Spring 2009 Detachment Recruitment Coming to a Close...

Contacting organizations, talking to classmates and hallmates, Facebook pages, interest meetings, YouTube videos... this just a small sampling of what the Detachment Members have been doing in these last few weeks to bring in another class. We have seen lots of interest in our potential new members that helped us confirm our view that this program truly is a great opportunity and will be a great launching point for similar programs elsewhere around the country! I think I speak for all my shipmates when I say that we are all excited about the prospects in the new class!

I also wanted to commend my shipmates for all the time and effort put in by everyone in this recruitment process. You have all done a wonderful job and should be recognized for such an achievement.

Valentine's Day - Coast Guard Style

On February 14th, Valentine’s Day, the Fifth District – Southern Region of the Coast Guard Auxiliary held its Winter District Conference. It was long but exhilarating day. I hadn’t quite gotten a full night’s sleep the night before so I had to drink a little coffee to get pumped up for the big day. The first part of my day consisted of taking the Team Coordination Training (TCT) class for my boat crew qualification taught by Mr. Ted Potter. Everybody had taken the class before except me. They made it out to seem like it was a boring class, but it wasn’t really that bad. I learned a lot about what it takes to be a good team member. In evening, there was a really nice dinner. When I first arrived in the dining area, I met Vice Admiral Robert Papp. Shortly after, he delivered the key note address, and gave Andrew Welch a rare medal for his exemplary work in establishing and up keeping with the WM Detachment. I also met District Commodore Al DeJean (who got me a Coast Guard sweater for Christmas) and outgoing Commodore Stephan McElroy who also spoke at the ceremony. The food was great, the people were nice, the music was pumpin’, and a great time was had by all.

Great speakers coming to campus

All Detachment Members take part in a Leadership and Management (LAM) training program each week. Class is coupled with an "all hands" meeting. We often tackle new leadership challenges and special interest topics within the Coast Guard and the surrounding world. I am pleased to note that, at least twice this semester, we will benefit from excellent guests to campus.

The first is Rear Admiral Robert Reilly, from the Navy's Military Sealift Command, who will visit to speak on "National Maritime Strategy and the role of our maritime industry, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard".

The second is Captain Christopher Calhoun, from the Innovation Team at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, DC, who will lead our newest members in a discussion about the Coast Guard's Core Values and Guardian Ethos, and will then present on innovation within the Coast Guard.

Our hope is to work with a number of guest presenters moving forward. This is an exciting start to a semester that looks promising on many fronts.

Recruitment

I wanted to update everyone on the progress of the detachment members with our recruiting efforts. We have spent several hours each day recruiting in our student center, meeting students and introducing them to everything the Auxiliary has to offer. We have had several students express strong interest in joining, including a number of young students who would have 3-4 years to be involved at the collegiate level.

In addition, we have been contacting student organizations on campus to ask for the opportunity to present at their meetings. We have met with success as many student leaders on campus are now becoming aware of our existence and would like to learn more about us.

I am extremely excited about the prospects for new membership! We have our first interest meeting tomorrow evening. Hopefully we will have a very good showing. I am very proud of all of the detachment members and their hard work thus far, and I know we're going to have a very successful recruitment season this spring.

Cool Facts about the Coast Guard

I decided to look up some cool facts about the Coast Guard. The following facts were taken from www.uscgboating.org.

On an average day, the Coast Guard:
Conducts 109 Search and Rescue Cases.
Saves 10 lives
Assists 192 people in distress.
Protects $2,791,841 in property.
Seizes 169 pounds of marijuana and 306 pounds of cocaine worth $9,589,000.00.
Processes 238 Seaman licenses and documents.
Investigates 6 vessel casualties involving collisions, allisions, or groundings.

Zaremba does good work

Nick Zaremba, W&M class of 2012, has been serving as the Incident Commander in our Spring 2009 Incident Command System exercise. He joined the Detachment last August, balancing it with football through his entire first semester on campus, and has excelled in his month-long role since the new semester began. He will begin the Boat Crew Academy program next week, and hopes to be out finishing his training on the water as soon as the weather warms. You can read from his recent interview, and watch the video, on the Detachment's website at http://wm.5srdivision6.us/news/articles/zarembainterview.

Over a Few Pints...

I want to share a story from earlier this week. On Wednesday, after the detachment meeting, Andrew, Steph, and I went over to the Green Leafe to get a few drinks. When there, we ran into a whole bunch of both active and reserve Coasties who were in town for a conference on the Incident Command System. They were so interested to learn about what we were doing with the detachment program, discussed what they were do with the Coast Guard, and offered us help with the detachment. The lieutenant commander even sat down and bought us a pitcher!

This was not the only time that I have come across such caring among the Coast Guard. A few months ago during the district conference (Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland), I was able to see the interaction between active duty and auxiliary Coasties. Everyone took an interest in the Detachment program, which they all believed was a great opportunity and wanted to know about exporting it beyond the College to other universities around the United States.

These two instances, along with the genuine sincerity among my fellow detachment and flotilla members, illustrate the bonds that are present in the Coast Guard family.

Enjoy the Super Bowl and/or the Men's Australian Open Finals!!!