Flotilla 4 Earns Award of Merit from National Water Safety Congress

Flotilla 4 has received notice that they have been selected to receive the Award of Merit from the National Water Safety Congress. The Coast Guard Auxiliary was nominated by the Saylorville Lake Corps of Engineers staff for their willingness to assist in safety and security during the Flood of 2008.

The National Water Safety Congress (NWSC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting recreation water safety in the United States. The Congress was organized in 1951 in response to a growing number of recreation related drownings. There are two basic approaches to attain goals of reducing fatalities, injuries, and property damage related to water recreation: education and enforcement.

NWSC Awards of Merit: These awards are presented annually for those individuals, organizations, firms or agencies that have made a significant contribution or an outstanding effort to enhance or promote water safety at the community or state level.

Special thanks was conveyed to the participants which included:

Travis Daniels
Nick Critelli
Jeff Towle
John Hawkinson
Dave Ellis
John Halbrook
Norma Newton

Flotilla 4 Prepares for Boat Crew Training

Flotilla 4's New Boat The "Lady Grace"

With the long and cold winter giving us a brief break Flotilla 4 is beginning Boat Crew Member training for ten members over the next few months leading up to the operational season.

Flotilla 4 will be working with Division on classroom and skills training to prepare members to become qualified as boat crew members this season.

Modifications to the Flotilla's new boat, the "Lady Grace" are underway and should be complete in time to be inspected to become a Coast Guard Auxiliary Facility by May 2009.

With a new boat and new crew members Flotilla 4 should be better able to patrol its assigned waterways and respond to emergencies while on orders.

Miracle on the Hudson

Coast Guard Vessels Help Recover

US Airways Flight 1549 From The Hudson River
Photo Courtesy of the US Coast Guard

On a cold January day in New York City the155 people on board of US Airways Flight1549 made an emergency landing in theHudson River.

Thanks to the skill of the crew and firstresponders all passengers and crew weresaved. Numerous sources have noted the“flawless” landing and response of this unusual incident.

Coast Guard small boats were deployed alongwith other state and local assets to aid in therescue of passengers and recovery of the aircraft.

Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and his aircrew have repeatedly given their thanks to the first responderswho got the passengers out of the water and to safety so quickly. The crew’s humble attitude after theunique landing and their story is as refreshing as it is enlightening. This incident points out the need for us, as Auxilarists, to take these lessons to heart.

The crew were well trained in their emergency procedures and Capt. Sullenberger is an expert in CockpitResource Management (CRM). CRM works to isolate errors, facilitate communications, and support positivedecision making processes amongst the crew. The fundamentals of CRM were developed around aviation, buthave been applied to various other industries and can easily be applied to Coast Guard Auxiliary operations and training.

Before going out on a patrol crews can discussresponses to various emergencies they mayencounter and what everyone’s responses should be. Checklists shouldn’t be tucked away only to be usedduring annual inspections, but should be followed toset the tone for regular, systematic, operations.Finally, we can learn to remain calm duringemergencies and communicate our situation quickly tothe coxswain and follow their instructions so thateveryone can return home safely.

Coast Guard Modernization

U.S. Coast Guard Commandant, Admiral Thad Allen, as well as other senior Coast Guard leaders currently responsible for leading our Modernization efforts, offer a brief 12-minute overview of the Modernization and explain how our efforts to enhance mission execution will positively impact our members, external stakeholders and the general public.

Tomlinson Earns AUXOP Qualification

CWO Leavell (left) Presents Ralph Tomlinson with his AUXOP Device During the Division 33 Change of Watch

The AUXOP, or Operational Auxiliarist, program is an advanced training program available only to members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. An AUXOP member has completed six advanced specialty courses and is entitled to wear the special AUXOP device on the uniform. Those courses are Seamanship, Navigation, Patrols, Communications, Weather, and Search & Rescue.

The Director of Auxiliary controls the examinations for the AUXOP Specialties. All of the examinations are closed-book.

For the past few months several members of Flotilla 4 have been working hard to complete all of these courses. Ralph Tomlinson is the first member of Flotilla 4 to earn this prestigious award. Congratulations to Ralph. Hopefully more members of our Flotilla can accomplish this as well.

AUXOP Device

January 2009 Above Board

The January 2009 Flotilla 4 Newsletter, Above Board, is now available at http://www.flotilla4.org/newsletter/AboveBoardJanuary2009.pdf

Flotilla 4 Makes Strides in 2008

In 2008 many things happened in Flotilla 4. Here is how the Flotilla stacked up against the other 77 Flotilla’s in the entire 8WR DISTRICT with regard to just a few things:

AUXOP Test Completions:
(District) / (Flotilla 4 )/ (% of total)
AUXCOM 12/ 10/ 83%
AUXNAV A 1/ 1/ 100%
AUXPAT 13/ 9/ 69%
AUXSAR 6/ 7/ 117%
AUXSEA 3/ 1/ 33%
AUXWEA 3/ 3/ 100%

Two exams that help lead to the Trident are the Good Mate and IMSEP.
Here’s how you did against the DISTRICT:
GOOD MATE 26/ 9/ 35%
IMSEP 16/ 4/ 25%

Likewise on specific competencies:
APC 35/ 14/ 40%
AIROBS 5/ 2/ 40%
PILOT 3/ 1/ 33%

(Statistics are based on Flotilla 4 completions versus the statistics in the Quarterly Report from the OTO)

This was due to the help from Division 33, particularly the Pauline Longnecker and Frank Reiss from Division who helped facilitate our testing.