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.