Surfboard, training saves former coastie

John Baker paddled his surf board 14 miles off the coast of Galveston to an oil rig after a strong current pulled him away from the beaches he was surfing Oct. 25, 2009.

Baker graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1970. From there he served on multiple cutters including the Coast Guard Cutter Winnebago and Basswood, as well as the Regional Command Center in Long Beach, Calif.

“My training in the Coast Guard from the search and rescue school helped save my life; I made all the right decisions in a timely manner, I didn't panic and I used all my resources to get help,” Baker said.

Coast Guard Sector Ohio Valley Wins 2009 Alexander Hamilton Award

Coast Guard Sector Ohio Valley (SHOV) has won the first annual Coast Guard Alexander Hamilton Award for Excellence. The Hamilton Award, which uses the comprehensive National Baldrige Criteria, is awarded to Coast Guard units that demonstrate integrated management systems and deliver excellent results.

According to the 2009 Alexander Hamilton Award Feedback Report for SOHV, it is the Commandant's intent to improve organizational performance using a proven management framework.

To be considered for the award, units must submit a request for consideration through their chain-of-command's senior flag officer. Once the request for consideration is accepted, a team of evaluators goes to the unit and scores the unit based on a modified Baldridge Criteria. This criteria is broken into seven categories and includes:

• Leadership
• Strategic Planning
• Customers and Markets
• Measurement
• Analysis and Knowledge
• Workforce Focus
• Process Management
• Results

Each of the seven categories is scored on two factors: process and results. The scoring scale includes six percentile ranges: 0%-5%, 10%-25%, 30%-45%, 50%-65%, 70%-85% and 85%-100%. SOHV scored in the 70%-80% and the 50%-65% ranges for the majority of categories.

The Sector's award-winning system begins with an in-depth training regiment to provide new members with insight to issues on the Western River System. Training includes a Coast Guard course on the Western Rivers, industry ride-alongs on towing vessels, and industry-led training.

Next, ‘the Quality Q’ (a 13 step process based on the Incident Command System ‘Planning P’) is used to help ensure plans and operations are quality evolutions and meet criteria for mission accomplishment.

The feedback and results are published in SOHV's “Year in Review” newsletter. This newsletter provides Coast Guard members with a look at how their day-to-day work supports the Sector’s missions and it gives industry members information on the Coast Guard’s missions, achievements and feedback.

SOHV's success is highlighted by winning the Alexander Hamilton Award for Excellence and sets the bar for future candidates to employ innovative systems and use the Baldrige Criteria to set goals for new systems to improve the way the Coast Guard does business.

Coast Guard takes part in historic turtle release

At 90 pounds she is a behemoth for her species, a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, but her size made her the perfect candidate to become the first marine animal to be released by the state of Louisiana with a satellite tracking device. Coast Guardsmen from Coast Guard Station Grand Isle, La., took part in the historic release on Aug. 14, 2009.



Officials believe the turtle, known as Lagniappe, was swept into the pond when Hurricane Ike made landfall along the Louisiana and Texas borders in September of 2008. Although rescue teams noted the pond had a large enough area and food source for the turtle to survive, the female turtle would not have been able to make the annual migration to beaches along the east coast of Mexico and Texas to breed. Lagniappe was taken to the Audubon Institute in New Orleans to be rehabilitated by members of the all-volunteer Louisiana Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Rescue.

For Lagniappe’s release, crewmen from Coast Guard Station Grand Isle assisted in moving the turtle from a truck to a 41-foot utility boat and made a 20-mile trip to an oil rig, where they released her. The rig provides a hiding place for the Lagniappe, as well as a good place to hunt for her two favorite foods, fish and crabs.

“It's great to assist in the release of endangered animals,” said Chief Petty Officer Wayne Blocker, a machinery technician stationed at Coast Guard Station Grand Isle. “What's even better, is knowing that my job in the Coast Guard affords me the opportunities to be a part of operations such as this.”

A satellite tracking device will provide researchers with information about Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles especially where the turtles go after breeding on beaches in Mexico and Texas because the tag transmits Lagniappe’s location to a satellite every time she surfaces. The battery on the satellite tag lasts approximately 250 days, which will provide officials with a nearly year-long look at where Lagniappe is throughout the year.



Since her release, Lagniappe has traveled approximately 340 miles, visiting the numerous oil rigs which provide her with shelter and food. Researchers have been tracking her and have provided a map of her movements to help educate the public about the migration habits of the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle.

Breaking the language barrier

In June of 1987, Jose Hermann, now a chief petty officer in the Coast Guard, boarded a plane headed to Training Center Cape May, NJ. Hermann, a native of Puerto Rico, was making the journey that thousands before him had made to the grounds of the Coast Guard’s TRACEN.

After landing at Philadelphia International Airport, Hermann and his friends Billy Rodriguez and Pedro Fuentes, who were also joining the Coast Guard, made their way to the USO lounge inside the airport. This is where Hermann was in for the shock of his young adult life.

“My friend Billy leaned over to me and said in Spanish, ‘they didn’t tell you that everything was going to be in English,’” said Hermann.

You see, young Hermann entered boot camp not speaking a word of English. He could read the language, but was unable to fluently speak English. That was the moment that Rodriguez and Fuentes made a pact with Hermann.

“We are not going to let you fail. We are all going to stick together,” said Fuentes.

And stick together they did.

“Whatever Pedro did, I did,” said Hermann.

Hermann remembers when one of his company commanders discovered his inability to speak English. Hermann was standing quarterdeck watch, when his company commander engaged him in conversation. Hermann paid close attention to the dialogue, but his confused facial expressions elicited the one question he had been trying to avoid.

“Do you understand a word that I am saying to you,” asked his company commander.

Six weeks into boot camp, the language barrier had finally been uncovered, said Hermann. A health services technician from the medical office was called over to Hermann’s barracks to act as a translator between Hermann and his company commanders. It was decided that a special meeting would be held to determine Hermann’s fate at TRACEN Cape May. The verdict:

“They let me finish and graduate. Oddly enough, even though I could not speak English, I was one of the very few guys who passed all the tests,” said Hermann.

Following graduation from TRACEN Cape May, Hermann remained behind in New Jersey to attend a B-school where he learned English. Once he completed the coursework, he was stationed in New Orleans at a support center.

“I arrived at the support center as a non-rate who just learned how to speak English. Here I was in a department with a man from Britain, a man from Japan and one from the south. There were three different dialects going on at the same time,” said Hermann.

That’s when Hermann decided to polish his English grammar skills even further. He attended the University of New Orleans and took both English composition and English as a second language.

Fast forward to Oct. 2009 at Coast Guard Air Station Houston, and Hermann, who is an avionics electrical technician, laughs and jokes with the hangar deck crew, as if English is his natural born language.

“I understand it all now. I get the slang and I get the jokes,” said Hermann, slyly grinning from ear-to-ear.

Wyoming Loran Station holds flag retirement ceremony

Photo courtesy of: Nathan Payne, Gillette News Record

On the 71st anniversary of Veterans Day, Coast Guard Loran Station Gillette, Wyo., performed a flag retirement ceremony in honor of the American flag, the Coast Guard ensign and the Wyoming state flag.

“When an American flag is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, it should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning,” said Chief Petty Officer Rodney S. Clark, the officer-in-charge of Loran Station Gillette.

Nov. 11, 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, brutal, and far reaching war in human account. In honor of this day, Loran Station Gillette performed a flag retirement ceremony 91 years later on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009.

The ceremony was small, quiet and honorable. Clark served as the master of ceremonies, Petty Officer 1st Class Shannon E. Butterfield and Petty Officer 3rd Class Zach L. Kofahl, both electronics technicians, served as the honorary color guard members, and Petty Officer 1st Class Jason J. Ellison, a machinery technician, stood vigil over the flames that consumed the flags.

17 American flags, two U. S. Coast Guard flags and one Wyoming state flag were donated by local merchants, community members and the Loran Station.

“This ceremony was a way for the Coast Guard to help the community understand that there is a method to dispose of flags properly,” said Clark.

At 7 p. m., the ceremony was started by lighting the fire while over the loud speaker “You’re A Grand Ole Flag” played. Row-by-row attendees were asked to bring their flags to the fire, and one-by-one Ellison held each flag over the fire until it ignited.

“The ceremony shows the respect that should be given to the American flag and what it stands for,” said Ellison. “I am proud to be an American and serve my country under the U. S. Coast Guard.”

The morning after the ceremony, Loran station crewmembers buried the ashes on the station grounds.

“As long as Americans cherish liberty more than life itself, the stars and stripes will continue to be the enduring banner of the United States of America,” said Clark.