5 Questions with Thomas Jackson

This is the first in a series of interviews with the men and women who blog about the U.S. Coast Guard. Thomas Jackson is the lead blogger at the Coast Guard Report. Started last year as a site that was about a single equal rights case, Coast Guard Report has rapidly grown to cover a wide spectrum of Coast Guard issues that you aren’t likely to hear or read about in the main stream media. Here...

Coast Guard rescues Washington kayaker

SEATTLE – The Coast Guard rescued a kayaker from Chuckanut Bay, in the southeast end of Bellingham Bay, Wash., today. The kayaker, Shelia Weinsheimer abandoned ship when her kayak took on too much water. She was then unable to get back in and decided to hang on to her friend’s kayak while waiting for help. The friend, Shannon Dickerson used her cell phone to call 911 and then contacted...

More Regional Exam Centers Transition to National Maritime Center

WASHINGTON – Coast Guard Regional Examination Centers (REC’s) in Memphis, Tenn. and Long Beach, Calif. will join six other RECs that have transitioned to become field units of the National Maritime Center (NMC), located in Martinsburg, W.Va. On March 3, REC Memphis and REC Los Angeles-Long Beach will become “storefront” operations, with staff focused on helping mariners ensure...

Coast Guard helps tangled fishing boat

BOSTON – The Coast Guard aided a Rhode Island-based fishing crew today after their boat was disabled 50 miles south of Nantucket, Mass. The crew of the fishing vessel Cap’t Bligh contacted Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England in Woods Hole Mass., via a satellite phone at about 9 a.m., and reported their propeller was tangled in a fishing net. The sector issued a radio broadcast asking...

Coast Guard Orders 18 New Response Boats from Marinette Marine

MARINETTE, Wis. – Today the Coast Guard issued a delivery order for 18 new boats to Marinette Marine Corporation (MMC). Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. and Congressman Bart Stupak made the announcement this morning at a press conference here. This delivery order represents a $37.5 million obligation by the Coast Guard. Production at Marinette Marine Corporation is expected to support the delivery...

Coast Guard Expands Biometrics-at-Sea Program to the Florida Straits

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Coast Guard and US-VISI announced today that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is expanding the operation of their successful biometrics-at-sea program to the south Florida Straits. The Coast Guard is charged with securing the more than 95,000 miles of America’s coastline,” said Rear Adm. Wayne E. Justice, director of response policy. “Broadening...

Coast Guard Locates Missing Kayaker’s Body

Corpus Christi – The crew of a Coast Guard HH-65C rescue helicopter located the body of Stephen Stafford twenty miles South of Corpus Christi yesterday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ashore the Padre Island National Seashore. Stephen Stafford went missing on February 17, 2008 while kayaking in Port Aransas, Texas.

D13 Podcast

The second edition to the Thirteenth Coast Guard District’s podcast has been posted at CG Visual Imagery. The podcast includes several stories of interest not only to members of D13, but anyone interested in the Coast Guard.

FDNY is Burning Down Governors Island

Have you ever wondered what ever happened to Governors Island after the Coast Guard moved out? The Fire Department of New York is putting it to good use, as this video shows.