Holiday Message

The following is the text of my holiday message to the Detachment Members. I wanted to share it, and, by extension, the good work they have done the last several months, you.

Shipmates,

It's Christmas and, whether you celebrate the holiday or not, I hope that you are all enjoying some time off. This message is, for my part, the only productive thing I am doing today. It feels great.

The last semester that I have spent with you has been extraordinary in a number of ways, but most particularly insofar as the great personal and professional strides that some of you have made. You have excelled as the first to move through a unique program, making real contributions, working together as a team, and stepping up to face your own unique challenges. You have worked to create collective meaning in teamwork, dedication, integrity, motivation, and concentration. Of you and your efforts, I am very proud.

The Spring will be a time of significant challenge, as we recruit and train new members, and work to ensure the long-term viability of our Detachment. It will also be a period of great reward, as we welcome new shipmates to the fold, and send off our first seniors at graduation. Do not underestimate the difficulty of what lies ahead, but also, do not underestimate yourselves. We see a challenge, and will rise to meet it.

Enjoy today and those that follow!

Happy Holidays,
Andrew Welch

WM Coastie: Underway

Veteran bloggers can tell you that there is no real "right way" to get started. It's the real beauty of blogs: that their purpose, and ours in writing them, is to communicate personally and directly with our virtual community. Enter WM Coastie. We are students, instructors, and advisors at Coast Guard Auxiliary Detachment 054-06-07 at The College of William and Mary. We hope to make this a forum for discussion with communities in which we operate: students on campus, the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary beyond our walls, and the public that our students are preparing to serve. We will speak openly and directly, taking up both deep issues and passing matters over which we can all connect. Ours is a training environment, so we hope that you will speak back and join our discussion.

We already have great examples to follow. The Coast Guard is rapidly becoming a leader, a true innovator, in the social media revolution. Led by our Commandant, Admiral Thad Allen, who communicates with coasties at throughout the organization through his own blog, our service is increasingly embracing the "flat world" paradigm that sites such as Facebook and Blogger have helped to create. The Detachment is preparing to launch its own Facebook page--we'll keep you updated--so make sure you click through and "become a fan" as soon as our members have that put together. And, finally, we have the great inspiration of our shipmates in Seattle, who we met on the floor of the Coast Guard Innovation Expo last week. They were live-blogging the three-day long event and posting to YouTube as soon as new footage was shot. The Expo featured them, and they featured us. Thanks for the free publicity!

...So, with this first post, we are underway. We hope you'll follow along and join the conversation.