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

Issue link: https://uscgreservist.epubxp.com/i/386902

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Sector San Juan Boss Lift 2014 On March 15, 2014 Sector San Juan, Puerto Rico had a great event: the Sector San Juan Boss Lift 2014. The two main goals of this event were to; first, provide a one day exposure for employers of Sector San Juan Reserve force while experiencing a Coast Guard work day, and second, show appreciation for their support to our reservists. The day's activities included an in-depth presentation by Lt.j.g. Andrew Simpson describing all of the Coast Guard missions, guided tours of different workspace areas and Coast Guard cutters and concluding with a live demonstration of a water rescue performed by members of Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen. Sector San Juan Commanding Officer, Capt. Drew W. Pearson along with Lt. Alejandro Sims, Senior Reserve Officer, YN1 Carlos Molina, of the Reserve Force Readiness Staff and Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) coordinator, Lt. Col. (ret.) Agustin Rivera, were responsible for coordinated this extraordinary event. The day concluded with a fabulous lunch provided courtesy of the local ESGR chapter. — Story by MSTC Ismael Torres The area most heavily impacted was Matagorda Island. Unlike the heavily developed beaches in Galveston where the oil spill originated, Matagorda Island is part of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is the winter home to the world's largest flock of endangered whooping cranes and one of the most environmentally sensitive areas in the Gulf coast. Lt. Cmdr. Jared Angelle, Planning Section Chief, said "The logistics to recover the oil were daunting, as there was limited infrastructure on the island and the distance to reach the impacted areas." With 688 personnel at ICP Matagorda, all parties worked well and benefited from working this response. Throughout the response national and local news organizations, political representatives and local stakeholders were quoted as referring to this as a "textbook" response. The Reserve members who participated were universally proud to work alongside their counterparts in the oil spill response industry in every capacity from participating in shoreline cleanup and assessment, to being involved in community meetings to educate the public, in coordinating volunteers to assist (a first for this type of Federal response effort), or commanding the response. When asked about the Reserve role in this effort, Cmdr. Campbell, Galveston ICP Incident Commander, noted, "In the field and at the Command Post, when I looked around and saw reservists leading and managing all aspects of this Type 1 response, I was just blown away. I am so thankful that with over a thousand people responding and 60 miles of impacted coastline, our Sector Commander had the trust and confidence in our reservists to step back and allow an all Reserve team to manage all aspects of this Unified Command response at ICP Galveston. This has been a phenomenal experience. I could not be prouder of our Reserve responders." This sentiment was echoed during a departure briefing when Cmdr. Catudal told the members gathered, "You are reservists and you are running a Type 1 incident. That is the first time I have seen that in my [34 year] career." When addressing a Sector Houston-Galveston Reserve All- Hands, Capt. Penoyer summed up the Reserve response effort by stating, "There is no finer illustration of how the Reserve Force is supposed to work than when you just release it and let it work." — Story and photo submitted by Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Albert, USCGR Issue 3 • 2014 � RESERVIST 17

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