D1 COMMANDER'S PRIORITIES

1. It was indeed an honor to join the ranks of the fine professionals of the First District on 31 May. Our district has a well deserved reputation for excellence.

2. Today I met with senior district and field leaders to discuss and garner feedback on my priorities. These focus areas should guide First District actions as we serve the 33.4 million American citizens in our
AOR that depend on us to stand a vigilant watch. As you will see below, my priorities are consistent with those of my predecessor: hence I am stressing continuity over change.

My priorities are as follows:

3. We are a crew of professionals:
3a. Bring the crew back from every mission, every time.
3b. Pursue mastery of our trade and ensure proficiency.
3c. Achieve procedural and standards compliance with disciplined initiative.
3d. Be disciplined and accountable for our actions, nations treasure, mission, and each other.
3e. Aggressively manage risk.
3f. Be worthy of our nations trust.
4. We are members of a creative and supportive team:
4a. Help each shipmate set and realize their personal and professional goals.
4b. Attain and foster a high level of honesty, respect and integrity.
4c. Insist that all our shipmates live by our core values. Remember -there are no bystanders.
4d. Initiate, discover and question.
4e. Work hard, close the mission confident of our performance and enjoy service in the Coast Guard.
5. We will expand and strengthen our trusted partnerships:
5a. Be mindful of our center of gravity - effective teaming with all stakeholders.
5b. Build trust proactively and nurture partner confidence over time: trust cannot be surged.
6. I ask that field commanders disseminate this guidance to widest extent. I look forward to discussing this further during upcoming unit visits.

7. Remember - We stand the watch.
8. RDML, Dan Abel, First District Commander, sends.

9. Internet release authorized.

Unfilled Quotas Have Lasting Impact on C School Budget

For every filled C-School the Auxiliary gains the benefit of a better prepared and trained member whether it is in Aids to Navigation or Spatial Dis-orientation training on the Operations side to Public Affairs and Leadership training in other areas critical to the success of the Auxiliary and Coast Guard missions. It also gains credibility to the amount of quotas needed for C-School training as a whole.

 

 

To maintain this valuable training across the board the quotas assigned each year need to be used properly and filled to a "wait list" status. Each year quotas are lost by not being used and this has an ripple effect into future years. With budget restraints of almost unprecedented proportions looming in the Auxiliary training future it is more than great to have all quotas filled it is imperative to have all quotas filled.

 

 

Please go out and look at all the vacancies on the C school web site and where there is a spot left see if you have a member that would like to attend or is needed to attend to give you a better program. Then get the STTR signed and sent into DIRAUX immediately as time is not on your side now. There are only 14 days left for entering into the C School system and your help to ensure a viable C School system is around in the future is needed. Please sign your qualified members up now.

 

 

Below is a course that has been getting great reviews all year and many wish to take, AMLOC 05A. Please call your members that this will apply to and sign them up now.

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

V/r,

 

 

Tracy DeLaughter

BC-TLM AMLOC 05A

Stowaways Suspected In Container Ship, The Ville D'Aquarius, Docked In Newark

By SAMANTHA HENRY 06/27/12 01:26 PM ET

NEWARK, N.J. — Authorities have narrowed their search for suspected stowaways aboard a cargo ship in New Jersey.

Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe tells The Associated Press on Wednesday that authorities have inspected 80 of the 200 containers that authorities believe could be carrying people. The ship has 2,000 containers altogether.

Rowe says a Coast Guard team conducting a routine inspection heard knocking inside a container as the vessel approached New York Harbor early Wednesday.

Emergency vehicles are standing by near the ship, while others that were on the pier earlier have left.

The container's manifest said it was carrying machine parts to Norfolk, Va.

The ship began its voyage May 30 in the United Arab Emirates. Its last port before Newark was in Egypt on June 15.

 

Rear Adm Linda Fagan is Assn as Deputy Dir. of Ops for HQ US Northern Cmd

Rear Admiral Linda Fagan is assigned as the Deputy Director of Operations for Headquarters United States Northern Command. The Directorate of Operations is the principal advisor to the Commander USNORTHCOM on all operational matters, providing strategic guidance to plan and execute NORTHCOM missions within the area of responsibility; including land, maritime, and Homeland Defense air operations as well as Defense Support of Civil Authorities.

Rear Admiral Fagan has had a more than twenty-five year career that has taken her to all seven continents, from the snows of Ross Island, Antarctica to the heart of Africa, from Tokyo to Geneva, and many points in between.

After graduating from the Coast Guard Academy in 1985, Rear Admiral Fagan served for two years as a deck watch officer on board the USCGC Polar Star out of Seattle. After trips to both the Arctic and Antarctic, she began her marine prevention career as an Inspector trainee at Marine Safety Office Puget Sound. Following completion of this program, she served as a Marine Investigation Officer at MSO Mobile. Her next assignment was in New Orleans, first in Industry Training with the New Orleans Steamboat Company, then as a Marine Inspector and the Supervisor of the Harvey Canal detail at the MSO. Another Southern city was next and Rear Admiral Fagan moved on to become the Chief of Port Operations in Savannah. The highlight of this tour was the planning and execution of water-side security for the Olympic sailorsat the 1996 Summer Games.

After graduate work in Seattle, Rear Admiral Fagan became the Division Chief of the Foreign and Offshore Compliance Office (then G-MOC) at USCG Headquarters. There she managed the Coast Guard's Port State Control Program, and developed and implemented QUALSHIP 21. After her headquarters tour, she was assigned as the Executive Officer of Marine Inspection Office/Activities Europe in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Following this tour she attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C., and then moved to an assignment as Executive Assistant to the Commandant and Vice-Commandant. She most recently served as the Sector Commander and Captain of the Port at Coast Guard Sector New York.

Rear Admiral Fagan has extensive inter-agency as well as inter-governmental experience. She has worked with both the International Maritime Organization and International Labor Organization on flag state and port state issues including development of the International Ship and Port Security Code (ISPS), and the Consolidated Maritime Labor Convention. This work included development and implementation of procedural and policy details on vessel targeting, boarding procedures, and enforcement and of the ISPS Code and the Marine Transportation Security Act.

Rear Admiral Fagan has a B.S. in Marine Science from the Coast Guard Academy, a Masters in Marine Affairs from the University of Washington, and a Masters in National Security Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Her awards include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, three Coast Guard Commendation medals, and the Arctic and Antarctic Service medals.

Coast Guard Day the Sector Way

It's coming!

Two live bands, catered lunch, games and activities for all ages, and tickets are on sale now at the MWR.

Join us for a great Coast Guard Celebration of 222 years of service to this great country. All for only $4.00 per person. Order the tickets over the phone before July 24th and just show up in the morning and they will be waiting here for you.

Or, stop by the office during normal business hours and purchase your tickets here at Fort Wadsworth. 

Active, Retired, Reserve, Auxiliarists, their dependents and most of all - their friends are welcome. This is truly a Coast Guard-Wide celebration for all services.

See you on Aug 3rd, 1000 hours at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, NY.

Learning To Fly

Aviators -

the Coast Guard Auxiliary Needs You!

By Wayne Spivak, ADSO-CS 1SR

United States Coast Guard Auxiliary

  Sailors (power and sail) and their younger brethren, Aviators, share many common attributes. Terminology, navigation, reliance on weather and weather forecasting, all makes the boater and the aviator part of the same circle of adventurers.

It is that sense of exploration, of the pilot against the elements, skill against the unknown that drive many to take their vessels and planes into un-charted (or unfamiliar) territory. It is because of this desire, that pilots and boaters have many of the same skills. We both share the skills of celestial navigation and dead reckoning. We also must learn to understand the environment and weather. For our lives depend on both these skills

Since the dawn of civilization, when man first ventured out into the uncharted seas, danger lurked. When man first took to the sky, danger was a constant companion. Centuries (decades) later, these same dangers still lurk on every air flight and boat trip. Aviators and Sailors share the desire to be out or in the great blue, whether it's the great blue sea or the great blue sky.

The United States Coast Guard has long been involved with aviation. Back in 1915, the Coast Guard used a Curtis flying boat as the test bed of whether aviation was practical for search and rescue. Today it's obvious that those first tests have developed (after some trials and tribulations) into one of the major components of the Search and Rescue mission of the Coast Guard.

As aviation as both a sport and an industry grew, members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary privately, on their own, began to learn how to fly. These private pilots then volunteered their services to the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary, just as their brethren volunteered their boats and their boating skills. According the recorded Coast Guard history, Auxiliary pilots first flew during 1943, in the midst of World War II. The first official mention of Auxiliary aviation is when Congress passed Public Law 451, in September 1945, permitting aircraft to be used by the Auxiliary.

Today, there are approximately 38,000 Auxiliarists nationwide. In the Auxiliary's First Southern (1SR) District (southern New York State, northern New Jersey, southern Connecticut and Vermont) there are approximately 90 participating Auxiliarists in the Aviation program.

Currently there are 24 Aircraft (20 single-engine and 4 multi-engines) that have been accepted for service with the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. Another twelve aircraft are awaiting final inspections and qualifications for acceptance into the program.

Last year Aviators in the 1SR flew 279 missions for a total of almost 1000 flight hours and 4500 mission hours. This year, to date, they have flown 113 missions, and boating season has yet to begin.

Here is the list of missions that Auxiliarists Aviators normally fly:

SAR Mission - Search And Rescue call out or the air equivalent to a vessel safety patrol. During a SAR mission, aircraft fly pre-determined search patterns based on complex algorithms. These algorithms are based on last known or assumed position, wind, current, and type of vessel that is missing.

Enforcement of Laws and Treaties - Air support of a Coast Guard mission to monitor major fishing areas.

MEP Mission - Air support in the area of Marine Environmental Protection. Missions include support of locating and estimating sizes of oil slicks, and other environmental accidents.

Ice Operations Mission - Air support in the area of ice patrol operations. Aircraft search for and report blockages by ice of major ports and rivers.

Logistics Mission - Transportation of personnel and equipment. Auxiliarists transport individuals for all types of Coast Guard support and humanitarian support.

Training Mission - Training missions involving air operations, and coordination with land and surface vessels to hone those skills needed to support the aims and missions of the United States Coast Guard.

Auxiliary Pilots and Crews are, during an emergency call-out, available to lift off from their airfields on short notice on weekdays, and during boating season (weekends), are normally either in the air or at the airfield ready to fly. These men and women, like their boating counter-parts, volunteer their time and energy, and in many an instance their aircraft to assist the Coast Guard.

The Aviation Branch of the United States Coast Guard is not just for pilots! Any Auxiliary member can join the Aviation Branch and any US Citizen can join the Auxiliary (see below). While, the Coast Guard Auxiliary does not train pilots, it does train Observers and Air Crew.

US Coast Guard Auxiliary Aircrew Capabilities:

Aircraft Commanders - Pilots with more than 1000 flight hours, an instrument rating, and checked out in SAR procedures. FAA medical certification required.

First Pilots - Pilots with more than 500 flight hours, and checked out in SAR procedures. FAA medical certification required.

Co-Pilots - Pilots with more than 200 flight hours. May only fly Ice Patrols, MEP patrols and logistics. FAA medical certification required.

Observers - Auxiliarists trained in observation, communications, and the aviation program. Either pilots or observers are required as added crew on operational missions. No medical required.

AirCrew - An upgrade for Observers who successfully complete additional training. Training elements consists of communication, navigation, weather, and flight planning. FAA or personal physician medical certification required.

Membership in the US Coast Guard Auxiliary:

Membership is open to men and women, 17 years or older, who are US citizens. Members cut across all socio-cultural and age boundaries, as well as military lines. The Auxiliary, which is the civilian, volunteer, uniformed branch of Team Coast Guard, boasts both current active duty and former members of all the uniformed services and their Reserve components, including the Coast Guard. You do not have to have any previous military training or affiliation to join! Facility (radio station, boat or aircraft) ownership is desirable but not mandatory.

For more information about the Coast Guard, Coast Guard Auxiliary or Coast Guard Auxiliary Aviation, contact your local Coast Guard (Air) Station, of look for us on the web at http://www.cgaux.org or http://www.uscg.mil.

AuxGuidanceSkills.Info is geared to providing "Public Service Articles in the pursuit of Recreational Boating Safety" to that end, we will continue to add to our series on Help Wanted, Homeland Security, Public Education, Public Service, Vessel Safety and Environmental Issues, though the use of 'case studies', as our teaching tool of choice. In addition, our Leadership series offers those within the Coast Guard family, as well as outside, an insight into values that will improve their leadership skills