Leadership Summit held at SSD Chattanooga

Thursday night a Leadership Summit was held at the Chattanooga SSD involving Auxiliary, active duty Coast Guard and USCG Reserves. The idea was to bring together leaders from the three groups to discuss many issues and to provide input on how we can do a better job of being truly, Team Coast Guard. District 08E COMO Dave Maul and Jim Myers, DCDR Div 16 represented the Auxiliary along with other elected officers. The active duty Coast Guard was represented by Tony Economy from the Cutter Ouachita, Josh McTaggert from MSD Nashville, Bradford Clark from Sector Ohio Valley, John Samoulis from SSD Chattanooga, and Gary Petty USCG Reserves. Several other active duty Coasties were present and two, Aaron Boykin and Brad VanHoose, did an outstanding job on the grill! Many great ideas were swapped and now it's up to use to get them into operation. Similar events such as this are planned for the future so we can all get to know each other a lot better and work together more.

Happy 70th Anniversary CG Auxiliary!

Yesterday marked the 70th anniversary of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. In the late 1930s, the Coast Guard drafted regulations for a non-military Coast Guard reserve force in order to leverage the skills, talents, and patriotism of America’s growing boat owner population to enhance the operational capabilities of the Coast Guard.
Driving this initiative were the increasing number of maritime assistance calls the Coast Guard received from recreational boaters and the gathering clouds of war over Europe. The objectives of the new organization were to promote efficiency in the operation of motorboats, promote safety and effect rescues on the high seas and navigable waters, and facilitate other operations of the Coast Guard.
On June 23, 1939, Congress passed the Coast Guard Reserve Act. In 1941, Congress amended the original act to create the Coast Guard Auxiliary and Reserve Act which created a new military reserve and renamed the original civilian reserve the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

CG petty officer and Auxiliarist conducting boardings 1942, New York Harbor. (I can't help but wonder if he made the jump?)

National Archives/History program, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.

For more detailed history of the Auxiliary go to:

http://www.history.auxpa.org/

David Cox Attends Public Affairs "C" School in San Diego

Division 16's SO-PB, David Cox, was in San Diego, Calfornia, for 3 days of CG Auxiliary Public Affairs traning at Coast Guard Air Station San Diego. The classes were held 12-14 June from 0800 till 1700 each day with a 1 hour break for lunch. As soon as the class day ended, the homework began. The class was split into groups which met in the hotel lobby to work on the assignment for the next day. Then it's off to your room to type your presentation and get a little shut-eye. My problem was that at 0400 my body thought it was 0700 so there I was, wide awake. I soon learned it was better to finish your homework in the morning hours before breakfast than to try to stay up late. Even now that the classes are over, we students have a long list of assignments which must be completed before we are given credit for the completion of the class.

The classes were fantastic! Very informative with lots of practical skills I can use in my Auxiliary work. So what's a Publications officer doing at a Public Affairs class? With the ever increasing use of electronic media (such as this blog site) the areas of PA, PB, and CS are becoming ever more intertwined thus creating the need for these areas to work together more closely than ever.

The weather was great. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the low 60s with low humidity. The base was very attractive with Spanish tiled roofs and lots of beautiful landscaping. The occasional arrival or departure of a USCG HH-60 Jayhawk added some excitement to the day. Auxiliarists in Sector San Diego have a very active role in on-base activities. They even have a few parking spaces "Reserved for Auxiliary". How nice is that!

(Click on any photo to enlarge to full size)

Div 16 Does Radio Show

Div 16 Commander, Jim Myers, and Commodore Dave Maul did a live radio show very early Saturday morning. The Tony Sanders Outdoutdoors show airs on WGOW 102.3 FM from 0600 to 0800, and is great "fishermans' drive time". Several topics were discussed concerning boater safety as well as explaining what the Auxiliary is and who can join. We were very well received by host, Tony Sanders and his staff and were able to present his audience a good picture of the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Auxiliary video commercial

Throughout the 3 days of the Public Affairs course in San Diego many video clips were used to illustrate certain points. In this video it begins by illustrating how some of us might approach promoting the Auxiliary with lots of colorful graphics, cute kids, and a nice sing-along song. Then the video takes on a much more professional hard hitting approach. Although this is not the type of music I personally listen to, and you may not either, I can tell you, from spending 3 days next to a Coast Guard aircraft hanger, that this is the music the younger generation is listening to. We must began marketing the Auxiliary to a younger crowd, even if it requires us to come out of our comfort zone.

Div 16 Chattanooga starts a blog

In a world that is an avalanche of technology, the blog may very well replace the newsletter, both printed and digital. This is a great way to get information out quickly, with photos and graphics, and not have to worry about having current email addresses for all members. We can set certain members to be "authors" on this blog and they can write their own stories, post their photos, and any member may enter their comments for each of the stories.

Take a look at this and give it some thought. I could write a story on my "C" school in San Diego, add a few nice photos, and publish it in the next newsletter - and three months from now you can read it. With this blog, however, I could have written the story, added my photos, added some video, and published it all on this blog -- all before leaving California. Now that's progress.