Page 5
topside
Volume 115, Issue 1
Message from the Chief of Staff
More Opportunities Than Ever Before!
Many of you may have shared this pleasant Coast Guard Auxiliary experience: after
a day on patrol and especially if it had been a productive day, once things calmed
down, we might talk on the way back to our slip. Mostly, we’d all just “catch up.”
Sometimes though, the talk would turn to comments about how great it was to do
what we had done but wouldn’t it be even better if we could do more directly with
the active duty?
Well, we can now say – yes, for the members who want to do it, it is great to do
more with the active duty! Thanks to our 5 th Northern Director of Auxiliary,
Thomas J. Dever
District Chief of Staff
LCDR Taylor and her staff including Operations Training Officer CWO4 Clark and
U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary
Commander of U. S. Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay Captain Anderson and his
5th District-Northern Region
staff, the Auxiliarists in our district have more opportunities than ever before to
serve alongside our active duty and reserve teammates. Please keep an eye out for
the Notices of General Interest (NOGI) that Commodore Kyper sends and posts on www.5NR.org about once a
month for information about these opportunities. Your EXCOM wants to be sure that these opportunities are
available to all interested and qualified members.
You will need to obtain training and qualific ations for many of these positions but, in many cases, Sector Delaware
Bay will provide the needed training. It is really a great way to learn. All they ask in return is that you are
professional, reliable and honor whatever commitments you may make. Requests that we’ve seen recently have
included requests for interpreters (Spanish, Russian and Ukrainian), Pollution Response, Container Examinations,
and Administrative Support among others. Marine Safety qualifications are often in demand.
There is also demand for members to serve in many of the new Auxiliary roles that work closely with the active
duty – the Coast Guard Auxiliary Clergy Support (ACS) Program, the Auxiliary Financial Educator (AUXFE)
Program and the AUXBUILD program in order to assist Coast Guard Civil Engineering Units (CEU) with
monitoring and reporting on their shore-side construction projects, and more.
Of course there is much to be done in all of our more traditional roles as well. Nothing is more important than
the work we have always done saving lives through recreational boating safety education, vessel safety checks and
our visits to marine dealers and our air and surface operations. Our assistance at Sector Delaware Bay, TRACEN
Cape May and at the stations is appreciated more than ever. The new opportunities I talk about above are just that
– new options.
It has been wonderful to join many of you at D-Train and for your change of watch ceremonies this winter. I
continue to be impressed with all of your accomplishments and am honored to be able to call myself a Coast
Guard Auxiliarist. Whatever you have chosen to do to the serve the Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Coast Guard, I
hope you are enjoying it and finding it personally fulfilling. Most of all, I want to thank you!
Thomas J. Dever
District Chief of Staff