Coast Guard Vice Adm. Karl Schultz, commander, Atlantic Area, left, salutes Rear Adm. Scott A. Buschman, right to signify the change of command of Coast Guard Atlantic Area, Friday, May 18, 2018. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Nicole J. Groll)
YORKTOWN, Va. — Rear Adm. Scott A. Buschman assumed duties as acting Coast Guard Atlantic Area commander and acting commander of Defense Force East Friday, during a change-of-command ceremony at Coast Guard Training Center Yorktown.
Buschman relieved Vice Adm. Karl L. Schultz who served as the Atlantic Area commander since Aug. 2016.
Before assuming the role of acting-commander of Atlantic Area, Buschman served as deputy commander of Atlantic Area since July 2017. He was responsible for all U.S. Coast Guard missions within a geographic region that spans the Rocky Mountains to the Arabian Gulf, and encompasses five Coast Guard Districts and 40 states. Buschman reported to Atlantic Area having recently served as commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District headquartered in Miami, Florida. As district commander, he was responsible for all Coast Guard operations in the Southeast United States and the Caribbean Basin including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
A 1984 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Buschman, a native of Peterborough, New Hampshire, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy; a Masters of Public Administration from The George Washington University; and a Masters of Business Administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as part of the Sloan Fellows Program.
Schultz is scheduled to relieve Adm. Paul F. Zukunft, as the U.S. Coast Guard Commandant at a change-of-command ceremony on June 1, in Washington, D.C.
As acting Atlantic Area commander, Buschman is the operational commander for all U.S. Coast Guard forces east of the Rocky Mountains to the Arabian Gulf, from Canada to the Caribbean Sea, encompassing more than 14 million square miles of land, 42 states, and more than 4 million square miles of navigable water.
Adm. Paul F. Zukunft, U.S. Coast Guard commandant, presided over the ceremony. The change-of-command ceremony is a historic Coast Guard and Naval tradition. The event, which has remained unchanged for centuries, includes a reading of the command orders in the presence of all unit crew members.
