DISTRICT EIGHT EASTERN COAST GUARD REGION HEARTLAND GUARDIAN DISTRICT TRAINING Volume 3 Issue 3 March 2013 INSIDE THIS ISSUE SPRING 2013 PAGE TWO Auxiliarists of the Year PAGE THREE NFL Championship PAGE FOUR UTV Qualification PAGE FIVE DTRAIN Awards PAGE SIX DTRAIN Awards DIVISION FOUR DISTRICT EIGHT EASTERN REGION AUXILIARIST OF THE YEAR JIM ARMOUR DIVISION SIXTEEN Congratulations to Jim Armour, Division Sixteen, for the award of Auxiliarist of the Year for District Eighth Eastern Region! Captain Larry Hewitt, Sector Ohio Valley, presents this prestigious award to Jim for this great accomplishment. The District Chief of Staff Auxiliarist of the Year Award goes to Randy Hawkins of Division Eleven. The District Captain Auxiliarist of the Year Award goes to Bill Husfield of Division Eight. Photo Below: Commander Juliet Hudson, Director Of Auxiliary Eighth Eastern Region presents Awards to Jack Wood, DCDR Division Eleven (accepting for Randy Hawkins), Jim Armour, and Bill Husfield. Congratulations to all recipients! Photos: Gerlinde Higginbotham USCGAUX 2 Dallas Cowboys Versus Green Bay Packers (NFL Championship Game-December 31, 1967) On the first play of the final quarter, the Cowboys took a 17-14 lead with running back Dan Reeves’ 50 yard touchdown pass to Wide Receiver Lance Rentzel on a Halfback Option play. In what could be their last Offensive drive, the Packers took possession with 4:50 left in the game. With the wind chill around –70 degrees, Bart Starr led his team down the field with three key pass completions. Three plays later, with third and goal, the ball rested on the Dallas 2 foot line. By this time the thermometer read twenty below zero. Bart Starr called the Packers’ final time out to confer with Coach Vince Lombardi. Starr immediately asked Right Guard Jerry Kramer if he could get enough traction on the icy turf for a wedge play and Kramer responded with an unequivocal YES! Pat Summerall in the broadcast booth told the rest of the CBS crew to get ready for a roll-out pass, because without any timeouts left, a failed run play would end the game. Tom Landry, Coach for Dallas, expected a pass attempt because an incompletion would stop the clock and allow the Packers one more play on fourth down, either for a touchdown (to win) or a field goal attempt (to tie and send the game into overtime). Green Bays’ pass protection on the slick field had been seriously tested during the game with the Cowboys sacking Starr eight times. On the sidelines Starr told Lombardi he wanted to run a 31 Wedge, but with him keeping the ball, rather than handing off to the Fullback. Lombardi told Starr to “Run it and let’s get (expletive deleted) out of here!” Starr returned to the huddle and called a “Brown Right 31 Wedge, Quarterback Keeper, on Hut!” On the snap of the ball, Kramer and Center Ken Bowman executed a post-drive block on Left Defensive Tackle Jethro Pugh, as Starr crossed the Goal Line for a 20-17 lead. Green Bay was successful on the Point After Touchdown, and won the game with a 21-17 final score. Emotionally both teams players were spent. In the Packer’s locker room, the players openly wept. Kramer told interviewers, “Many things have been said about Coach (Lombardi). And he is not always understood by those who quote him. The players understand. This is one beautiful man.” The Packers were perfect that day. So what does perfect really mean? Being perfect is not about mistakes, not about the past, and not about the numbers that may appear in AuxData. To me, being perfect is about you and your relationship with yourself, your family, and your shipmates. Being perfect means that you can look your family and shipmates in the eye, and that you can honestly tell them that you didn’t let them down. There wasn’t one more thing that you could have done. You did all you could whether it was on a Program Visit, teaching a Boating Safety class, on an Operational Patrol, or just participating in the Fellowship of a Flotilla Meeting. Take a moment Auxiliarists and look around the room at your fellow shipmates. Think about the Devotion to Duty, the missions, and the friendships that are represented in the meeting, and put that into your hearts. As I have spoken with members of Division 12 over the past months, I consistently heard comments about the Chain of Leadership and Management, and I would like to share with you my personal views of COLM, and my personal views of the expectation of being perfect as are set forth to the members of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary from the United States Coast Guard. The COLM works. In its simplest form, the COLM is an Organizational chart for communications about the operations given to the Auxiliary from the USCG. Those communications are designed to involve others, to seek advice, to share thoughts, to impart wisdom, to express concerns, to develop plans of action, and to evaluate results. It is a two-way street for communications, and is organized to involve the appropriate level of Elected Officers, and if necessary, Appointed Staff Officers. It is not an endless ladder to seek an answer that we may want to hear, and it should never be used in a way that is harmful or disrespectful to our shipmates. If used properly, in its simplest form, the COLM is a tool that will lead us, as Auxiliarists, to being perfect in the missions that we conduct for, and on the Authority of the United States Coast Guard. Joey Vance DCDR Division 12 Submission Requirements for Heartland Guardian The following requirements are suggested for consideration of any articles and photos submitted to Heartland Guardian. • Photos should be .jpg format and minimized for use on websites • NO cellular phone photos unless the quality of the photo is clear and crisp • Credits for photos are required with Name and Unit • Photos not taken by an Auxiliary member or copied from outside sources should be labeled as such • Please send a caption with the photo, not embedded in the photo itself • NO facial photos of minors • Articles should be original unless credit is given to the author and permission has been acquired • Articles with photos should be no larger than one page due to space limitations • Articles should be noted with name of Author and Unit • No Personal Identifying Information will be printed in the newsletter, so please do not submit this. Examples are Employee Identification Numbers, Social Security Numbers, phone numbers, addresses, or email addresses. If including an email address is important to the article, please have member send via United States Postal Service a letter authorizing use of the email address to the Staff of Heartland Guardian. 3 UTV Examiner Qualification UTVs, or Un-inspected Towing Vessels are simply Tow Boats. Congress has decided the time has come to look over all the towing vessels running up and down the waters of the United States in an effort to reduce the number of marine incidents and marine casualties. Sub-Chapter M is a directive that will make it mandatory for all tow vessels to be inspected every 3 years assuring each vessel is operating in a safe and efficient manner. At this time, the program is not in full swing, but will be soon. I spent about 18 months getting the UTV Examiner Assistant PQS checked off, several exams as a trainee, (10 required), and getting the DO-PSI security clearance also required. Then came the oral board. With many set backs, I finally got the Qualification. A couple of weeks ago, I found out I had one more PQS to do, the “ride along”. I, along with a Petty Officer from MSU Paducah was scheduled to meet an AEP Barge Co. boat in Memphis, TN on the lower Mississippi the afternoon of Tuesday, 5 March where we would board the M/V Christopher M. Parsonage, a 180 foot, 1053 gross ton tow boat. With high winds, rough water, and fighting a strong current, the Chris Parsonage didn't get to Memphis on schedule. We finally boarded around 0030 on 6 March and promptly went to bed. Getting up at 0530, we met for breakfast and started the process of getting the PQS completed. We were tasked with doing a full shift (6 hrs) of Bridge Watch, a shift of day Deck Watch, a Night Deck Watch and a Machinery Watch. There were many questions we had to ask the Pilot, the Chief and the deck hands. We also did a barge walk. At the beginning of each shift, the deck hands must check each barge (we started out with 33) for water in the void tanks and that every wire, winch and ratchet was secure. We also got to observe Tow Work. Around midnight on the 7th, in Blytheville, AR, we dropped two loaded barges and picked up five empty barges giving us thirty-five barges to complete the trip. Finally around 1130 on Friday, 8 March, we were picked up by a small fleet barge and taken to the Hickman Ferry dock where we met an AEP van that brought us back to Paducah. The hardest part of the evolution was getting used to sleeping in short intervals and trying to eat everything put out for us and the crew. I think I may have gained 5 lbs in the 2 ½ day trip. In conclusion, I can check off one item from my bucket list. I can't begin to express my gratitude to AEP barge Co., and the Coast Guard for giving me this opportunity.