PORT ANGELES, Wash. — Cmdr. Andrew W. Eriks, a Seattle native, assumed command of Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles during a change-of-command ceremony at the air station, Wednesday.
Eriks relieved Capt. Keith P. McTigue, who will transfer to U.S. Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany, to serve as the chief of Counter Narcotics and Law Enforcement Division.
Cmdr. Andrew W. Eriks (left) shakes hands with Capt. Keith P. McTigue (right) after relieving him during a change-of-command ceremony July 2, 2014. Coast Guard Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Amy Nuckolls.
Eriks’ most recent assignment was as the division chief of the Budget Formulation and External Coordination Divisions, Office of Budget and Programs, at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., from 2011 to 2014. He will be the 40th commanding officer of the Port Angeles Coast Guard base.
Eriks enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1984 and served as a machinery technician at Coast Guard Station Neah Bay, Washington; aboard Coast Guard Cutter Basswood, an 180-foot buoy tender homeported in Guam; at Naval Engineering Support Unit Seattle and aboard Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea, a 399-foot heavy icebreaker homeported in Seattle.
Eriks received his commission from Officer Candidate School in Yorktown, Virginia, in 1994. Following graduation, he reported to Naval Flight Training in Pensacola, Florida, where he qualified as a pilot.
Eriks’ aviation assignments have included Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Florida; Coast Guard Air Station Astoria, Oregon; and Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina. From 2005 to 2009, Eriks was assigned to the Aviation Logistics Center in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. There he served as the HC-130H/J production cell overhaul leader and the project officer for the establishment of the Coast Guard’s first organic HC-130 overhaul facility.
Eriks holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, and a Master of Science degree in Industrial Administration from Purdue University in West Layfayette, Indiana. He is the son of Robert and Loann Eriks and a graduate of Ingraham High School in Seattle.
Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles was established on June 1, 1935, as the first permanent Coast Guard air station on the Pacific Coast. Today, Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles logistically supports three small boat stations, five patrol boats and a medium endurance cutter.
Click the photo for more from the ceremony.
