Spring

Coast Guard Magazine, Dec, 2004

March 8 -- The CGC Vashon, a 110-foot patrol boat from Puerto Rico, intercepted a boat attempting to smuggle 89 Dominican Republic migrants into Puerto Rico.

March 13 -- The crew of an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Astoria, Ore., rescued three surfers after the tide pulled them out to sea near Willapa Bay, Wash.

March 21 -- Rear Adm. Robert Duncan, 8th District commander, named two Coast Guardsmen as the 2003 Enlisted Persons of the Year in a ceremony at the Hale Boggs Federal Building in New Orleans. PS1 Arnulfo Martinez of MSO Corpus Christi and AMT3 Allan Campbell of Air Station New Orleans were named the Reserve and Active Duty Enlisted Persons of the Year.

March 22 -- The Coast Guard teamed with representatives from the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association this week, to provide training to Juneau's Interior Distance Education of Alaska students and local educators at the Augustus Brown swimming pool in Juneau. The instructors taught the students about boat stability, lifejackets, immersion suits, mayday calls, and how to survive in an outdoor emergency.

March 25 -- The Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and operation Bahamas, Turks and Caicos crews, working with the governments of Nicaragua and the Bahamas, seized more than 3,140 pounds of drugs in two cases in the Caribbean and the Florida Straits.

April 3 -- The CGC Thetis seized 960 pounds of marijuana off Haiti's southern coast. The Thetis requested permission from the Haitian government to pursue a suspected smuggling boat into Haitian territorial seas. During the pursuit, the smugglers tossed nine bales of marijuana overboard before finally stopping two miles off the coast of Haiti.

April 14 -- The first African-American woman to retire from the Coast Guard as a commissioned officer was honored at a ceremony at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Arlington, Va. Lt. Cmdr. Rhonda Fleming-Makell retired after 20 years of service to the Coast Guard.

April 17 -- Members from Coast Guard Station Kenosha rescued a teenager whose canoe capsized off the shores of Pike River near Kenosha, Wisc.

April 19 -- The CGC Gentian, also known as the Caribbean Support Tender, steamed into Kingston Harbor, Jamaica, marking its 100th country visit since it was recommissioned in 1999.

April 20 -- Coast Guard rescuers from Station Juneau assisted a crewman aboard the fishing vessel Tar Baby after it grounded near Battleship Island in Auke Bay, Alaska.

April 22 -- A Coast Guard patrol boat from Station New York provided security for the Queen Mary II, the largest cruise ship in the world, as it transited through New York Harbor during its maiden voyage. Security vessels and aircraft surrounded the Queen Mary II on its way to pier 92 in downtown New York City.

May 3 -- The Coast Guard Commandant's Innovation Council and Deepwater and Acquisition directorates hosted the fourth annual, Innovation Expo in Savannah, Ga. More than 100 Coast Guard/government and 125 industry exhibits were on display for more than 1,400 attendees.

May 5 -- The Coast Guard presented the Purple Heart to BM3 Joseph Ruggiero in Miami for injuries sustained while defending the Khawr A1 Amaya Oil Terminal in Iraq April 24. Ruggiero, the first Coast Guard recipient of the Purple Heart since the Vietnam War, received the award from Vice Adm. James D. Hull, Commander Coast Guard Atlantic Area. DC3 Nathan Bruckenthal, was killed in the bombing and posthumously received the Purple Heart.

May 7 -- The CGC James Rankin set the historic "Francis Scott Key" buoy off of Fort McHenry, Md., near the Key Bridge in Baltimore, Md. The buoy marks the spot where the ship carrying Francis Scott Key, the author of the Star Spangled Banner, was anchored during the bombardment of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812. Each year the buoy is set in the spring marking the historic location of the event and then removed in the fall.

May 8 -- The CGC Sherman returned to its homeport in Alameda after a patrol that produced one migrant interdiction and three drug busts, totaling nearly 13,000 pounds of cocaine, worth more than $100 million. This was the first cocaine bust for the Sherman and its first drug seizure since 1976.

May 25 -- Representatives from the Coast Guard in Seattle participated in a two-day joint state and federal tabletop exercise in Alta, Wyoming, to discuss the challenges of responding quickly and effectively to natural disasters. The Cascade Fury II exercise, presented a scenario where a magnitude 7 earthquake strikes southwest Wyoming, northeast Idaho, and the Utah border. In addition to the earthquake, responders dealt with a volcanic eruption in the Cascade Mountains.

May 26 -- The United States and Mexican navies held an international oil spill response exercise in Matamoros, Mexico. The exercise is called MEXUS Gulf 2004. The event marks the third joint exercise since the signing of an agreement of cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico regarding pollution of the marine environment by discharges of hydrocarbons and other hazardous substances, called the MEXUS Plan.