Auxiliary members worked with Coast Guard personnel from Sector Key West, Station Key West, the Marine Conservancy and Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission under tough weather conditions, demonstrating the effectiveness of rigorous training and teamwork.

Felix, affectionately called ‘Sparky’ by his friends re-marked, “This whale rescue operation was one of the most interesting things I have ever participated in”. (Sparky was a firefighter and emergency medical tech-nician before joining the Coast Guard Auxiliary, hence the nickname.) The experience deeply touched all of our participating members.Ω

Photo top of page: The Marine Mammal Conservancy barge loaded with volunteers transports two whales to their facility in Key Largo.


Flotilla 13‐3 member, Raymon (Sparky) Felix

helps a volunteer don a wet suit. The wet suit

protects the volunteers from excessive loss of

body heat while taking four‐hour shifts in the

water nursing the ailing Pilot Whales.

Raymon (Sparky) Felix, Dick McCausland and John

Hedberg of Flotilla 13‐3 discuss the progress of the

rescue operation with DC2 Brooks Evans, USCG,

Station Key West. Auxiliary facilities maintained a

perimeter around the whale rescue operation May 5

‐ 8, 2011. Photos on these pages by Dottie

Henderson and Ann Hedberg


Tradewinds 2011

Rapid Response Team, Team Mer-cury, provided cutting-edge technol-ogy in communications. Designed as a mobile rapid response unit to respond to emergencies such as hurricanes, the Communications Team proved its versatility in peace-keeping operations as well.

Conceived by District 7 member Dan Jacquish, the Communications and Rapid Response Unit is a state-of-the-art trailer equipped with multi-ple radios covering marine band VHF, marine SSB, ham frequen-cies, police band VHF, police and emergency bands. A self-contained unit, it can berth up to ten people and includes a mess facility, sanita-tion facility, black and grey holding tanks, water and fuel tanks, and a 5.5 kW gas generator as well as an all-terrain vehicle. (For a full de-scription of the trailer, its combined assets, capabilities, and operational organization, see Breeze, Volume LVI, Issue 1, Spring 2010 on the D7 website at http://cgaux7.org/pdf_files/d7pub/2010-Breeze-

Spring.pdf)

For Tradewinds 2011, the communi-cations trailer was staffed by two ro-tating teams. The first team was led by Dan Jacquish of Flotilla 51, the Palm Beaches, Fla., while the se-cond team was led by Jim Canavan from D1(SR). Canavan runs a large communications unit in D1 but sum-mers in Florida.

Assigned to provide backup for the Air National Guard (ANG), Team Mercury established on top of a hill on the island of Antigua. Air National Guard members mounted the anten-nas and the Auxiliary members as-sisted by laying out the antenna runs and guide cables. The radio tower was provided by Coast Guard Com-munications Area Master Station Atlantic and members of Coast Guard Communications Area Master Station Pacific assisted in raising the tower. It was a team effort that worked out very well. The ANG used the Auxiliary’s truck as a high and dry location for their repeaters and

34

Innovation and Flexibility Distinguish Auxiliary During Multinational Training Exercise Dan Jacquish and Dottie Riley

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua and Barbu-da– When multi-national security and peacekeeping forces come to-gether to train in the Caribbean, what does the Auxiliary bring to the table? Innovation and flexibility-hallmarks of our volunteer members and the services we offer to the United States Coast Guard.

Tradewinds 2011 is a U.S. Southern Command-sponsored annual exer-cise conducted in the Caribbean basin designed to improve respons-es to regional security threats in-cluding countering drug, arms and human trafficking. This year’s joint multinational exercise was held in Antigua-Barbuda from March 2-19, 2011. What set Tradewinds 2011 exercise apart from previous years was the first-time participation of District 7’s Team Mercury.

Auxiliary members participated in the classroom as instructors, and assisted in small boat operations, on Coast Guard Cutters, at firing rang-es and at Headquarters. In addition, the District 7 Communications and


ran power from the bottom of the hill up to the trailer and the truck, as well as independent runs for the repeaters. This enabled air condi-tioning in the truck during the day and fans at night to keep the re-peaters in a more controlled envi-ronment. Team Mercury had one antenna on the tower, which they switched between internal VHF and marine VHF, depending upon need and function.

Tradewinds 2011 offered the Auxil-iary’s Rapid Response Unit the op-portunity to test their equipment and capabilities and identify gaps in their communication needs. One need identified was the need for self-contained Internet capability and a repeater. Since the absence of Wi-Fi access and International calling ability are conditions that can also exist after a hurricane emergency, the team is working to address the-se issues before this year’s hurri-cane season.

Since Team Mercury’s primary mis-sion was to provide backup for the Air National Guard communications, initially, Auxiliary members as-

signed to the communications unit had a lot of spare time. Here is where the Auxiliary’s flexibility played in.

From the onset of the exercise, LCDR Thomas Kringle, USCG, and LT Harrell delivered meals to remote Coast Guard and Marine units about 45 minutes from the base camp. Team Mercury assumed that re-

sponsibility, allowing these officers to spend their time in a more pro-ductive manner. Members of Team Mercury delivered approximately 40 morning meals, coffee, and juice to the Marine Safety and Security Team (MSST) at the Royal Anti-guan. Later, they delivered over 100 evening meals to MSST and India Company, 3/24, USMC at the Royal


Photo page 34: Team Mercury base camp on the island of Antigua during Tradewinds 2011 from Mar. 2-19, 2011. Photo by Joanne Mills, Flotilla 51 Above: Members of Team Mercury with members of the Air National Guard work together to set up communications for the multinational exercise. Dan Jacquish discovered that driving the spikes into the hard ground proved a real feat. Photo by Joanna Mills, Flotilla 51 D7 Left: Dan Jacquish and Mark Gaisford from Flotilla 59 inside the Communica-tions Rapid Response Team trailer. Photo by Brian McArdle, Flotilla 33, 5SR


Antiguan. For several days, they delivered meals to both the Halcyon Resort and Hawksbill and supplied approximately 20 gallons of ice wa-ter and juice to the Marines who stated, "You literally saved our lives!” The Marines lived in tents and genuinely appreciated the hot meals. Auxiliary members were glad to provide the help and both the MSST personnel and the Marines appreciated their efforts.

The expertise of our Team Mercury also proved useful. The Antigua-Barbuda Defense Force (ABDF) Coast Guard had severe radio is-sues and blind spots around the is-land. They were, in fact, unable to contact a ship just a few miles off their coast adjacent to the Coast Guard Station. The ABDF asked if Team Mercury would review their radio set-up, and by direction of LCDR Thomas Kringle, USCG, Team Mercury reviewed the instal-lation together with the ANG Com-munications team. They discovered that the ABDF major issue was the placement of the antenna on the low side of a metal roofed building opposite the shore, poor connectors and damaged antenna runs. The

communications teams developed a plan that included extending an old mast at the peak of the building, installing new wire runs, and either relocating or replacing existing an-tennas. They continue to work with the ABDF to this day, in an effort to assist in upgrading their capabili-ties. Many new friends were made on both sides.

Because of its unique features, ca-pabilities and the spectacular per-formance of its members, Team Mercury received visits from Bald-win Spencer, Prime Minister of Anti-gua-Barbuda, Admiral William Baumgartner, Commander District 7, USCG, Maj. Gen. John M. Croley, Commander in Charge of Tradewinds 2011 and Commanding General of the Marine Forces South and Miami, as well as other leading military members and dignitaries.

Speaking about the Coast Guard Auxiliary’s participation in Tradewinds 2011, Lt. Scott Parkhurst, USCG said in part, “They immediately became an inte-gral part of the classroom and field exercises and assisted us in many more ways than originally planned.

We expect an even larger participa-tion next year.”

While some members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary distinguished them-selves in the classrooms, others dis-tinguished themselves in the field. Team Mercury made a definite im-pression on Southern Command and on our Caribbean partners. The unit and our members performed with distinction and we are proud of them all! Bravo Zulu, Team Mercury, Inter-preters, Instructors and all of our Auxiliarists! Ω

Read more:

http://www.caribarena.com/antigua/education/96960-embassy-donates-to-boys-training-school.html

http://www.dvidshub.net/news/67680/exercise-tradewinds-2011-comes-close

http://www.southcom.mil/AppsSC/news.php?storyId=2572

*1 A repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retrans-mits it at a higher level and/or higher power, or onto the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer distances.

Dan Jacquish, Team Leader, explains the separate components of the D7

Communications and Rapid Response Unit to Prime Minister the Hon. Mr. W.

Baldwin Spencer during his visit to Camp Mercury. Team Mercury re-

ceived visits from a number of military leaders and dignitaries. U.S. Marine

Corps photo by Capt. Keith "The Bull" Stevenson, MARFORRES COMCAM/

Released


Flotilla 95 Participates in ‘Water Wise” By John DeFalco, photos by Opi DeFalco

In May 2011, Flotilla 95 participated in the “Water Wise” program. “Water Wise” is a joint program with the Marco Island YMCA, Marco Island Fire and Rescue and the Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 95.

The program has five main compo-nents which include water safety, basic lifesaving skills, basic first aid, boating safety, and “just for fun” components. About 250 third grade students from Tommy Barfield Ele-mentary School and Manatee Ele-mentary School participated over a ten day period.

Flotilla 95 taught boating safety top-ics: general boating safety, how to enter and exit small boats, how to use life jackets and how to use the marine radio in an emergency. The flotilla has participated in this pro-gram for several years.Ω

Arne Kelsey, Vice Commander, John DeFalco, Commander Flotilla 95, and Roger Blau demonstrate the ‘huddle’ to the students, one of the techniques used to keep persons in the water together and help prevent loss of body heat.

Arne Kelsey explains how to use the marine radio in the event of an emergency to the students with John

DeFalco and Roger Blau looking on.

John DeFalco teaches student the ‘H.E.L.P.’ (Heat Escape Lessening Posture) position which can only be used by persons wearing a life jacket as the arms are drawn close to the body.


Learning the Ropes Constance O. Irvin

FORT MYERS, Fla. On May 7, 2011, Coast Guard Station Fort My-ers Beach hosted a visit for over 50 members from Candlelighters of Southwest Florida . The Candlelight-ers organization supports activities for local children with cancer and their families. Klair Snellbaker, founder of the local organization said, “The community has opened their arms to these children and their families for over 28 years. Today will be another meaningful day in their lives.”

Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 9-10, Fort Myers-Cape Coral, sponsored the event and provided lunch and snacks for the guests, which the Coast Guard Station crew cooked and served on the station’s mess deck.

The large turnout for the day’s activi-ties included tours aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Marlin where children were able to sit in the commander’s chair. They next toured the Coast Guard’s smaller vessels, the 33-foot

Above: With a cry of “Heads up”, nine year old Jorge Arzola of Lehigh Acres tosses the heaving line to Coast Guard Auxiliary 9-10 Flotilla Commander, Dennis Cherney, under the count-down command of Coast Guard Fireman Becca Rich. Jorge’s toss was “right on the money.” Below: LTJG Michael Mastrianni, Com-manding Officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Marlin, welcomes Candlelighter’s families aboard the vessel. Photos by Constance O. Irvin


Special Purpose Craft-Law Enforce-ment boats, but the event that really drew their interest was trying to heave a line to a vessel in distress. Under the watchful eye of Coast Guard firefighter Becca Rich, the children enjoyed the opportunity of tossing a line to save a life. They delighted in learning what it means to be a “Coast Guardsman”. Truly, their day in “learning the ropes” at Station Fort Myers Beach will be a happy memory. Ω


CHARLESTON, S.C.—For children under the age of 18 years old who are seen wearing life jackets in the Charleston area, it could be a voucher for free admission to a Riv-er Dogs baseball game!

The idea originated with Command-er Richard Sundland, USCG Sector Charleston, who organized the River Dogs and Boating Safety plan to reward children for wearing life jack-ets and bring awareness to this im-portant recreational boating safety message. Sundland arranged for 250 baseball vouchers to be donat-ed from the local baseball team, owned by celebrity Bill Murray who resides in South Carolina. “The vouchers are good through the baseball season and are good seats,” according to LTJG Matthew Kahley, USCG Sector Charleston. The River Dogs mascot, Charlie, appeared at USCG Station Charles-ton on June 1, 2011, when the ticket vouchers were presented to the Coast Guard and Auxiliary for distri-bution.

Coast Guard personnel will distrib-ute half of the baseball game vouch-ers during routine surface opera-tions. Auxiliary Flotillas 12-6 East Cooper and 12-8 Charleston will dis-tribute the other half of the vouchers while on safety patrols or performing dockside activities.

Those children wearing life jackets may get a real surprise when pre-sented with a baseball ticket by the Coast Guard or the Auxiliary – this is the kind of ticket you want to get!Ω

One of the 41-foot Motor Life Boat crews from Sector Charleston pose with Char-lie, the River Dogs mascot. From bow to stern: SN Alexander Newman, MK2 Na-than Rogers, and BM3 Cameron Jus-tice. Not in the picture but driving the boat is BM2 Shae Currington. Auxiliary and Coast Guard pa-trols will distribute 250 River Dogs baseball game vouchers to children under 18 years old seen wearing their life jacket. Photo by Alan Miles, Flotilla Commander 12-8 East Cooper

What Do Life Jackets and Baseball Have in Common? Story by Barbara Burchfield


USCG Auxiliary Division 8 Hosts "Always Ready" Exposition By Randall Moritz

VENICE, Fla.—Division 8 hosted its annual "Always Ready" Expo-sition on Saturday, May 21, 2011, from 10a.m. - 4p.m. A kickoff to National Safe Boating week and in honor of National Armed Forces day, this hands-on event took place on the beautiful shores of Sarasota Bay in the north Van Wezel Performing Arts Theatre parking lot.

This child-friendly, interactive expo showcased all of the "first responders" from Manatee and Sarasota Counties. Exhibits in-cluded Police K-9, equestrian, SWAT, bomb squad and helicop-ter; Florida Highway Patrol roll-over display; Sarasota County Fire / Rescue apparatus; Community Blood Bank; Flori-da Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) helicopter, air boat and touch tank; Transportation Safe-ty Administration; Manatee County Emergency Opera-tions Center Mobile Command Center; Manatee County Beach Patrol vessels, basic first aid demonstrations, live rescue swimmer demonstration; a US Coast Guard HH-

60 Jayhawk helicopter display; a children's fire-fighter challenge; bounce houses, face painting and more. This year’s event drew over 4,000 people.

Auxiliary booths included Marine Safety, Environmental Protection, life jackets, and local safe boating class in-formation.

Members enjoy this exposition and plan it months in ad-vance.Ω

Above: Much to the delight of the public, the Coast Guard provided a rescue swimmer demonstration. The Auxiliary vessel, Negotiator from Flotilla 84 Sarasota main-tained a safety zone. On board are James Stewart, coxswain, Steve Basinger (vessel owner) and John Berry as crew. Photo by Judi Bidwick Left: Jim Sleichert, Al Bidwick, Patrick Wheeler, Richard Mark-witz, and Judi Bidwick from Flotil-la 86 Venice set up the tent, staffed the booth, and offered Vessel Examinations to interested boaters.


Volunteer Coast Guardsmen Also Protect the Marine Environment Constance O. Irvin

CAPE CORAL, Fla.Most of the patrols that Auxiliarists go on are somewhat routine, but every once in a while, something happens and a routine patrol turns into an example of why “we” are out there.

April 21, 2011 was a sunny, warm day as Cherie Rohn (crew) and Constance Irvin were about to complete a four hour patrol in San Carlos Bay and at the south end of the Caloosahatchee. Just then, the radio crackled with a request from Coast Guard Station Fort Myers Beach to proceed up river and locate a person aboard a personal watercraft (PWC) who had reported an injured sea turtle. As we approached the Cape Coral Yacht Club, they spotted two PWC operators circling an object in the water and realized that must be the site. They moved off the ICW into shallower water.

They maneuvered the facility, The Guardian, into close proximity of the turtle and Rohn managed to get it into a net and bring it aboard. It was evident from the smell and the lack of movement that the turtle was deceased. During this time, the station and Irvin conversed about

the retrieval and they had contacted an organization called Turtle Time, (Turtles.Org), which protects and keeps track of sea turtles. The sta-tion’s watchstander said, “Expect a call from them. They will want to look at it.”

Irvin and Rohn envisioned waiting for hours, but it was not long before Eve Haverfield, president and founder of Turtle Time called and arranged to meet with them at the Cape Coral Yacht Club. Neither Rohn nor Irvin had any idea what kind of sea turtle this was, nor what might have killed it.

Haverfield must have been close by, because shortly after they docked and located plastic bags to encase the turtle, she was there. They carried the turtle to a place under a tree and Haverfield said, “You retrieved a Kemp’s Ridley, which is the rarest of the sea tur-

tles.” With that said, she went about measuring and in-specting the turtle while Rohn assisted by taking notes.

Although there was no line in evidence, Haverfield said, “Scarring indicates that the turtle died from fishing line wrapped around its neck and probably drowned. It looks to be a juvenile and weighs about thirty pounds.”

Once completed with her report, she wrapped the turtle in plastic to dispose of later. She then thanked them for their time and left.

Irvin wished that it had been different for that turtle, but it must have been an omen. When she got home that afternoon, two huge boxes of monofilament collectors that she requested from Boat US two years ago were at her doorstep. She will work diligently to get those collec-tors placed at local fishing ramps because she knows that being a volunteer Coast Guardsman also means protecting the marine environment. Semper Paratus.Ω

Cherie Rohn, member of Flotilla 9-10 Fort Myers, assists Eve Haverfield, president of Turtle Time, in inspecting deceased Kemp's Ridley sea turtle. Photo by Constance O. Irvin


On Tuesday, April 19, members of Flotilla 93 Naples along with members of Flotilla 95, Marco Island Auxilia-ry Air, conducted a joint air-sea search and rescue train-ing exercise in the Gulf of Mexico off the Naples coast-line. The purpose of the exercise was to demonstrate how difficult it is to spot a person in the water (PIW) from the air when he is not wearing a life jacket with highly visible colors.

Flotilla 93’s 28 foot vessel, La Bella Vita, was cox-swained by John Sollecito, commander of Flotilla 93. His crew consisted of Calvin Brooks and Isaac Bourne, crew trainee from Flotilla 93, Michael Ludwig of 95 Marco Island, and Sal Pernice of 95. Ludwig also acted as photographer for the crew.

The Cessna aircraft was piloted by Colin Halfwassen, aircraft commander from Flotilla 93 under orders from Clearwater Air Station. His crew was composed of Connie Irvin, air observer and radio operator from Flotil-

la 9-10, and George Bogdan from Flotilla 93 who served as aerial photogra-pher.

Sollecito went out with his crew at 8:30 that morning to de-ploy a manne-quin in a desig-nated location in the gulf. Half-wassen did not arrive on scene with his aircraft until 10:00. Con-ceivably, it could take that much time for all emer-gency facilities to arrive at the ren-dezvous point. Once Halfwas-sen and crew arrived on sce-ne, they began

coordinating with Sollecito’s surface craft via VHF radio. They used what is known in search and rescue parlance as a sector search while the surface vessel performed an expanding square search. However, from the drop-off point in the gulf, the PIW drifted about one-quarter mile southeast by 10:00 a.m. because winds had shifted since the 8:30 deployment of the mannequin. After con-ducting 30 minutes of search patterns, both vessel and aircraft were able to locate the PIW.

For the first run they did not have a highly visible life jacket on the mannequin, making it very difficult to spot from the air. Even though Halfwassen flew at altitudes as low as 500 feet, it was almost impossible to get a good fix on the PIW.

Meanwhile, to aid the air search Sollecito’s crew fired flares from a handgun. Unfortunately, these flares failed to illuminate even though they were well within the date

AIR-SEA RESCUE TRAINING By Bob Adubato Flotilla 93

Colin Halfwassen, aircraft commander from Flotilla 93 and Constance O. Irvin, air observer from Flotilla 9-10 prepare to embark on the Air-Sea rescue training exercise on April 19, 2011. Photo by George Bogdan


of expiration. Life for these flares is 42 months from the date of manufacture imprinted upon them. This shows that an approved date does not guarantee that flares will work, and there is no way to test them beforehand. It therefore behooves cautious boaters to carry more than one or two visual distress signals for both day and even-ing use.

The boat crew also tried waving their arms to show the PIW’s location, but this was too difficult to see from the air. They then used hand-held flares and signal mirrors and finally were successful in getting the aircraft’s atten-tion.

After recovering the mannequin from the sea, the boat crew put an orange life jacket on it and redeployed it. Again they rendezvoused with the Auxiliary aircraft and commenced their respective search patterns. Having a highly visible orange life jacket on the PIW made locat-ing it much easier for Halfwassen and his crew.

The mission turned out to be a multi faceted learning experience for all involved. First, both air and surface craft learned it is extremely difficult to spot a PIW from either aircraft or surface vessel if it is not clad in a highly visible orange life jacket. Secondly, when the location of a victim is given at a particular time, one cannot ex-pect it to remain there indefinitely. Winds and currents in the sea have something to say about that.

Finally, the more visual distress signals you carry the better off you will be in an emergency. Also, it is difficult to see flares in bright sunlight from the air. The one ex-cellent visual distress signal seen from the air was hand-held mirrors. It was a bright, sunny day, so they were highly effective. On a cloudy day they would not be so visible.

Sollecito claims it was a terrific learning experience for everyone involved. He would like to do this again with Flotilla 95 or other flotillas in southwest Florida. Ω

Just what does the air crew see? This series of photographs by George Bogdan illustrate graphically what is visible from the air. A life jacket and signaling devices can mean the difference between life and death.

At 1000 feet...

Mannequin without a bright, highly reflective life jacket.

Mannequin wearing a bright life jacket with reflective markings.


PALATKA CITY, Fla.—Big events can start from the most simple of encounters! This one started out on the last day of a Public Affairs event at the local marine dealer’s annual spring boat show. They had several Bassmaster Pro Anglers in attend-ance. Charles Truthan, Flotilla Vice Commander 15-3 Ocala, Fla., ap-proached two of them and asked if they used a life jacket and if their boats had a Vessel Safety Check (VSC) done. They replied that they are required by tournament rules to meet all Coast Guard regulations but have not had VSCs done and gave

us their tournament director’s phone number.

Three days later, Truthan made a presentation at the Bassmaster Elite Series business meeting be-fore the start of the tournament the next day. To prepare for the presentation, he printed and passed out the mandatory items from our 7012 VSC sheet to the anglers. It generated several ques-tions and some fun conversations. “Ya’ll ever see the sparks fly when a wrench drops across the battery terminals?” To everyone’s great delight, over two thirds of the an-

glers expressed a strong interest in receiving a vessel safety check!

The ground rules set by the tourna-ment organizers for the vessel safety checks were simple. None were to be performed on tournament days. That gave us the three practice days preceding the tournament to perform the vessel safety checks. The next event, the “Citrus Slam,” March 17-20, 2011, was one week away, which gave us less than four days to organize and prepare.

The Citrus Slam tournament was held in an adjacent Division at Flotil-

Vessel Safety Checks at the Bassmaster Elite Series Article and photographs by Charles E. Truthan

George Hendricks (L) and Tom Spangler Flotilla 15-3 award a Vessel Safety Check decal to Bassmaster Jonathon VanDam. VanDam is the son of a renowned Bassmaster and a strong competitor with wide name recognition. Of course, all of the competitors are in the top 100 Bass Anglers in the world, hence the “Elite” in “Bassmaster Elite Series.” Getting the organization on board for Vessel Safety Checks is an accomplishment. Photo by Charles Truthan


la 14-9 Palatka, on the St. Johns River. There are over sixty nautical miles of shoreline with numerous ramps and fish camps. Fortunate-ly, Ted Schneider, Flotilla Commander 14-9, Wayne Beard, Flotilla Vice Com-mander 14-9, and Dan “Dusty” Cooper, Flotil-la Staff Officer-Vessel Examinations 14-9, were all experienced with local bass tourna-ments. Even with their extensive ef-forts to locate where the anglers would be staying and launching, there were just too many possibili-ties to cover them all.

We launched a recruitment effort to locate as many Vessel Examiners as possible from the adjacent flotil-las. This included three divisions and 12 flotillas. With the assistance of Tom Loughlin, District Staff Of-ficer-Public Affairs District 7, we formed a list of all the members in the Chain of Leadership and Man-agement who should be informed about, and invited to participate in this effort. After a few hours on the Aux e-directory website, a phone and e-mail distribution list was creat-ed. The list grew as the event un-folded, and it appeared this effort might extend into District 8.

By Sunday, we had commitments from 15 Vessel Examiners from seven flotillas and all three divisions including one from the US Power Squadron- an outstanding number considering it was a weekday event and some vessel examiners would be driving one and a half to two hours just to get there! We knew that the anglers would launch in “waves” at first light, but we still did not know from which of the dozens of ramps

in the area. We decided to focus on the main Palatka City Dock (PCD). We all met there at 6:30 a.m. Mon-day. By 8 a.m., only three tourna-ment boats had appeared for the 15 vessel examiners present. Two teams formed to search the east and west sides of the area to seek out the anglers. Both teams found very few boats in motels, but did perform some vessel safety checks including one at a gas station!

At 9:30 a.m., we reassembled at the PCD. The vessel examiners from distant flotillas understandably left because of the poor turnout. Beard, Cooper and I put our heads together and devised a plan to hold a vessel examination station a few blocks away from the PCD on the days of the Tournament itself. This way, we would not interfere with the tournament. The tournament director was informed about how our first day had gone. Impressed with our plan and the number of vessel examiners who had trav-elled so far to participate, he stated that a remote site just would not work. We would somehow make it work right there at the PCD! Less than a week ago, our presence dur-ing the tournament was not an op-tion. Now it was a “done deal”!

On our way home, we explored the surrounding ramps and one found with a campground. There were about 25 anglers camping there. We returned Tuesday morning at 7:00 a.m. and caught 12 of them in two hours. One angler that we approached declined to participate, exited the gate and then made a U-turn and reentered. He waited to get his vessel safety check and stated,

“If you guys can get up before 6:00 a.m. to be here, I can certainly wait five minutes to get the vessel safe-ty check done.” This is just one of many examples of the extraordi-nary professionalism we all en-countered over the course of this event.

That evening, after meeting with the tournament director and receiv-ing his approval to conduct vessel safety checks during the retrieval of boats on tournament days, the call again went out for massive VE sup-port. The response on Thursday and Friday was heartwarming with many examiners returning from dis-tant flotillas.

In the end, we performed 83 vessel safety checks and awarded 55 de-cals by 21 Vessel Examiners from three divisions, eight flotillas and the US Power Squadron. On the www.Bassmaster.com website, check out the photos “Behind the Scenes” and “On the Water” and you will find many of the boats with a current VSC decal displayed on the port-side helm!

The goal is to see 100% of the Bassmaster Elite Series boats with current VSC decals on them by 2013 and by 2015 to see 50% in the Classic and Open Series. Ω

Vessel Examiners from 3 divisions and the US Power Squadron were on the docks and ready before the break of day.


The District 7 Virtual Library is an effort to archive and make available the vast amount of historical docu-ments and pictures that exist within both the USCG Auxiliary District 7 and the Coast Guard District 7. Of course, this library will not build itself. We need your help! If you have any documents (old manuals, publications, current and past newsletters, copies of charters and other historical documents or photographs) that you would like to add to this historical collection, please submit them to the library.

How to send your materials:

Only digital documents are accepted. Scan hard copies of documents and save them either in JPG or PDF file formats. When scanning documents, please set the resolution to 300 dpi. Send your digital documents to [email protected]

Publications officers: Please add this email address to your distribution list!

http://d7virtuallibrary.org/


In the last issue of the Breeze, Spring 2011, we an-nounced that we would no longer offer the Breeze as a print edition and solicited feedback. From nearly 6,000 members, we received fewer than ten comments. All ex-cept one was positive and complimentary.

The only negative comment came from a member who was unable to view the Breeze correctly. I suspect that this is a software issue and recommend downloading and installing the most recent version of Adobe® Read-er. Use the controls at the bottom (visible only when the cursor is moved over the bottom of the screen) to de-crease the size of the display (press the minus sign until the page display suits your preference).

I thank you for the compliments and expressions of ap-preciation for the Breeze and publish one question posed by a member:

“Now that we will no longer receive the hard copy-magazine we like and enjoy so much, I do have a ques-tion. My question is what happens to the money that each flotilla sends to District now that there is no longer the cost of printing this publication?

“I have been a member of the Auxiliary for about 30 years and I sure hate to see us lose this very informative publication and pictures in the physical magazine/hard copy. One could read an article or three, lay the maga-zine down and pick it up again when time permitted and continue reading. This is no longer possible unless you leave your computer on and this is much more strain on the eyes.

“Just a couple of thoughts due to this change.

Sincerely, C. Russell Jernigan FL 12-3” One additional comment is located on the back cover. While I cannot comment on “what happens to the mon-ey,” (that is best left to our Bridge) I see how much more is invested in Member Training than in past years. If it means having more funds available to train and support members, then it is not a bad tradeoff. One idea that we are definitely pursuing is producing fully electronic editions. With the software that District 7 recently provided us, we will be able to produce both printable PDF files and files viewable on eReaders. The electronic editions will begin in 2012 as it will take sever-al months to learn the software and produce profession-al quality ePubs. Anyone who has ever worked in Ado-be® InDesign will appreciate this! Acquiring proficiency in Flash®, InDesign® and Illustrator® is no small feat.

The new Breeze will look very different and hopefully, have great appeal. The software offers the ability to em-bed links, videos, slideshows and animations, all fully visible with software already installed on most comput-ers– but as already said, it will take us a while to learn how to use all of these available features.

District 7 Publications Contest The winners of the D7 Publications Contest are as fol-lows:

Flotilla Newsletters

First Place: Seven Niner, Flotilla 79, Editor: Dottie Riley Second Place: Biscayne Bay Mariner, Flotilla 6-11, Edi-tor: Nichole Betterson Third Place: Indian River Pilot, Flotilla 56, Editor: Linda Bulok

Division Newsletters

First Place: Intercom, Division 7, Editor: Dottie Riley Second Place: The Helm, Division 6, Editor: Raul Fernandez-Calienes Third Place: Now Hear This, Division 9, Editor: Duane Ising We thank everyone who participated, especially the judges! Reading three issues of every newsletter sub-mitted and scoring them individually is a monumental task. The judges were Tom Loughlin, DSO-PA 7, Diane Riggan, ADSO-PA-S, and Connie Irvin, ADSO-PA-W.

Congratulations to all of our winners! I would like to point out that the 2nd Place winner in the flotilla newslet-ter category is new to the Auxiliary (Nichole Betterson, editor) and this was Biscayne Bay Mariner’s first year of publication - quite an accomplishment!

Visit the flotilla and division web pages and read some of these great newsletters! They are full of interesting articles and useful information. The covers of our win-ning publications appear on the D7 Virtual Library an-nouncement on page 46.

Speaking of the D7 Virtual Library, it is important to pre-serve our history and we hope every unit takes ad-vantage of this resource by both contributing and view-ing our documents and photographs. Publications Offic-ers should add [email protected] to their distribu-tion lists.Ω

From the Editor Dorothy Joan Riley, District Staff Officer-Publications D7



Division 3 Boca Raton to Miami Dade

Eugene Cain and Sea Scout Leader and member of Flotilla

37 Carlos Arenas (in vessel) demonstrate a Vessel Safety

Check to About Boating Safely participants during NSBW

at Dixon Ahl Hall in Lighthouse Point, Florida. Arenas is

wearing the Sea Scout uniform. Photo by George Kozel

NSBW Aerial Demonstrations

‐by our Coast Guard partners during National Safe

Boating Week took place throughout our district.

This photo of a fly‐over by an HC‐130 Hercules from

Air Station Clearwater is a great tribute to the role

played by the Coast Guard to making this year’s

NSBW a great success. Photo by

Judi Bidwick, FSO‐PB 86

Division 14 North East Florida

Vic Aquino, Flotilla Commander 14‐7 presents an

"Inky the Whale' video to 200 second grade pupils

and their teachers at R. B. Hunt Elementary

School, St. Augustine, Fla., on May 26.

Presentations also included how long different

plastics take to biodegrade and how to select and

properly wear a life jacket. Photo by David

Patrick, VFC

Past District 7 Commodores

2009-10………………….Donald L. Frasch 2007-08……………….……....Allen Brown 2005-06………………….Peter Fernandez 2003-04 ………..…………... Jay Dahlgren 2001-02…….…...………...….. Mary Larsen 1999-00……...…...…...…... Helmut Hertle 1997-98…………..……..... E.W. Edgerton 1995-96……....….... George E. Jeandheur 1993-94……..........…. Joseph E. Norman 1991-92…………......…… Walter W. Bock 1989-90…………...…. Guy R. Markley, Jr. 1987-88……………….…. Rene E. Dubois 1985-86…………..... Robert B. Waggoner 1983-84………….……… John C. King, Jr. 1981-82………….…. William J. Callerame 1979-80……………….… Bolling Douglas 1977-78………………………. James Titus 1975-76………….……….... Newton Baker 1973-74………... Lawrence G. Danneman 1971-72…………….… Dr. Elbert C. Prince 1969-70…………..….. George B.M. Loden 1967-68…………….….. Ernest A. Baldine 1965-66……………...….. Roland Birnn 1963-64……..……Miguel A. Colorado 1961-62…………… E. E. Vanderveer 1959-60…………….. Richard L. Smith 1957-58………………. Herbert L. Lutz 1956…………..… A. Harlow Merryday 1954-55…….…….... Stanley W. Hand 1952-53……….…….... N.J.M. McLean 1951-52……….... Fred T. Youngs, Jr. 1950…………..... Guersey Curran, Jr. 1948-49………...…Charley E. Sanford 1946-47……....……... W. N. Mansfield 1939-45...no DCOs yet, DCPs gov-erned

Auxiliary Sector Coordinators

Reginald B. Hollar

ASC Sector Charleston

Donald C. Hoge ASC Sector St. Petersburg

Jesse L. Stevens

ASC Sector Jacksonville

R. Dewey Jackson ASC Sector Key West

Osvaldo M. Catinchi

ASC Sector San Juan

William V. Tejeiro ASC Sector Miami

Division Commanders 2011

Division 1………………………Angel Benero

Division 2….……....….……....... David Fuller

Division 3….……...……….. Samuel E. Duda

Division 4…………William J. Sorrentino, Sr.

Division 5……….….....…….... Gary P. Barth

Division 6……...……….……. Judith Hudson

Division 7…....……...…...….. Amos Johnson

Division 8…….....……….…..... Braxton Ezell

Division 9………..…………...….. Louis Conti

Division 10…………....…..Warren M. Wilson

Division 11……..………….. Jimmy R. Ryder

Division 12………………….Vito W. Giardina

Division 13……………... Jeffery A. Bronsing

Division 14…….……...……Henry T. Hayden

Division 15……………………….. Craig Elliot

Division 16………...…... James “CC” Kreglo

Division 17……...………..... George S. Peek

District Staff Officers

Prevention Department

Bruce Lindsey………………….…...DDC-P John Sprague-Williams ……..........DSO-MS Frank R. Lann ….………………DSO-MT William B. Riley...…………………..DSO-PV John L. Vanosdol……..……………DSO-PE William S. Griswold……..…………DSO-SL Chuck Kelemen ……......……….…DSO-VE

Response Department

Richard Leys…………………...…...DDC-R David Cawton …………………...…DSO-NS Cecil Christopher..…………..……..DSO-AV Joseph Colee, Jr……..…...………DSO-CM Janee Henderson………………….DSO-OP Jerry Henderson.……..……QE Coordinator Logistics Department

James Dennen………………..……..DDC-L Nestor Tacoronte…...……...……...DSO-CS Susan Z. Hastings……...……...…...DSO-IS Thomas A. Loughlin ……………..DSO-PA Dorothy J. Riley…. ……………..….DSO-PB Angela Pomaro .…..…...…….….…DSO-HR Terry Barth ……………...…………DSO-MA Bruce L. Perri……………………....DSO-DV Nestor Tacoronte ……….…….. Webmaster Lillian G. GaNun …….…………….DSO-SR Douglas Hanson..…...….…..………...DSSO Douglas Hanson..………….………….DFSO Andrew Anderson…………….…….DSO-LP Antoinette Borman………….….……....D-LL James Mayer.......………….………DSO-FN Richard Leys………..….………….PPDCPA Peter Fernandez…….....Plan Coordinator Thomas Brickey …District Materials Center

District Administrative Assistant & Aide

Carolyn R. Hooley ……...…................D-AD Elaine J. Cornell ……………………...D-AA COMO Mary T. Larsen ...………...Advocate

Give generously to the Coast Guard

Mutual Assistance Program.

http://d7materials.org/index.php The center is now open

Monday & Thursday 1000-1600

You can reach the center by phone during these hours at:

(727) 535-2593

http://www.cgmahq.org/index.htm

“Guard Your Own”“Guard Your Own”“Guard Your Own”

http://www.teamcoastguard.org/

U. S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARY District 7 Fall Conference

September 22-25, 2011

Crowne Plaza Jacksonville Riverfront 1201 Riverplace Boulevard

Jacksonville, Florida 904.398.8800

For room reservations call direct, ask for in house reservation

$82.00 per diem room rate

My Breeze

“…Please notice, I titled this note claiming the “Breeze” as my own and that's what it is. It is the singular lasting connection between my division, district and national shipmates and me; something portable to enjoy whenever and to reread and re-enjoy should I choose without requiring a computer or I-Pad. How did you ever forget about the power of the press? All three revolutions of the past month started with the use of pen on ink on paper. Is a rebellion neces-sary to get you up and running again?

“… Upon discussion, many fellow Auxiliarists feel the same that you have wiped away many years of memories yet to come by relegating the “Breeze” to the delete key…”

Ed Greenfield FL51 Edwin S. Greenfield PAO Station Lake Worth Inlet

TAMPA, Fla.— April 2, 2011. Division 7 offers the Coxswain and Boat Crew

Member Training program annually. Every flotilla participates by offering vessels

and crew for the on‐the‐water training, classroom instructors and mentors for the

trainees . Donning the anti‐exposure suit and entering the water is a memorable

experience for every trainee. George Papabeis, FSO‐PA 74

Reply to Mr. Greenfield: The economic down-turn has impacted everyone and the Coast Guard Auxiliary District 7 is not immune. Our goal is to present the Breeze in a new format with more bells and whistles that we hope will compensate for the absence of a printed copy.

Breeze Summer 2011

Documents

Transcript of Breeze Summer 2011