Douglas C. Luper CWO4, USCG Retired Auxiliary Administration Branch Coast Guard Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety

Doug Luper assumed the duties of Auxiliary Training Program Manager in the Auxiliary Administration Branch in January 2011. Previously he served as the Safety Compliance Officer in the Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety’s Recreational Boating Safety Division at Coast Guard at Headquarters and ultimately advanced to CWO4 before retiring in 2010.

He joined the Coast Guard on the delayed entry program in Asheville, North Carolina with initial aspirations of being an Aviator at his first unit, Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina. But, after driving the boats at the Boathouse, he quickly realized driving boats was his higher calling. His first ship was the USCGC TANEY (WHEC-37) in Portsmouth, Virginia. He was then selected for Boatswain Mate “A” school and was selected as the class leader where he graduated and was presented the Highest Petty Officer Potential award. After graduation, he went straight into Coxswain “C’ school and then to Ft. Macon, Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. He also attended Motor Lifeboat School where he graduated first in his class and began saving lives. He later advanced to Boatswain’s Mate Second Class and transferred to the USCGC DECISIVE (WMEC-629) in St Petersburg, Florida where he qualified as a Boarding Officer and was involved in numerous high profile drug interdiction cases and migrant interdiction operations.

After advancing to Boatswain’s Mate First Class he transferred to Coast Guard Station Coinjock, North Carolina, where he spent four years as the Executive Petty Officer. After three years, Station Coinjock was moved and subsequently renamed Station Elizabeth City. He then transferred to the Navy/Coast Guard Joint Afloat Training Group Little Creek, Virginia as a Deck Seamanship Ship Rider and Instructor developing training criteria for Coast Guard Surface assets. While assigned at the Afloat Training Group he advanced to Chief Petty Officer and was pinned “half Navy Chief and half Coast Guard Chief”. He also certified as Officer in Charge Aids to Navigation Ashore & Afloat and Officer in Charge Search and Rescue Ashore & Afloat. He then transferred to the USCGC RED CEDAR (WLM-688) as the Deck Chief working Aids to Navigation in the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. The Commanding Officer assigned him as the “Chief of the Boat”. He later decommissioned the vessel and transferred her to Argentina. He went back to Station Elizabeth City as the Officer in Charge for four years and advanced to Senior Chief Petty Officer.

After a short time, he was encouraged to submit his Chief Warrant Officer package and was later selected and subsequently appointed as a CWO2 and was probably the only CWO2 as an Officer in Charge at the time. After his Change of Command, he departed Station Elizabeth City and arrived at Coast Guard Headquarters Office of Auxiliary and Boasting Safety, where he was responsible for a $3 million contract that regulated all recreational boat manufacturers in the US.