United States Coast Guard Auxiliary 7th District Breeze - USCGAUX ...

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30 U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary District 7 Breeze FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla.—When Station Fort Myers Beach commanding officer BOSN4 Jeffery Kerner requested that Connie Irvin, Assistant District Staff Officer-Public Affairs, handle the media for the station’s presentation of their third Kimball Award, Kerner had no idea that Irvin would also work behind his back on a special project. After all, this was a simple request; develop a media strategy to get coverage of the event and maintain control of the media while they were on site. Rear Admiral William Baumgartner, Commander District 7, United States Coast Guard, and Capt. Sheryl Dickinson, Commander, Sector St. Petersburg United States Coast Guard, were to be among the invited guests. Irvin set about handling the media request, but she also planned a “covert operation” which no one at the station knew about. So, what is this Kimball Award and why would earning three consecutive such awards merit both RADM William Baumgartner and Sector St. Petersburg’s Commander, Capt. Sheryl Dickinson’s presence at the ceremony The Kimball Award was named after Sumner I. Kimball and was established by the Coast Guard in 2001. Kimball served in the Life-Saving Service from 1878-1915. He is credited with organizing separate life-saving stations into unified, mission-capable teams. These stations became a part of the Coast Guard in 1951. Kimball’s skill in organization is credited with putting the Coast Guard on the road to professionalism. These awards are given every two years to small boat stations, and only after rigorous inspections of vessel conditions, observation of survival systems, performance of underway drills and examination of unit training programs. Only about 10 percent of U.S Coast Guard shore-based boat force units are awarded the prestigious Kimball Award each year. The event went off as planned. Irvin enlisted the help of Coast Guard Auxiliary member Mike Ludwig to help her take photos, while she aided the media in gaining access to BOSN4 Kerner and Rear Admiral Baumgartner. After the ceremony, the station’s crew and visiting dignitaries were in the mess deck, enjoying lunch, while a local television station aired the event. Normally, that would have ended the affair, had not Irvin launched her covert plan. On past photo shoots at the station, Irvin was bombarded with requests for copies of the photos she had taken by station personnel. Irvin knew the Kimball ceremony would require hundreds of printed photos to hand out to those who received the award. Her covert plan was simple: get a commemorative booklet printed and give each member a Constance Irvin presents BOSN4 Jeffery Kerner one of the photo booklets published for the individual members of Staon Fort Myers Beach who received the Kimball Award on November 16. The booklet was presented at the Division 9 meeng on December 3. Photo provided by Constance Irvin copy. Irvin contacted a local print shop, and, after learning that they could print the booklet at a reasonable price, she contacted all nine flotilla commanders in Division 9 and asked if they would chip in to fund the project. All agreed and even Division 9 chipped in some funds. She made the commanders promise they would not let “the cat out of the bag.” The Kimball ceremony took place on November 16. Irvin determined to have the booklet ready to hand over to BOSN4 Kerner at the Division meeting on December 3. Laying out a 24-page, full color booklet and making sure that all names and ranks of the station’s crew were correct took some doing. It also required a promise of secrecy from one member of Station Fort Myers Beach– and it wasn’t the commanding officer! Thanksgiving weekend, although a happy occasion for most, proved a stressful time for Irvin because of the downtime at the print shop. The print shop agreed to print each individual recipient’s name on the cover of the booklet, but the list of names was slow in coming. After much hand wringing and lost sleep, Irvin picked up the finished booklets at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 2–A close call, indeed! Continued on page 31
Volume LVIII Issue 1 Spring 2012 31 Cintinued from page 30 At the meeting of Division 9 on Dec. 3, Irvin presented the booklets. BOSN4 Kerner was visibly overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of the division members in giving such a keepsake to station personnel. Booklets also went to all local flotillas and up the line to Sector St. Pete. Upon receiving a copy, Deputy Sector Commander Peter Martin said, “I’ve never seen anything done like this before. Those kids at the station will not forget this and they won’t forget the Auxiliary.” Sometimes, keeping a secret is a good thing.Ω The members of Staon Fort Meyers Beach, United States Coast Guard who earned the coveed Kimball Award for the third me in 2011. Photo by Constance Irvin Photos by Brian Lichtenstein, Flolla 38, Plantaon, Fla. This is a drill. This is only a drill. In the event this were a real emergency, Oscar would not be a dummy! While there is humor in the subtle, the Coast Guard Auxiliary takes training seriously. Sll we hear, “Have fun out there,” and many of us unabashedly enjoy our training acvies. Background image: So Shell with Bob Hackney, coxswain, and crewmembers Ed Duda, Joe Aleba and Pam Charles, all members of Flolla 38 Plantaon on patrol November 12, 2011. Filmstrip images: Flolla 38 members Joe Aleba, Bill Hanlon, Dennis Georgia, and Brian Lichtenstein conduct man overboard drills in the Port Everglades turning basin on January 28, 2012.
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