The “Surfman Check” for the Coast Guard’s National Motor Lifeboat School Executive Petty Officer, Chief Petty Officer Richard Bartel, of Milwaukie, Ore., faces outward, indicating his current assignment to NMLBS and the rank and date of his initial qualification as a surfman, March 14, 2014. These plates memorialize the historical practice of surfmen in the U.S. Lifesaving Service exchanging brass “checks” with their counterparts from adjoining stations, to prove completion of patrols. Today, Coast Guard surfmen train at the NMLBS, where they learn to operate rescue boats safely in the most challenging and dangerous heavy weather surf conditions.