On Sunday at 1830 we stood down the safety zone for the Rose Festival Dragon Boat races, completing a twelve day period of Rose Festival activity from the departure to Astoria of our escort vessels to the last crew home on Sunday. This effort was the culmination of months of planning by our operations and communication teams in conjunction with our active duty, reserve and civilian Coast guard shipmates, the US Navy, Federal and local law enforcement and many other partners. I continue to receive numerous complements on your professionalism and devotion to duty. To those of you who participated in planning, set-up, break down, as crew, as coxswains, as facility owners, as communicators, in the air, or in any other way, thank you for your service and leadership. A particular thank you to Mr. Verkest, our SO-OP, and Mr. James, our SO-CM, for their efforts over many months and for the devotion with which they carried out their duties.
Usually when we emerge from Rose Festival we've a pleasant summer of operations and RBS activities ahead of us. This year we find our service, the Coast Guard, once again called to meet a challenge with all hands on deck. The unfolding oil spill in the Gulf is the Coast Guard's number one priority. If you have not yet done so please read Commandant Papp's message to the service on our mission and our duty [http://coastguard.dodlive.mil/index.php/2010/06/adm-papp-rallies-the-coast-guard/].
As the Coast Guard re-deploys people and assets to respond, many of our active duty and reserve shipmates from Sector Portland have deployed. While at this time there has been no general call for Auxiliarists to volunteer for deployment (the requisite skills for direct response are not widely held within the Auxiliary) we are busy looking at ways the Auxiliary can support Sector Portland's ongoing prevention and response activities, support the families of our deployed shipmates, and build the skills of our members to support what is likely to be a very long effort in the Gulf. I promise to have more information in the near future. Being focused on this effort does not reduce the possibility of another incident of any type from occurring locally, in our region, across our country or elsewhere in the world. I'm asking each of you to look to your personal and unit readiness:
ICS: The response effort runs completely on the Incident Command System (ICS). If you are not familiar with the Incident Command System now is the time to complete the IS 100/200/700/800 sequence [see: http://www.flotilla76.org/2009/08/member-training-fema-incident.html]. If you have completed the initial series please consider additional classroom training. The next ICS 300 dates will be reposted to the blog this week. Consider an ICS tabletop drill in your unit or with a few shipmates.
Qualifications: While Auxiliary qualifications are not currently being requested for the spill response, this is a time to take stock and resolve any currency issues. If you have only a few last steps to complete for a particular qualification please complete these steps. If you've only met the minimum requirements for your qualification please consider getting our and getting the practice required to improve proficiency. We need to maximize the number of members qualified, current and proficient to improve our ability to respond locally or Nationally.
Family preparedness: Please look to the welfare of your families, neighbors, and shipmates. Should we have a local incident you will not be able to turn your attention to the community until your friends, family and neighbors are safe and provisioned. Check your emergency supplies and please be an advocate for preparedness in our community.
Please check the Division blog regularly (you can subscribe via email) as we will be posting a variety of training opportunities and other news. Critical information will also be distributed via the Chain of Leadership.
We are a small service with a very large set of missions. As the Coast Guard focuses on the response effort, and we prepare to assist, it is also important to keep a steady watch and not loose sight of our other missions. At this time the Nation can ill afford us to be inattentive to our maritime security nor can her citizens afford not to have us out there doing our work that saves lives.
Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty!
Thank you for your service,
Daren
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