HONOLULU – Crewmembers from Coast Guard Station Honolulu conducted flare and survival training on Nimitz Beach, Kapolei Wednesday.
The flare training included introductions to the proper handling and usage of the Mark 79 Mod 0 illumination signal kit and the Mark 124 MOD 0 marine Smoke and Illumination Signal. The Mk 79 signal kit contains the flare launching device, called a pencil launcher, and seven flares. When fired, the red flare goes approximately 650 feet into the air. The Mk 124 is a two-sided signaling device that has both a day end and a night end. The day end disperses thick neon orange smoke for approximately 20 seconds and the night end disperses a blinding red flare for the same amount of time. Both ends can be seen from a distance of three to five miles.
“This training is important to help keep our crewmember’s knowledge current on the uses, the different conditions they’re used in and how to recognize their colors, trajectories and even how to recognize both the audible and visual signs of distress,” said Chief Petty Officer Armena McNair, boatswain’s mate at Station Honolulu.
The survival training the crewmembers conducted involved swimming in the water and practicing climbing in and out of an inflatable, six-man Zodiac survival life raft.
“The raft training benefits the crew by giving them experience in how to deploy and use the raft both from the rescuer’s and survivor’s points of view,” McNair said.
Coast Guardsmen throughout the country constantly train to improve efficiency, maintain qualifications and to teach new members who may be involved in a rescue.
