Category: Coast Guard

The Washington Post reports that the Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft, during an appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Tuesday, told the group that he would not “break faith” with transgender troops under his command;

Zukunft said that following the tweets, he had his office contact the 13 service members in the Coast Guard who identified as transgender, including Lt. Taylor Miller, the branch’s first openly transitioning officer.

“I reached out personally to Lt. Taylor Miller, who was featured on the cover of The Washington Post last week,” Zukunft said. “Now if you read that story, Taylor’s family has disowned her. Her family is the United States Coast Guard. And I told Taylor, ‘I will not turn my back. We have made an investment in you, and you have made an investment in the Coast Guard, and I will not break faith.’ ”

“That is the commitment to our people right now,” Zukunft said. “Very small numbers, but all of them are doing meaningful Coast Guard work today.”

Yeah, I don’t know what he’s saying, but it seems like the Obama appointee is pledging to ignore the orders of his commander-in-chief. I know President Trump likes to fire peoeple especially when they don’t do what they’re told.

From Military.com, the admiral seems to be threatening legal action;

“We stood up a tiger team of our JAG officers,” Zukunft said.

The next steps remain to be seen, as does how Coast Guard leadership plans to shield its troops in the face of an administration mandate.

So, he’s taking side of thirteen Coast Guard members against the President. Seems about right.

Thanks to Chief Tango and Mick for the links.

Coast Guard pilot William Peterson will be inducted onto the Wall of Gallantry at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut for his daring rescue of eight Coast Guardsmen and contractor when their airplane crashed on a hillside on the western Aleutian Island of Attu off Alaska in 1982, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Visibility was only 50 feet because of fog and winds gusted to over 46 miles per hour in the North Pacific as Peterson tried to fly a rescue helicopter to the fiery crash site. Following an emergency beacon, Peterson and his crew found three survivors who had walked down the hill and flew them to a Coast Guard base on the island.

Peterson returned in the helicopter and inched it up to the crash site. He and the crew found a fourth victim and flew him to safety after a gust of wind nearly blew the aircraft into the hillside as it hovered along the steep terrain.

Knowing it would be too dangerous to try to hover the chopper again, Peterson landed it about a mile or so down the hill. He and the crew trekked up with stretchers, returned to the helicopter with five more injured victims and then flew them to another base at a nearby island for medical treatment.

62-year-old Peterson retired in 2006 as the chief of aviation forces at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C.

When someone thinks about the Vietnam War, it’s rare that you’d think about the Coast Guard. Former Lieutenant Junior Grade William Carr was 24-years-old when he made his mark on Coast Guard history, he was honored at the Coast Guard Academy on their “Wall of Galantry” recently for his service in that war on March 10, 1968 at the Naval Support Activity Detachment along the Cua Viet River. From the Associated Press;

“This is stupid. You are going to die,” Carr remembered thinking about that day he ran into the ammunition storage area amid the blazes looking for a missing Navy man, whom he would not find.

Carr was a 24-year-old lieutenant junior grade at the time, commanding the 82-foot patrol boat Point Arden and a crew of 10 other Coast Guardsmen. He led efforts to put out the fires, secure ammunition stockpiles and get medical assistance to the scene, where six to nine servicemen died and 98 others injured. He would be awarded the Bronze Star for his actions.

For 47 years, Carr, 72, never uttered a word about what happened that day — not even to his wife Judy, as he suffered what he believes was post-traumatic stress disorder. He finally started telling people about it in May, after officials at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, told him they were honoring him for his bravery and service.

Carr, a 1965 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy continued;

“Heroism is not something for which you train,” Carr told more than 900 cadets and others gathered for the ceremony, which also honored three other academy graduates. “Rather, what happens is we sometimes are confronted with extraordinary circumstances. We do our duty. And sometimes people recognize that as heroism.”

Admiral “Bull” Halsey said something similar; “There are no extraordinary men…just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with.”

Folks are reminding us that the Coast Guard was founded 225 years ago today on August 4th, 1790 when it was the United States Revenue Cutter Service to enforce tariff and trade laws, prevent smuggling, and protect the collection of federal revenue. The service became the Coast Guard on January 28, 1915 and then in 1939, the United States Lighthouse Service was folded in to the branch. It moved from the Transportation Department to Homeland Security in 2003.

If you’re in New London, Connecticut today;

MEDIA ALERT: New London Celebrates U.S. Coast Guard’s 225th Birthday
WHEN: TODAY Tuesday August 4, 1:30 pm
WHERE: City Pier, New London CT (behind the train station on the river side of railroad tracks)
WHO: Local, state and military dignitaries
WHAT: Join the U.S. Navy, the State of Connecticut and the City of New London in celebrating the United States Coast Guard’s 225th Anniversary. The ceremony will include a colorful tribute to the Coast Guard on the Thames River, a 13 gun salute from the Navy, and a huge birthday cake courtesy of Foxwoods