Courtesy Photo | Petty Officer 3rd Class Lydia Miller, an active duty Boarding Officer at Station...... read more read more
Subscribe
At A Glance
More than 69 years ago, Feb. 14, 1941, Congress established the Coast Guard Reserve through the Coast Guard Auxiliary and Reserve Act. Modeled after the Naval Reserve as a military component, its purpose was to augment the active duty force. Most reservists were released to inactive duty or discharged at the conclusion of World War II.
In 1973, the first involuntary recall was made of reservists in support of flood response operations in the Midwest and again in 1980 for the Mariel Boat Lift the mass exodus from Cuba of more than 125,000 in over-crowded, barely seaworthy boats.
It wasn't until the 1990s that the Coast Guard Reserve increasingly responded alongside active duty personnel to major natural disasters, humanitarian crises and abroad in support of national defense.
The continuing need for a reserve component has been clear throughout the years. However, the role reservists' play in the Coast Guard has continually elevated following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the humanitarian response to Hurricane Katrina and more recent earthquake in Haiti. Reservists allow the Coast Guard to respond more effectively when events require an expanded mission for active duty personnel.
Recently, in a less publicized operation, Coast Guard Station Bellingham, Wash., sent 14 of its senior active duty personnel to Canada to support the Royal Canadian Mounted Police during the 21st Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
During Operation Podium, the multi-national Olympic security effort, guardians were sent from Station Bellingham to the Shiprider program, a cross-border law enforcement initiative between the U.S. Coast Guard and RCMP, leaving the station with a reduced level of personnel to carry out its missions.
"The need for reservists to fill those roles and keep the station fully operational was essential," said Chief Petty Officer Glen Brannon, who in his non-reserve capacity manages a construction company and during Operation Podium was acting Executive Petty Officer of Station Bellingham.
Station Bellingham was able to bring in qualified reserve boarding officers, boarding team members and coxswains to take the place of those personnel assigned to Shiprider for the Olympics, said Brannon.
"This was important for two purposes, first, it allows us to maintain operations at the station which serves the public in the form of search and rescue and secondly, to continue law enforcement with our sister agencies, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement in Whatcom County and the surrounding jurisdictions."
Having reservists at the station and by having a strong relationship with other local and federal law enforcement agencies in the area allowed the station to make a seamless transition during Shiprider, said Brannon.
Challenges
Reservists face numerous scheduling and logistical challenges throughout the year. "Drilling," as it is called, consists of one weekend every month over a 6-month period and annually are required to serve a two-week active duty training period, typically over the summer months, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Scott Isenhart, a reservist that works as a construction cost estimator and project manager as his full-time job.
"We have six weekends, one devoted to qualifying at the firing range, another is occupied by a reserve 'All Hands' meeting and the remaining four weekends are devoted to maintaining our crewmember and boarding team member currencies," said Isenhart.
Logistically, reservists face a lot of challenges, given they have limited time and a limited amount of resources, said Chief Petty Officer Graeme Jones, reservist and full-time employee with a Seattle-based Fortune 500 company.
"Training our contingent of reservists attached to the station has been an ongoing process that has been efficiently managed with the time we are allotted," said Jones.
"We've come in to get trained and operationally comfortable enough to be able to augment and fill in right along with the remaining active duty personnel here," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Mike Demopoulos, reservist and full-time Washington State Ferry deckhand.
"The reservists came in and for the first two years they really beefed up on their qualifications," said Senior Chief Petty Officer James Herzog, officer in charge of Station Bellingham. Reservists consistently intermixed with active duty personnel and got underway to build on their competencies.
"It's Chief Brannon who's the go getter and the driving factor in getting the reservists involved and fully integrated here at the station," said Herzog.
"The fact that the reserve team comes into the station and integrates with the active duty personnel is wonderful. It really comes down to the attitude from the active duty command at the station downward," said Brannon.
"The active duty command and reserve command realize the benefits of training and augmentation; it benefits both the active duty at the station and the reservists who report in on weekends, and are in a position to relieve the active duty personnel because they are qualified and able to carry out the mission."
Ability
On Aug. 14, 2009, Herzog and four fully-qualified reservists departed the station heading to Group/Air Station Port Angeles, Wash., for a logistics trip and a law enforcement patrol.
On the way to Port Angeles a rare case developed.
The crew from Bellingham was diverted to a new mission: search for a boater, suspected of killing his girlfriend and believed to be heading north from Seattle through the San Juan Islands to Canada.
"We were diverted to locate the vessel and suspect," said Herzog. "We reevaluated our GAR (Green-Amber-Red Risk Assessment) model and headed toward the last known location of the suspect. I knew I had a fully qualified crew and the thought that they were reservists never crossed my mind."
The crew of the 33-foot Special Purpose Craft responded to the changing scenario.
"We were working with two CBP boats and established a screen of three boats, stopping each vessel headed north," said Brannon.
"We ended up in Friday Harbor, Wash., and came across the vessel we were searching for and called the assisting CBP vessels and backed off from the vessel to observe and wait for CBP backup."
"After giving the suspect a buffer he eventually left Friday Harbor and continued north. At that point the suspect was getting closer to the Canadian border and we decided to process the boarding as the CBP arrived on scene."
"After a brief attempt to flee the suspect changed his mind, looked at us, went down below and as soon as we were alongside there was a gun shot. Unfortunately the suspect had taken his own life. At that point we discovered the two bodies in the vessel and secured the scene."
It was a sad situation but the fact is the active duty command, the reservists, and the CBP all came together professionally and maintained a safe and disciplined approach to an unusually stressful case, said Brannon.
Success
The Shiprider program successfully supported Operation Podium, which provided assistance to the Canadian security efforts throughout the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.
Station Bellingham was able to maintain its operational tempo of both search and rescue capabilities and law enforcement with minimal to no loss of efficiency.
Once again reservists were called upon to fill vital positions necessary to the roles and missions of the Coast Guard.
Reservists accustomed to one weekend a month and two weeks every summer proved their flexibility by putting their family life, full-time jobs and educational commitments on hold for the success of one of the Coast Guard's primary missions: safe and secure waterways.
True to the Coast Guard's motto, the reservists at Station Bellingham filling in for the active duty personnel during Operation Podium remained Semper Paratus: Always Ready.
| Date Taken: | 03.22.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 03.22.2010 13:53 |
| Story ID: | 47021 |
| Location: | BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 307 |
| Downloads: | 206 |
No keywords found.
