Reservist

ISS1 2017

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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The Gills decided to make the foundation official; they worked with lawyers and accountants and created a nationally recognized foundation: The PS3 Ronald A. Gill Memorial Scholarship Foundation. Since its creation nearly 10 years ago, the foundation has handed out almost $250,000 to 161 scholarship recipients. Money is raised by various events throughout the year. Events include a motorcycle ride, golf tournament, macaroni dinner and a city wide dress down day. Additionally, money is also raised through the annual Combined Federal Campaign. They are currently working to increase the awareness of the scholarship throughout the Coast Guard as they want to give more benefits to Coast Guard families. "Even if it's just money for books to be given in Ronnie's name, we would love to give more to his shipmates," said Gill. "He would have loved that." In addition to raising scholarship funds in his son's name, Gill has also made it his mission to get Ronnie the recognition he very much deserves. He has had his name added to numerous memorials throughout the country, though some haven't been as easy as others. He had to fight for a year and a half to have Ronnie's name added to the Providence, Rhode Island's Garden of Heroes, which memorializes service members who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Initially his family was not recognized as a Gold Star Family, a designation for families who have had members killed during a time of war. Much of the push back has been related to Ronnie being in the Coast Guard and others not recognizing it as one of the Armed Forces. "Whether he was in Iraq, Afghanistan or state side, Ronnie died while in uniform, serving his country, performing a mission for the Department of Homeland Security, period," said Gill. Gill has worked hard to keep Ronnie's memory alive, not only for himself, but for his daughter Gracie, who was born six months after Ronnie was killed. "She's just like him; she looks, talks and acts like him," said Gill. "When Ronnie came into the room you knew he was there. He got along with everyone and loved everyone. Gracie is just that way. I won't ever let him go; it's important she knows all about him and the hero that he was." � Pipes Across The Sea By PA3 David Flores, 11th District Public Affairs Founded in 1910, and initially established at Cameron Barracks in Inverness, Scotland, as the Army School of Piping, the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming (ASBM&HD;) is a British Army training establishment that provides instruction of Scottish bagpipe music to military pipers, drummers and pipe bands. The school is now located at Inchdrewer House near Redford Barracks in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is administered by the Infantry Training Centre. The School provides courses at different levels to pipers and drummers of the British Armed Forces throughout the year. Qualified instructors are drawn from the pipes and drums of various units in the British Army. The school accepts students from Commonwealth armed forces. Courses held at the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming are varied and begin with the basic Class 3 Pipers and Drummers Course where no previous experience is required. This is a full 22 week program incorporating piping or drumming/bugling, band drill and highland dancing. At present, the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense fields approximately 28 military pipe bands across its command organizations, primarily regiments of the British Army, but also including the Royal Air Force and University Officers' Training Corps. The school's storied history has featured such notable instructors such as founding instructor Pipe Major Joh MacDonald, Pipe Major John Grant, Pipe Major William Ross and Pipe Major John MacLellan, among others. With the generous assistance of newly appointed Drum Major of the United States Coast Guard Pipe Band Kevin Conquest (DSO, USCG Aux) and Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming resident instructor Pipe Major Ross McCrindle (SG), Coast Guard reservist Maritime Enforcement Specialist Second Class Jeremy Cook, a piper in the United States Coast Guard Pipe Band, was provided the opportunity to pay a visit to the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming while in country on personal travel. Cook was given a tour of the facility by Senior Pipe Major Martin MacDonald (4 SCOTS) and received an extensive history of the school and its previous home in Edinburgh Castle, the school's capabilities and responsibilities, and notable pipers, instructors, and directors, all of whom are memorialized in pictures around the school. Students on the pipe major's course are required to study displayed historical information for later assessment, in turn being groomed as stewards of piping history and traditions, and ultimately as leaders and instructors for the pipe bands within their own regiments. Cook was also educated in the school's involvement in the organization of the massed pipes and drums for the world renowned annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo and observed students in their second week of the pipe major's course. Having received the authorization of the United States Coast Guard Pipe Band (USCGPB) to visit as a representative of the band, Cook presented Senior Pipe Major Martin MacDonald with a token of collective appreciation for the school's hospitality and a gesture of friendship for future partnership and collaboration: a shadowbox consisting of the tartan of the United States Coast Guard, the cap devices of the enlisted, commissioned officer and auxiliary personnel of which the pipe band is comprised, as well as the blue feather half-hackle worn by all members of the United States Coast Guard Pipe Band. In a fitting coincidence, it turns out to be the same ancestral hackle worn by Senior Pipe Major Martin MacDonald's home unit, The Highlanders, 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland. � M e 2 Jeremy Cook presented Senior Pipe Major Martin MacDonald with the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming, a shadowbox in appreciation for the school's hospitality and future partnership. Issue 1 • 2017 � RESERVIST 35

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