EEIIGGHHTT BBEELLLLSS Monthly Voice of USCG Auxiliary Flotilla 14-8 Jacksonville, Florida Seventh Coast Guard District Volume XLII No. 2 February 2016 FLOTILLA COMMANDER Whatley Law [email protected] FLOTILLA VICE COMMANDER Paul Thomas [email protected] PUBLICATIONS OFFICER Paul Burns [email protected] FROM YOUR FLOTILLA COMMANDER Shipmates, We had a great change of watch for 2016 , if you missed the COW you missed a great time and fellowship. Bravo Zulu to Paul Burns for orchestrating a wonderful time by all at the Mediterranean restaurant. Staff officers are quite busy planning events for 2016 and several events have already been planned for vessel exams blitzes, public affair events and boater education classes. Paul Thomas, our Vice Flotilla Commander will be holding staff meetings, periodically throughout 2016 prior to Flotilla meetings each month , FSO's please make every effort to attend staff meetings if you can . It would be great if all staff officers would be prepared to briefly discuss planned events for 2016 at the Flotilla meeting. Please be sure to report your time spent working for the Auxiliary. We will have our Monthly Social Dinner at Los Loros on Baymeadows Rd, Tuesday, Feb 16th. What can I do to support your efforts for 2016, please share your thoughts at our next staff meeting or social event. Photos by Sheila Kalil Whatley Law, FC 14-8 2016 1 FLOTILLA VICE COMMANDER’S REPORT I would like to thank everyone that attended our change of watch in January. That is the second time we have held our change of watch at Mediterrania and food was great. The FC was very entertaining as an emcee and should consider doing standup. I would like to give all the FSO’s a thank you for stepping up and accepting a position in the Flotilla. A Bravo Zula to all the FSO’s that have multi-positions. I thank Paul Burns for taking on the HR job while holding three other positions plus working full time. I believe each of us should be a recruiter for and mentor to all the new applicants that choose to join our flotilla. The future of all the flotillas is to recruit younger members to join a flotilla. The Mandarin area is full of young people, so how do we get them interested in joining us? I welcome all suggestions, they can be emailed to: [email protected] or call me at 904-673-2283. I look forward to working with each of you in trying to achieve the goals that we have been tasked with this year. Paul Thomas, VFC 14-8 2016 IMMEDIATE PAST FLOTILLA COMMANDER’S REPORT Proud of our flotilla's representation and activity as 2016 begins. We had several members representing Flotilla 14-8 at events in January. Our own change of watch was well attended with over 30 people. It was a great time and a great way to start off the new year. Flotilla 14-8 also had a good showing at the Division 14 Change of watch. So many in fact that we could not all sit at the same table. Our own member, Jolene Richardson was recognized as an outstanding "New Member in the Division along with Tony Skinner Flotilla 14-7, and Dr. Robert Miller Flotilla 14-4. These are members who have made an extrordinary and noticable impact on Division 14 in a short time since joing the Auxiliary. Joline Richardson, Tony Skinner, Robert Miller, Victor Aquino DCDR The January Division quarterly meeting and training seminar in St Augustine, was attended by 8 members of flotilla 14-8. More than any other flotilla. Thanks to all who came to the Division Meeting for the first time. I hope that you got to see a little more about how the Coast Guard Auxiliary works. Paul Burns, IPFC 14-8 2016 January Division Meeting and Training Session Photo by Paul Burns 2 FLOTILLA STAFF OFFICER’S REPORTS COMMUNICATIONS – KEVIN KALIL I will be attending the fourth annual District 7 Coast Guard Auxiliary Communications meeting which will be held Saturday February 13, 2016 at the Golden Coral restaurant located at 8032 International Drive, Orlando Florida 32819. Kevin Kalil, FSO-PM 2016 COMMUNICATION SERVICES – PAUL BURNS An issue with the National Web Network temporarily made zip code based searches unavailable, (like finding a PE class, or local Vessel Examiner, or even what flotilla is closest). It looks like they fixed the problem pretty quick. It all seems to work now. ONLINE TRAINING HELP If you would like some help this month with online training. I will be available throughout the morning during our Boating Safety Class on February 13th. Paul Burns, FSO-CS 2016 INFORMATION SYSTEMS – MARION LINDA By now everyone should have received their annual letter. I want to thank everyone who replied back to me that all the information was correct. I also want to thank the members who made corrections in their address, phone, email, etc. I am in the process of making the changes. But, most importantly, I want to tell you a story about one of our members. It came to light, as a result of the annual letter, that he is missing as much as 500 hours of credit. I cannot stress enough how important it is to receive a confirmation email from me stating “I have received your report and entered your hours into AUXDATA.” I try to enter reports into AUXDATA by Sunday of each week. There can be weeks that I just cannot get to it and it might take 2 weeks. Anything more than that, please question whether I have received the report. There may be a couple of reasons why I do not receive a report but most of the time it is simply a mis-typed email address. Even 1 letter or number mis-typed and it does not get to me – it just floats around in cyber space. The 7029 reports have my email automatically in the e-form but in the other e-forms you need to type in my email – [email protected]. Also, it might make sense to periodically check your hours in AUXINFO. And, if you are not sure how to look up information in AUXINFO, I am happy to show you. Any time before or after a flotilla meeting would be an ideal time to get a quick lesson. Just ask! Marion Linda, FSO-IS 2016 3 VESSEL EXAMINATION –DAN HESS *Received and distributed new 2016 "Decals" to our Flotilla VEs *Communicated (by email) to all Flotilla VEs the "goals" for each VE this year *Scheduled date and locations for upcoming VE "blitz" for February *Personally met with the Harbor Master at the Epping Forest Yacht & Country Club to set up a special VSC inspection day in March at their private dock and marina *Starting to prepare for VE events for NSBW *Number of VSCs performed this month by Flotilla: 5 Dan Hess, FSO-VE 2016 PUBLIC AFFAIRS - DAVID HOWELS Paul Thomas represented the 14-8 at the Jacksonville Boat Show on January 23rd and 24th. Chris Landry, working with Gold side, manned PA tables at the River City Marketplace on Friday evening and Saturday evening was joined by Paul Thomas, David Howells and Esteban Bonilla from Flotilla 14-2. These tables served as a recruiting outreach for the Coast Guard during the running of the movie The Finest Hours. 13 RESCUED FROM YACHT 1/25/2016 The U.S. Coast Guard saved 13 people from a sinking yacht off the coast of Lauder-by-the-Sea, Florida on Monday January 25th. Coast Guard Station Miami Beach received reports that the 106 foot motor yacht Serena III was taking on water and dispatched 2 vessels and a helicopter to the rescue. All 13 passengers and crew were saved with no injuries and were then taken aboard the Sentinel class 154 ft cutter Margaret Norvell for the ride back to station. The Serena III sank in unrecoverable waters and was a loss. U.S. COAST GUARD HUMAN CAPITAL STATEGY Coast Guard Admiral Paul Zukunft signed the Human Capital Stategy on 26/01/2016. This initiative focuses directly on the Coast Guard workforce, (including us), and how the management system will be changed and enhanced. A modern framework will be put into place to recruit, train, motivate, and retain the Coast Guard human assets. This program is working to serve the 88,000 active duty, reserve, civil servant, and auxiliary personnel and provide a more dynamic and engaged workforce. David Howells, FSO-PA 2016 MATERIALS – PAUL THOMAS Ordered fingerprint kit and cards for FSO-HR, ordered vessel and paddleboard forms for FSO-VE. Paul Thomas, FSO-MA 2016 4 MARINE SAFETY – PAUL TYNDA Hello fellow members of 14-08. I am pleased to have been appointed as the Flotilla Staff Officer – Marine Safety for 2016. I look forward to working and training with you all in the marine safety field. There are many opportunities for members to get involved in many different ways. The training requirements for the various PQS in the MS field can be intense and require a lot of study and practice, but are doable. If anyone need help or has any questions I will be happy to help. I can be reached by email at [email protected]. How do you eat an elephant? By taking one bite at a time and starting with the Marine Safety Training Ribbon (MSTR). The MSTR requirements are: Introduction to Marine Safety and Environmental Protection (IMSEP) (taken after 01 Oct 2010) or IMSEP (taken before 01 Oct 2010) and Initial Indoctrination to Marine Safety (IIMS) (IIMS is no longer available).