Reservist

ISS3 2014

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

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From Our Readers From the Editor LETTER OF ThE MOnTh To the Editor: As always, I enjoyed reading the latest issue of Reservist. It's one of the few magazines I read cover to cover! I just wanted to let you know, I really like the way you highlighted all the REPOY finalists (Volume LXI Issue 2, 2014). Being responsible for bringing the EPOY / REPOY program online after MCPCOCG Jay Lloyd got it approved, I think recognizing the finalists is especially great. Being selected as a District EPOY or REPOY is a "Big Deal" and I really appreciate seeing these REPOY's and their many noteworthy accomplishments covered with a full page story on each. Bravo Zulu! — MCPO Rick Trent, USCG (Ret.) 7th Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard To the Editor: The cover of the Reservist magazine (Volume LXI Issue 2, 2014) includes the word "excellence." This adjective properly describes Captain Steven B. Nye, the retiring Acting Director of Reserve. Although I never had the honor of directly serving under Captain Nye, I was impressed by his professionalism and virtually unlimited knowledge of the Reserve program. As a Lieutenant from First District (fot), he visited the Coast Guard command at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, New York in the late nineties and gave an "all hands" seminar Vigilance. As I sit in front of my keyboard this morning, it is the thirteenth anniversary of September 11, 2001. Again I am reminded about the range of emotions I felt that day and the ones that followed; shock, sorrow, anger, pride, determination. I was still in uniform when American Flight 77 struck the Pentagon and was sitting with then Master Chief of the Reserve Force George Ingraham in his office at Coast Guard Headquarters. Shortly thereafter we became aware of the planes hitting the World Trade Center buildings. Later we would learn we had lost two Coast Guard reservists that day, MK1 Jeffrey Palazzo and PS2 Vincent Danz, both New York City first-responders. I have a vivid memory of driving back to my apartment later that day and being one of a handful of cars on the normally bumper-to-bumper Route 395. As I passed the scorched and battered Pentagon, smoke was still rising and rescue and recovery personnel combed the ruble. A week later I was on the first post-9/11 flight out of Reagan Airport – a Coast Guard Falcon. We flew to Norfolk to pick up then Atlantic Area Command Vice Admiral Thad Allen before proceeding to the Coast Guard base on Staten Island, N.Y., where we were ferried over to Ground Zero. Beyond the unimaginable destruction what struck and has stayed with me the most was the stillness, the quiet, the somberness. Three months later I accompanied Admiral Allen to Guantanamo Bay where we toured Camp X-Ray, the original detainee holding site. Later that day the admiral noted the irony of glancing down at his boots, still with dust on them from our trip to Ground Zero, and then looking up directly into the eyes of some very evil people who were in some way likely complicit in the events of 9/11. Today we face an equally serious threat from some very evil people who wish to do us great harm. And, while the road has been long, we must never waiver, never forget and be forever vigilant. As always, thanks for reading. Anima est Bonus! Jeff Smith 2 RESERVIST � Issue 3 • 2014

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