By - There is an interview with Admiral Gary Blore on the Federal Computer Week talking about the National Security Cutter (NSC) Bertholf, its acceptance and issues.
There seems to be a lot of confusion, as the Admiral even says himself in the interview, about the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) and Tempest certification. You can actually have a boat that is Tempest-certified that does not have a SCIF, but once the SCIF is installed the ship will recertify. Expect more on this subject in the Compass in the near future.
- An explosion aboard the vessel Capt. Rayne approximately 15 miles south of the Atchafalaya Bay, La. resulted in the Coast Guard medevacing two injured people after they received a call the offshore oil rig Eugene Island.
Air Station New Orleans, the air station that medevaced the victims, is one of the busiest Air Stations in the Coast Guard. The unit is composed of 122 personnel and five HH-65C “Dolphin” helicopters, capable of providing two ready flight crews 24 hours a day, and has an area of responsibility that includes the area between Lake Charles, La., and Apalachicola, Fla., including more than 400 miles of coastline.
- The Coast Guard Auxiliary is an important part of the Coast Guard team and one of the valuable contributions they make is the classes they teach on safe boating.
The linked article is talking about upcoming classes in Connecticut, but you can also find more information on the Auxiliary here. Also, Lt.j.g. Ryan Erickson wrote an outstanding piece talking about the Auxiliary on his blog that could be found in the asides a couple days ago, but here is another link to the post.
- The San Francisco Examiner published a really cool in depth article yesterday about Air Station San Francisco. The piece really does a great job of talking about the missions of the air station and providing a lot of interesting statistics about the unit.