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The genesis of this story was in early 2016 at New York City's Fleet
Week festivities. It was there that we first began working with the
Coast Guard to cover one of their search and rescue demonstrations
off of Libery State Park, NJ. That fueled our interest in the
Centennial story and things moved quickly from there. A special
thank you to LT Ian McPhillips and Charles Rowe from USCG Public
Affairs who were instrumental in getting the project off the ground
and were extremely supportive once they heard our idea. From
there CWO3 Chad Saylor from Coast Guard Headquarters Public
Affairs ran with the ball and put us in touch with several air stations
that were able to help out. He continued to support our project and
made sure we had momentum along the way, and for his efforts we
are sincerely thankful. Our first visit was to Air Station Traverse City
and needless to say they set an extremely high bar for all visits to
come. We thank LCDR David Ober for organizing our visit and
making sure we had a realistic agenda. Our heartfelt thanks to LT
Katie Pelkey who oversaw every aspect of our visit and personally
made sure we had everything we needed for our coverage. We were
truly humbled to be welcomed into the air station as we were. From
there, we traveled to Air Station Cape Cod where LT Michelle
Simmons took time out of her busy schedule to ensure our visit was
a success. We cannot thank her enough for her help and guidance in
setting up our visit. At Air Station Clearwater, a special thank you to
LTjg Matt Mayer and LT Eric Majeska for their assistance and
partnership during our visit. Despite being called into action during
a hurricane, they still worked hard to reschedule our visit, for which
we extend our deepest gratitude. Our visit to ATC Mobile was a
success in no small part due to the efforts of LT Dan Feirman, to
whom we extend our sincere thanks. We were honored to be
present for the 2016 Pterodactyl Roost and 50th anniversary of ATC
Mobile. We also thank Brian Edwards and Piper for coming to visit
us and for all the hard work they do each and every day. Last, but
certainly not least, we thank our families for their support and
understanding during this project. The travel time and long hours
producing this issue were certainly demanding and we couldn't
have done it without you!