Reservist Magazine is the award-winning official publication of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. Quarterly issues include news and feature articles about the men and women who comprise America's premier national maritime safety and security
Issue link: https://uscgreservist.epubxp.com/i/386902
Me1 Pete Harwell with Coast guard Sector anchorage, examines fares aboard a gold dredge vessel near nome, alaska, aug. 3, Alaska's Coast Guard Reservists: Worth their weight in gold Reprinted from the Coast Guard Alaska Blog: Post and photos by PA2 Grant DeVuyst Living in Alaska takes grit. The sprawling state, though full of adventure, leaves something to be desired in the way of creature comforts. Unless you are visiting one of the few-and- far-between municipalities, there is no fast food, no coffee shops and don't even ask how much a gallon of milk costs. In this, the Last Frontier, the Coast Guard's statutory missions are difficult to perform on the best of days. What may be a short drive in the contiguous U.S., is a series of plane flights here. Times are calculated in days rather than hours. Coupled with the deceivingly beautiful, always treacherous maritime environment, these challenges keep the members of Coast Guard 17th District busy. Sometimes an extra set of hands is necessary. Like flakes of gold emerging in a prospector's pan, it's during times of need that Coast Guard reservists in Alaska show their true value. Operation Gold Nugget, an offshoot of Arctic Shield 2014 headed up by Coast Guard Sector Anchorage's enforcement division personnel, was the perfect example of part-time Coast Guardsmen stepping to the plate. The mission began thousands of miles from Nome at Coast Guard Station Valdez. The station crew trailered one of the unit's 25-foot Response Boats – Small (RB-S) and made the scenic, 300-mile drive to Anchorage. There they met up with Gadziala and her team of Reserve maritime enforcement specialists: Petty Officer 1st Class Pete Harwell, Petty Officer 2nd Class Sean Purcell and Petty Officer 3rd Class Nicolai Tykalsky. On a sun-drenched tarmac at Joint Base Elmendorf- Richardson a third party came into the picture: the crew of an Air Station Kodiak HC-130 Hercules airplane, ready to load the RB-S on for a flight to Nome. With the boat on board the plane, the enforcement team found some jumps seats and off they all went, soon flying past Mt. McKinley and Denali National Park on their way west. Once on the ground, the crew hauled out the trailered boat with a truck that was flown up days earlier. Thanks to a 10 RESERVIST � Issue 3 • 2014