From the Editor - “Spring is the time of plans and projects.” – Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina. We agree. In this issue you will find an in-depth feature on the Office of Boat Forces plan to improve the training and readiness of reservists assigned to small boat units. Aptly named the Boat Forces Reserve Management Project, the initiative is the result of countless hours of research, analysis and stakeholder collaboration. We are pleased to have Rear Adm. Mark Butt, Assistant Commandant for Capability, outline the strategic imperative for this effort in this issue’s The View From The Bridge.
Speaking of projects and plans, readers will find a special Retiree Services Guide pull-out section. Working in collaboration with the Coast Guard Retiree Services Program, this guide provides valuable information, including links to countless resources about policies and services of importance to all current retirees and those planning to join their ranks. Current retirees will find a map showing the location and contact information for all the newly created service-wide Retiree Services Desks. There is also a letter from Coast Guard National Retiree Council Co-Chairs Rear Adm. John Acton, USCGR (ret.) and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Charles ‘Skip’ Bowen, USCG (ret.) in which they address the upcoming awareness campaign for the Retiree Services Program rollout this spring and summer.
To compliment the special retiree insert we are pleased to offer three stories which focus on life, post-service, including a Space A adventure to Europe. You will find these stories in our new Retiree SITREP section. Our Around the Reserve section is packed with the usual flotsam and jetsam of things reservists are doing, both on and off the clock, to improve the value they bring to the Coast Guard and to the communities where they work and live.
Finally, we’d like to give a special “shout-out” to all the Public Affairs professionals who assisted us in providing readers with an up close and personal look at the impact the Boat Forces Reserve Management Project is having at the deckplate.
As always, thanks for reading.
Click cover image to read issue, or download a printable pdf.
From the Editor - As a native Cape Codder, it was always easy to know when summer arrived. It was the day on the calendar – usually about a week before the 4th of July – that the normal five minute drive to the Post Office turned into a mission that required pre-planning, thoughtful tactical movements (as few left hand turns as possible) and the occasional use of a salty vernacular in response to a visitor’s poorly conceived maneuver.
Here at Coast Guard Headquarters, as across the Service, summer is marked by personnel transfers. Every four years, as is the case this summer, a number of those transfers have added significance, notably the Coast Guard’s new senior leadership team: Commandant, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard, Vice Commandant, Deputy Commandants for both Operations and Mission Support, and the Atlantic and Pacific Area Commanders.
Here in our corner of St. Elizabeth’s, Rear Adm. James Heinz has assumed the duties of Director of Reserve and Military Personnel, while Master Chief Eric Johnson is onboard as the Coast Guard Reserve Force Master Chief. Capt. Patrick ‘Kofi’ Aboagye has relieved Capt. Kent Bauer (ret) as the Chief, Office of Reserve.
So, as new leadership takes the helm, our mission here at the Reservist remains the same: keeping you up-to-date on the course that has been set and what you need to know to stay on track.
In this particular issue you will find dozens of short pieces covering Reserve activities from Guam in the west, Alaska in the north, Florida in the south and Maryland in the east.
In our A Light on Yesteryear section you will find the second and final installment of our series about Lt. Charles Eliot Winslow, a reservist who served during the Second World War.
Be sure to check out our on-line edition at http://www. uscg.mil/reservist/ which offers a number of embedded videos highlighting unique Reserve force operational and logistics capabilities.
This issue’s More You Know section has items of interest, particularly for those looking to transfer their G.I. Bill benefits. There is also an in-depth article covering the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act commonly known as USERRA.
As always, thanks for reading.
Click cover image to download a printable pdf.
From the Editor - Vigilance. As I sit in front of my keyboard this morning, it is the thirteenth anniversary of September 11, 2001. Again I am reminded about the range of emotions I felt that day and the ones that followed; shock, sorrow, anger, pride, determination.
I was still in uniform when American Flight 77 struck the Pentagon and was sitting with then Master Chief of the Reserve Force George Ingraham in his office at Coast Guard Headquarters. Shortly thereafter we became aware of the planes hitting the World Trade Center buildings. Later we would learn we had lost two Coast Guard reservists that day, MK1 Jeffrey Palazzo and PS2 Vincent Danz, both New York City first-responders.
I have a vivid memory of driving back to my apartment later that day and being one of a handful of cars on the normally bumper-to-bumper Route 395. As I passed the scorched and battered Pentagon, smoke was still rising and rescue and recovery personnel combed the ruble.
A week later I was on the first post-9/11 flight out of Reagan Airport – a Coast Guard Falcon. We flew to Norfolk to pick up then Atlantic Area Command Vice Admiral Thad Allen before proceeding to the Coast Guard base on Staten Island, N.Y., where we were ferried over to Ground Zero. Beyond the unimaginable destruction what struck and has stayed with me the most was the stillness, the quiet, the somberness.
Three months later I accompanied Admiral Allen to Guantanamo Bay where we toured Camp X-Ray, the original detainee holding site. Later that day the admiral noted the irony of glancing down at his boots, still with dust on them from our trip to Ground Zero, and then looking up directly into the eyes of some very evil people who were in some way likely complicit in the events of 9/11.
Today we face an equally serious threat from some very evil people who wish to do us great harm. And, while the road has been long, we must never waiver, never forget and be forever vigilant.
As always, thanks for reading.
Click cover image to download a printable pdf.