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Flotilla 22 Protects and Educates Allatoona Boaters

By Greg Fonzeno, Public Affairs Staff Officer, District 7, Division 2, Flotilla 2, USCG Auxiliary, as published in Around Acworth, October, 2017)

If you have spent time on Lake Allatoona, or any of our area lakes, you may have passed a vessel with a sign on it that reads, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Patrol.  Maybe while shopping at Academy Sports, Cabela’s, the sporting-goods department of WalMart, or a local marine retailer, you’ve picked up pamphlets or brochures about boating safety, proper use of life jackets, or navigation aids.  While attending the Wakeboard National Championships in Acworth, you may have walked past the Coast Guard Auxiliary information booth.  Perhaps you’ve considered taking a boating safety class, or getting a safety check of your boat.  Members of your local U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary provide the information and perform all of these activities, and many more.

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is the uniformed volunteer component of the U.S. Coast Guard, with 78 years of service.  Congress formed the Coast Guard Auxiliary in 1939. When America entered World War II, about 55,000 volunteer Auxiliary members joined the war effort guarding waterfronts. They performed coastal picket patrols, including watching for enemy submarines and rescuing survivors from torpedoed and other boats.

Today, over 30,000 men and women in the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary volunteer millions of unpaid hours each year. They are trained to standards set by the Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard and assist in the performance of any Coast Guard function, duty, mission, or operation authorized, with the exception of direct military duty and law enforcement. Coast Guard Auxiliary missions include safety patrols on waterways, teaching boating safety classes, conducting free courtesy vessel safety checks, search and rescue, disaster training, pollution response, commercial fishing vessel inspections, radio watch standing, flight patrols with AUXAIR units, assisting the Coast Guard in various mobilization exercises, even cooking at Coast Guard stations and on Coast Guard cutters, and any mission as directed by the Commandant of the Coast Guard.

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary has members in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam.  Members include former and current members representing all of the armed forces.  Membership is open to U.S. citizens, 17 years of age or older.  There is no upper-age limit.  A personal security investigation will be processed as part of enrollment due to the security nature of working with the Coast Guard.  

Lake Allatoona’s local Coast Guard Auxiliary unit (Flotilla 22) has had a very busy year. Members of Flotilla 22 have thus far performed over 930 vessel safety checks, 570 retail program visitations, conducted nine boating safety classes educating nearly 100 local boaters, conducted 215 hours of on-the-water safety patrols, and participated in 51 hours of training.

For more information about the Lake Allatoona Coast Guard Auxiliary unit
(Flotilla 22) may be found at http://a0700202.wow.uscgaux.info.
 

Kennesaw GA, December 15, 2013- Kennesaw State University (KSU) is the 14th institution to join the growing list of elite American schools of higher learning that are offering students an opportunity to intern with the United States Coast Guard through its Auxiliary. The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary’s first units on college campuses took root in 2007 at Auburn University, The Citadel, and The College of William and Mary. The school’s Auxiliary Units merged to form Auxiliary University Program (AUP) .

Coast Guard Auxiliarist Luis Cribeiro, Auxiliary University Program University Officer (UO), was instrumental in getting the program started at KSU. Cribeiro’s vision and dedication along with founding AUP members Zachary Drake and Patrick Hughes were enough to convince KSU that the program will be extremely valuable to KSU students. Commenting on the successful chartering of the AUP program at KSU, Mr. Cribeiro stated “Having such powerful and successful program available for the students at KSU will not only benefit the Coast Guard but more importantly, it gives the students of KSU an unprecedented opportunity to learn and serve.” Zachery Drake, Unit Leader of the AUP at KSU added “I have been looking for such an opportunity to enhance my education and we are lucky that the Coast Guard picked KSU”

Students who join the KSU program can complete a four-year program of study focused on basic Coast Guard Auxiliary knowledge, operational proficiency, and leadership.  Students entering in 2013 will graduate with coursework in Seamanship, Weather, Communications, Incident Management and an elective specialty of their choice, all part of Maritime Leadership Capstone.  The capstone course integrates coursework, knowledge, skills and experiential learning to enable the student to demonstrate a broad mastery of learning across the curriculum. Students can choose to qualify as an Air Observer, Boat Crew, Vessel Examiner, Public Affairs Specialist, Telecommunications Operator, Marine Safety and Environmental Protection Specialist, as well as other skilled positions. 

To complete the program, undergraduate students focus on Coast Guard and seamanship fundamentals in the basic instruction block and then develop operational skills through the rest of the program, finishing with a maritime leadership capstone that is well matched to the developing professional interests of seniors. Undergraduate students may also take on small unit leadership roles, and are responsible for mentoring their less experienced shipmates.

Graduate students focus on Coast Guard and seamanship fundamentals in the basic block, and then pair a maritime leadership capstone to the unique interests of their graduate level degree program and professional aspirations. Many graduate students will also serve as officers and mentors to their undergraduate shipmates 

Students, Professors, and AUP-affiliated personnel bring tremendous strategic value to the Coast Guard and Auxiliary.  Students intern, research, and develop serving alongside the Coast Guard’s active military and civilian personnel, completing work focused on topics as diverse as business operations, citizen action networks, information technology, geographic information systems, policy and law, marine environmental response, and maritime strategy.

In conclusion, founding member Patrick Hughes remarked  “One of the questions we get concerning the AUP program is whether you are signing up for military service, and the answer is No. The AUP is part of the Coast Guard Auxiliary and is completely voluntary with no commitment beyond the AUP requirements”