Rear Adm. Todd Sokalzuk (center), presides over Coast Guard Pacific Strike Team change of command ceremony where Cmdr. Lushan A. Hannah (right) relieved Cmdr. David J. Reinhard (left) as the commanding officer, June 27, 2019. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jordan Akiyama.
NOVATO, Calif. — Cmdr. Lushan A. Hannah relieved Cmdr. David J. Reinhard as the commanding officer of the Coast Guard Pacific Strike Team during a change of command ceremony held in Novato, California, Thursday.
Rear Adm. Todd Sokalzuk, deputy commander of Coast Guard Atlantic Area, presided over the ceremony.
Hannah is arriving from Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles – Long Beach where he served as chief of the incident management division and chief of the response department. During his command, he managed three multi-mission small boat stations, four coastal patrol boats, four fast response cutters, a law enforcement team and a pollution response team.
Hannah’s previous assignments also include the Coast Guard Cutter Tampa out of Portsmouth, Virginia, Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles – Long Beach, Coast Guard Sector New Orleans, and the Coast Guard’s military aide to Vice President Joseph R. Biden. In this role, he was responsible for coordinating military logistics support for vice presidential travel, including transportation, communications, and medical requirements. He also coordinated nuclear command and control contingency plans, and served as a liaison to the vice president’s national security advisor and chief of staff during vice presidential travel.
Hannah joined the Coast Guard in 1998 and was commissioned through officer candidate school in Sept. 2000. He holds a bachelor’s degree in general science from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, a master of science degree in environmental management from the University of Maryland – University College, a master of public health in industrial hygiene from the University of Michigan and master of arts in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College.
Reinhard has served as the commanding officer of the Pacific Strike Team since June 2016. During his command, Reinhard has led a 61-member team through 53 environmental responses and humanitarian disaster relief missions, including response efforts for Hurricane Maria in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Hurricane Florence in North Carolina. In both responses, Reinhard acted as incident commander and executed multi-million dollar federal emergency management agency oil spill and hazardous materials mission assignments that mitigated the threat from hundreds of sunken and displaced vessels.
“The crew of the Pacific Strike Team is amazing,” said Reinhard. “It has been an honor to serve alongside men and women who work tirelessly and support one another. They are driven by the mission and the commitment to their shipmates.”
Reinhard has retired from the Coast Guard after 20 years of honorable service and will reside with his family in Meadow Vista, California.
The change-of-command ceremony is a time-honored tradition conducted before the assembled company of a command to confirm to the men and women of the unit that the authority of command is maintained. The ceremony is a transfer of total responsibility, authority and accountability from one individual to another.
