Integrated Support Command News

The U.S. Coast Guard is scheduled to open its first Landfill Gas Renewable Energy Center on April 22, at the Coast Guard Yard, 2401 Hawkins Point Road, Baltimore, Md., as part of its Earth Day Celebration. "As America's Maritime Guardians, not only do we protect the environment through our operations, but we strive to protect the environment in the way we carry out our missions as an organization and as individuals," said Rear Adm. Thomas P. Ostebo, the Coast Guard’s Assistant Commandant for Engineering and Logistics and Environmental Executive. The Coast Guard is seeking to improve the environment by reducing its environmental footprint. Ten years ago the Coast Guard's environmental policies were focused on basic compliance and restoration.

The Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to the education, welfare and morale of all Coast Guard members and their families, announced today its Annual Tribute to the United States Coast Guard’s Fourteenth District will take place on Thursday, March 12, 2009 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Honoring local Coast Guard members who protect coastline shores from the Hawaiian Islands to Guam, the gala’s Chairman is Mr. Lee Webber, publisher and president of the Honolulu Advertiser; the Master of Ceremonies will be Mr. Michael Perry, a recognized name in Hawaiian broadcast history; and the Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker will be former Secretary of Transportation, Norman Mineta.

The U.S. Coast Guard recognized five top performers who demonstrated exceptional performance in areas of leadership, work ethics, knowledge and community service during 2007. The awardees are: Guard Enlisted Person of the Year CCG Hickory Homeport Homer, Guard Reserve Enlisted Person of the Arthur, Lena M. Gavello Civilian Employee of the Christopher M. Todd New Auxiliarist of the Year Flotilla 6-11 Peggy Pies Non-Appropriated Fund Employee of the Guard Integrated Support Command

The commanding officer of the Boston-based Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba relieved of duties in a change of command on August 8, at the Coast Guard Integrated Support Command in the North End. Cmdr. James B. McPherson will relieve Cmdr. Brian D. Perkins as the commanding officer of the Escanaba in a formal ceremony presided over by Vice Adm. James D. Hull, operational commander of all Coast Guard activities on the East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. The ceremony restates the continuity of the commanding officer's authority and represents a total transfer of accountability from one individual to another. Perkins is transferring to the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., where he will assume the duties of the Coast Guard liaison officer to the Navy Warfare Command.

The Coast Guard will commission a new station in the port of Boston at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, at the Coast Guard Integrated Support Command in Boston's North End. Mayor Thomas M. Menino will serve as the keynote speaker. The commissioning ceremony formally signifies the establishment of the unit as an official independent Coast Guard Station. For Station Boston, it is a return to an official status the unit held until 1996, when a realignment of operational forces throughout the Coast Guard downsized the station to seasonal operation under the control of Coast Guard Station Pt. Allerton in Hull, Mass. Immediately following the tragic events of September 11th…

A new Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST 91110) was commissioned on Oct. Vice Adm. James Hull, Coast Guard Atlantic Area Commander, presided as the official for the ceremony. Craig P. Coy, Chief Executive Officer of the Massachusetts Port Authority, was the guest speaker. MSSTs are domestic mobile units that possess specialized training and capabilities to perform a broad spectrum of port safety and security operations. They are modeled after the Coast Guard's Port Security Units (PSUs) and Law Enforcement Detachments (LEDETs). They will be staffed with Coast Guard men and women, ready to respond or deploy, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. MSST 91110 is the ninth Coast Guard anti-terrorism/force protection to be established.

For the fifth consecutive year, the Coast Guard Marine Safety Office and Hampton Roads Maritime Association are sponsoring a safety seminar for crewmembers on commercial tugs. This year's seminar will be held at the Coast Guard Integrated Support Command in Portsmouth, Virginia, on Thursday, May 30 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Recent major accidents involving towing vessels highlight the importance of this unique effort to prevent accidents. The Seminar includes lessons learned from significant accidents. The agenda is modified each year to address new or developing trends. This year's seminar includes a session on navigation in reduced visibility as a result of two collisions last year that occurred in fog.

The first U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) will be based in Seattle and commissioned on July 3, 2002, at the Integrated Support Command, located at Pier 36, Seattle, Wash. Coast Guard Commandant, Adm. Thomas H. Collins; Pacific Area Commander, Vice Adm. Terry M. Cross; and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) will be attending the commissioning. Sen. Murray, who was instrumental in bringing an MSST to the Puget Sound, will be the keynote speaker. MSSTs are domestic mobile units that possess specialized training and capabilities to perform a broad spectrum of port safety and security operations. They are modeled after the Coast Guard’s Port Security Units (PSUs) and Law Enforcement Detachments (LEDETs).

The Coast Guard will host a multi-agency, Homeland Security field exercise entitled "Port Rio Grande," focusing on the consequence management of a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) on Monday at 8 a.m. on Coast Guard Island. The exercise will conclude at approximately 2 p.m. The exercise will test the interoperability of procedures and equipment in response to a WMD onboard a Coast Guard Cutter. Participants will focus on setting up a shore-side command post, physically securing Coast Guard Island from further infiltration, proper medical procedures for a mass casualty incident and the possible introduction of chemical and biological weapons.

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane will welcome a new commanding officer in a change of command ceremony here Tuesday at 10 a.m. The crew will welcome Cmdr. John W. McKinley and bid farewell to Capt. Christopher P. Scraba. McKinley comes to the Harriet Lane from an assignment as executive officer aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Boutwell, homeported in Alameda, Calif. McKinley graduated from George Mason University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration. In 1990, he graduated from the Coast Guard's Officer Candidate School in Yorktown, Va. From January to July 2003, McKinley deployed to the Middle East as the first officer in charge…

Coast Guard Integrated Support Command New Orleans is scheduled to host a change-of-command and retirement ceremony for the commanding officer of Coast Guard ISC New Orleans, Friday at at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility. During the ceremony, Capt. Peter Oittinen will assume the responsibilities of commanding officer of Coast Guard ISC New Orleans from Capt. David J. Regan. Rear Adm. Ronald T. Hewitt, Maintenance and Logistic Atlantic commander, is scheduled to preside over the change-of-command ceremony. Capt. Regan, the commanding officer of ISC New Orleans since 2004, dilitgently oversaw the relocation and reconstruction of the ISC after it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Capt. Regan will retire with more than 27 years of Coast Guard service. Capt.

The Coast Guard and the Virginia Marine Police are combining forces in southeast Virginia to sponsor a search and rescue forum from 8:30a.m.-3:00p.m. at the Coast Guard Integrated Support Command Portsmouth on Tuesday. The forum will include classroom search and rescue training, underway search and rescue techniques, rescue and survival equipment procedures and helicopter familiarity. More than 70 maritime search and rescue first responders will attend the forum. The search and rescue forum is aimed at building upon existing interagency cooperation by providing training and enhanced understanding between coastal and maritime search and rescue agencies.

Vice Adm. D. Brian Peterman will assume command of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area during a Change of Command ceremony at 10 a.m. May 9, at the Integrated Support Command, Portsmouth, Va. Vice Adm. Peterman will relieve Vice Adm. Vivien S. Crea, who assumed command of Atlantic Area July 16, 2004. She has been appointed to Vice Commandant, the Coast Guard’s second-in-command position, and will transfer to Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, D.C. As Commander, Atlantic Area, Vice Adm. Peterman will be responsible for all Coast Guard activities within the eastern half of the world ranging from the Rocky Mountains to the Arabian Gulf and spanning five Coast Guard Districts…

The Coast Guard is advising all mariners to take safety precautions while it works with local, state and other federal agencies to prepare for Isidore. The service is constantly monitoring the storm and coordinating any necessary response with emergency and law enforcement officials. to affect rescue operations after the storm," said Capt. Bradford Black, chief of operations for the Eighth Coast Guard District. The best safety measure is to keep away from the water completely. Capt. Jake Korn, chief of search and rescue for the district. The Coast Guard is recalling essential personnel to fulfill any search and rescue, aids to navigation and environmental safety missions following the storm.

The Eighth Coast Guard District and Coast Guard Integrated Support Commands New Orleans and St. Louis were awarded the 2002 Admiral Russell R. Waesche Award at the Coast Guard Congressional Reception in Washington, D.C., Monday. members to augment and assist active-duty forces. The Eighth District and ISCs New Orleans and St. Louis provided leadership and partnership to support 1,433 reservists and 2,854 active-duty personnel in fiscal year 2002. miles of inland waterways in all or parts of 26 states. marshal boardings in fiscal year 2002.

Coast Guard units, local law enforcement and marine agencies will conduct an exercise Wednesday to test and evaluate upgraded communication and tracking technologies and to evaluate emergency response plans in the Port Everglades, Fla. area. The exercise scenario includes responding to a fire on a vessel and detection of unknown vessels/people in a restricted area. The scenario requires a coordinated response that will test the upgraded communication and tracking technologies in a simulated emergency situation. Decision makers will exercise information obtained from emergency response plans, critical contact information, and additional information from on scene forces.

USCGC Walnut, one of the newest ships in the USCG's fleet, was formally commissioned at the USCG Integrated Support Command on Sand Island, Hawaii. Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris and Vice Adm. James M. Card, Vice-Commandant of the USCG, were guest speakers at the ceremony. Walnut, a 225-ft. Juniper-class aids to navigation tender, is equipped with the most advanced electronic navigation and propulsion systems of any USCG cutter. In addition to its mission of tending navigational buoys and lights, Walnut may be tasked at any time to conduct law enforcement, search and rescue, oil spill recovery and national defense. This is the second cutter to be named Walnut. The first served in the USCG from 1939 to 1982 and was homeported in Honolulu from 1941 to 1954.

Members of the U.S. Coast Guard, NOAA, and the University of Hawaii's Sea Grant Program have just returned from a joint mission to remove thousands of pounds of deadly marine debris from the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. The Coast Guard Cutter Walnut, a 225-ft. buoy tender home ported in Honolulu, departed on Aug. 22 for a 1,000 mile trip to the remote islands of Pearl and Hermes Atoll. Their goal was to remove as much lethal marine debris as possible. Walnut's crew removed 21,110 pounds of fishing net and other marine trash from more than 60 sites across the atoll using the ship's crane, lift bags, divers and just plain elbow grease. The Kukui, another 225-ft. Coast Guard cutter from Honolulu, joined the debris recovery effort on Sept.