Division 11south “Simply the Best” Volume 1, Issue 3, September 2019 Division 11 Editor: Kerry Morgan, SO-PB [email protected]
Monthly Division Meeting
The Division Meetings will be held at Denny’s Inside this Issue Restaurant, 17009A Valley Blvd, Fontana, CA. Division Meeting Information….………..1 Save the Date…………….………………1 Meetings start at 7:30 p.m. Coast Guard Facts …….………….…1 & 2
September 18, 2019 It’s a Dog’s Life……….…………………3 October 16, 2019 Flotilla 11/2………………..……………..4 November no meeting Flotilla 11/5…………………………..5 & 6 December no meeting Flotilla 11/7……………………..………..4 Flotilla 11/11……………………..………7 Each meeting begins with the chance for a 4th Flotilla 11/12………………………..……8 cornerstone event starting at 6:30 p.m. Join us for this fellowship time as we get to know the members of the division; all are welcome.
Did You Know These Coast Guard Facts?
1. The history of the Coast Guard founding. The Coast Guard was founded on August 4, 1790, after Congress commissioned the construction of ten ships to help enforce federal tariffs and prevent smuggling.
2. A Writer’s Roots. Alex Haley, who wrote the acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Roots,“ was the Coast Guard’s first journalist.
3. Two flags are better than 1. The Coast Guard has two official flags: The Coast Guard standard and
the Coast Guard ensign.
4. Sink or swim. One of the lesser-known Coast Guard facts is that becoming a Coast Guard rescue swimmer is extremely hard. More than half the people who try out – fail.
5. Disney and the Coast Guard. Walt Disney created a special logo for the Coast Guard’s Corsair Fleet during World War II, featuring Donald Duck.
6. How many wars have Coast Guard members served in? Members of the Coast Guard have served in 17 wars and conflicts throughout U.S. history.
7. Who was Anthony Christy? Anthony Christy was the oldest active serving Coast Guard member. The keeper of the Christiana Lighthouse in Delaware, Christy died on duty in September 1862, at the
age of 105. 1
8. Which department is the Coast Guard part of? Since 2003, the Coast Guard has been operating as part
of the Department of Homeland Security.
9. The Launch of the Vigilant In 1791, the Coast Guard launched its first cutter, Vigilant.
10. Where was the first Coast Guard Air Station? The first permanent Coast Guard Air Station was located in Cape May, New Jersey, and was founded in 1926.
11. The origin of the racing stripe. Colors of the Coast Guard facts - in 1967, the Coast Guard adopted the trademark red slash design, or racing stripe, that appears on its vessels.
12. Women in the Coast Guard. In 1941, the Coast Guard hired its first civilian women to serve in secretarial and clerical positions.
13. The Coast Guard and World War II. 241,093 Coast Guard members served during World War II.
14. The Coast Guard motto. “Semper Paratus – Always Ready” is the Coast Guard motto.
15. Pups of the Coast Guard. While many animals have served as mascots aboard Coast Guard vessels, Sinbad, a dog, is one of the service’s most famous. He served on board the cutter Campbell during World
War II, keeping troops company during their voyages.
16. The Revenue Cutter Service. The Coast Guard was referred to as the Revenue Marine and the Revenue Cutter Service throughout the late 18th and the 19th centuries.
17. All about battle streamers. The Coast Guard has authorized a total of 43 battle streamers, which are attached to the Coast Guard standard, replacing cords and tassels. Battle streamers are carried in all ceremonies representing heroic actions in all naval encounters from 1798 to today. Any Coast Guard unit may display the battle streamers.
18. What is a cutter, anyway? The Coast Guard refers to a vessel as a “cutter” if it’s over 65-feet long.
19. The Coast Guard hockey legacy. Do you know your Coast Guard sports facts? From 1942-44, the Coast
Guard had a championship hockey team called the Cutters that played in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League, considered to be one of the most competitive leagues of its time.
20. Fellow U.S. naval services. Until the Navy was re -established in 1797, the Coast Guard was the only naval service in the country.
21. The first uniformed female Coast Guard members. In 1918, sisters Genevieve and Lucille Baker were the first uniformed women to serve in the Coast Guard.
22. Who was Captain Hopley Yeaton? President George Washington commissioned the first Coast Guard officer, Captain Hopley Yeaton, on March 21, 1791.
23. Where is the oldest boat station? The oldest Coast Guard boat station is in Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
24. The Eastwind. In 1967, the Coast Guard icebreaker Eastwind became the first cutter to ever sail around
Antarctica. Eastwind was also the first ship to circumnavigate Antarctica since 1843.
25. On My Honor. The Coast Guard core values are “Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty.”
Article by Denver Drieberg, FC 11-11 Information obtained from: https://www.uso.org/stories/1656 -25-facts-for-225-years-celebrating-the-coast- guard-s-225th-birthday
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It’s a Dog’s Life
While not every mascot in the military is a dog, one of the most iconic in the Coast Guard most definitely was.
Sinbad was a Rottweiler mix puppy who was brought aboard the Coast Guard cutter USS Campbell in 1937.
He soon became a full member of the ship with his own service record (with paw print signature) uniform, bunk and battle station.
Sinbad and shipmates aboard the Coast Guard cutter USS Campbell
Sinbad served for 11 years in the Coast Guard during peace time and at war. During one battle, the ship was heavily damaged, and all of the sailors except for those considered essential to keep the ship afloat were ordered to leave. It was believed that while Sinbad was on board the ship was unsinkable so he was considered an essential crew member and remained on board. During his service, Sinbad received six campaign ribbons and five battle stars he wore them on his collar. He was promoted to the rank of K9C – Chief Dog (the same as
Chief Petty Officer). Sinbad received an honorable discharge in 1948 and spent the rest of his life at the
Barnegat Light Coast Guard station in New Jersey. He was often seen sitting and gazing out to sea. To honor him, a bronze statue of Sinbad sits in the mess hall of the current USCGC Campbell (successor to Sinbad’s cutter). His legacy continues along with the belief that the Campbell II is protected as long as Sinbad is on board.
During the last change of watch ceremony it was mentioned that some of our members saved lives during a fire at Lake Silverwood. Chuckles erupted when it was also mentioned that two dogs were also rescued. Who really knows? Just like Sinbad, maybe one of those dogs is the reason why everyone got away from the fire. Article by Kerry Morgan, SO-PB
Photo and information obtained from: https://www.canidae.com/blog/2018/01/sinbad -the-coast-guards-most- famous-canine-mascot/ 3
Flotilla 11-2
Monthly Flotilla Meeting
The Flotilla Meetings will be held at Denny’s Restaurant 12180 Central Ave, Chino, CA.
Meetings start at 7:30 p.m .
September 4, 2019 October 2, 2019 November no meeting
December no meeting
Flotilla 11-7
Monthly Flotilla Meeting
The Flotilla Meetings will be held at Denny’s
Restaurant 12180 Central Ave, Chino, CA.
Meetings start at 7:30 p.m.
September 25, 2019
October 23, 2019 November no meeting December no meeting
Like us on Facebook and Twitter at:
@inlandempiredivision11
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Flotilla 11-5
Monthly Flotilla Meeting
The Flotilla Meetings will be held primarily online and once a quarter at a location, date, and time to be determined.
Anyone interested in attending either the online or location meeting can contact the Flotilla Commander or Vice Commander and you will be placed on the distribution list.
SSD COOP FSE? Say what??
Yes, another set of what appear to be meaningless acronyms … but in fact they are NOT meaningless, they are a label for a major effort that CGAUX communicators carried out to support the USCG … “SSD” = Sector San Diego, “COOP” = Continuity of Operations, “FSE” = Full Scale Exercise. More than a year in planning and involving literally hundreds of USCG and USCGAUX personnel, this COOP exercise simulated the CG’s response to a series of weather events that caused the facility that is the home of SSD to be evacuated with about 2 days’ notice. “Simulated” means that not everyone was evacuated, nor were all the helo’s moved, nor was access to the base limited … BUT, some of all of that was in fact done. For example, a team of several Coast Guard members who normally staff the SSD Command Center and Joint Harbor Operations Center (JHOC), were relocated to a specific room in Building 20 of Sector Los ANGELES/Long Beach (LA/LB) headquarters on Terminal Island in San Pedro, and for several hours carried on operations regarding San Diego Harbor just as though they were located in San Diego, (That is what “FSE” means -- in the case of an exercise that involves deployment of people and resources, they actually are deployed and moved).
So how did CGAUX communications people contribute to and play in this exercise? There’s a lot of history behind the answer to the question, but the short version is as follows. Almost all the tactical communications now within the USCG is carried out using internet-based tools such as internet messaging and chat, satellite- based voice comms, cell phones and internet supported radio communications between ships, aircraft, and shore facilities. An Operations Specialist Senior Chief Fox (OSCS Fox) wanted some assurance so that the supervisor of the relocated command center/JHOC staff had the ability to communicate with the Command Cadre of SSD using TOOLS THAT DID NOT DEPEND IN ANY WAY on the internet, SATCOM, or cell phones.
OSCS Fox approached the Auxiliary through Auxiliarist Glenn Arrant and Auxiliarist Bill Scholz (both members of 11-05) with a question as to whether this might be possible. And since the motto is “Semper Paratus”, we said “yes” and then got to work “making it happen.”
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It was decided that two “Auxiliary Communications Units” (ACU’s) would be deployed. One, an existing comms trailer belonging to Flotilla 11-05 would go to a specific location above the Pacific Ocean just inside Cabrillo National Monument at Point Loma; and the other one, a transportable radio facility controlled by Division 11, would be deployed to the main dock (where the cutters are berthed) on Terminal Island in San
Pedro as part of Sector LA/LB. The purpose of these two deployments would be to establish and maintain a communications circuit between SSD personnel who remained in San Diego and the relocated Command Center/JHOC staff who were in Building 20 at Sector LA/LB.
The exercise was carried out between 23 July and 25 July this year and each of the two ACU’s had a dedicated evaluator/controllers appointed by the team from CG HQ in Washington who designed and managed the exercise. Each of the ACU’s was staffed by CGAUX personnel and in the case of the ACU at Point Loma, an active duty member from the SSD Command Center was also assigned to that facility. The CGAUX team for the whole exercise numbered 13 individuals … two were from Division one, two were from Division five, three were from Division six, one was from District 11N and the remaining five were from Division 11.
Some lessons learned …
* For several hours we maintained a voice and digital messaging radio link over a distance of 90 miles, without use of any infrastructure such as repeaters. * We exercised and demonstrated that link by passing multiple “record format” messages between the two ACU’s and to the deployed Emergency Relation Team at Sector LA/LB * We confirmed the tremendous advantage regarding speed and accuracy of using digital messaging (as opposed to voice transmission) for “record format” messages
* We verified the fact that as a district, we could deploy two fully capable Auxiliary Communications Units simultaneously separated by about 100 road miles * We identified some shortcomings in the use and management of ACU’s and have developed a plan to correct them over the next few months. * Finally, we accomplished the objectives from the exercise’s Master Scenario Events List that were assigned to the CGAUX.
Needless to say creating, upgrading, managing, transpor ting, staffing and successfully deploying the ACU’s was much easier said than done. BUT, since one of the key purposes of exercises is “LEARNING” then the fact that as a group, we in AUX Comms had the opportunity to experience a real-world, complex deployment of equipment and personnel resources had tremendous benefits … not just for us as individual CGAUX members, but as custodians of those resources.
In addition to helping to accomplish the exercise objectives, we were able to provide some very valuable training opportunities to CGAUX members with an interest in communications and also to provide first hand exposure on the part of some key Coast Guard personnel from Sector San Diego to the capabilities of CGAUX Comms in District 11 South.
Article by William Scholz, Flotilla Commander
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Flotilla 11-11
Monthly Flotilla Meeting
The Flotilla Meetings will be held at Denny’s Restaurant, 1180 Alabama Street, Redlands, CA.
Meetings start at 7:30 p.m.
September 24, 2019 October 22, 2019 November no meeting Flotilla Commander Denver Drieberg December no meeting Photograph taken by: Denver Drieberg
Flotilla 11-11 Dare to be Great
One again flotilla 11-11 has shown why we own the motto “Dare to be Great.”
At 10:33 a.m., on July 4, 2019 an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale shook Southern California.
Shortly afterwards the flotilla sprung into action implementing the new Emergency Contingency Plan. It was expected to take up to 72 hours to locate all members of the flotilla but the flotilla had 100% accountability within 31 hours. Since then the flotilla has added the app “GroupMe” to its list of options for contact and the contact time is expected to be reduced even more during the next test of our system.
The flotilla has had another busy summer with operations at Lake Silverwood and Lake Perris over the last three months. While members of every flotilla were we lcome it was flotilla 11 that provided the majority of the manpower for Vessel Exams and a Public Affairs booth at Lake Perris on July 28, 2019. Most flotillas may have been happy to accomplish these tasks, flotilla 11 however took it one step further by also completing training on first aid and communications.
Once again our flotilla has submitted their application for the prestigious NACO Three Star Award. This award is for excellence in diversity and recognizes flotillas and divisions for distinction in managing and valuing diversity within its structure. As soon as FSO Felix Aisuan-Auigbe & AFSO Eric Hernandez completed their submission they started the process of collecting information and completing tasks for next year’s award.
The dedication and commitment of our flotilla is something we can all be proud of. This is shown as members volunteer their time to help our fellow shipmates. Nowhere is this more obvious than during the September meeting when the flotilla members gets to vote in a new commander and vice commander. We hope all active members will join us for this once a year opportunity.
Article by Kerry Morgan, SO-PB
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Flotilla 11-12
Monthly Flotilla Meeting
The Flotilla Meetings will be held via conference calls during winter months.
Meetings start at 6 p.m.
September 18, 2019 October 16, 2019 November no meeting December no meeting Boating Safety Display Photograph supplied by Mark Poster, Flotilla
Commander
"The Value of VSC's"
On my very first Vessel Examination (VE), as a newly qualified examiner (for the third or fourth time!) I was working with Auxiliarist Abe Lara, a VSC candidate. We discovered that the bilge blower exhaust ventilation ducting was detached, creating one of the eight specified termination situations. This boat should not even be started until the problem is fixed. If found in this condition on the water, the Officer or
Coxswain should acquire the keys and begin a tow. What a great feeling to find such a dangerous situation! The VSC program really provides a great value and service to the public, by helping to ensure that a vessel is in safe operating condition.
We also found that this boat did not have the required carbon monoxide (CO) stickers, which were provided by us. Apparently, there is a loophole; For two two-year cycles of vessel registrations, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) provided the stickers to all re -registering boats, as well as for used boat sales with new registrations. This program ended in 2005. We have a local private subcontractor in Big Bear that handles registrations for the DMV. Our boat owner bought this boat with Nevada numbers, registered it at the local place, but was not provided with the stickers, hence the loop hole. Keep those stickers on hand!
Also, she did not realize that she had to change the numbers, which she will now take care of.
Article by Mark Poster, FC & Abe Lara, FSO-HR
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United States Coast Guard Auxiliary District 11S
Publication Approval Doug Bradford ADSO-PB [email protected] 702-219-0645
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