The official blog of the U.S. Coast Guard
To me, being a Coast Guard aviator means belonging to a family whose ranks are filled with professionals of the highest caliber. The Coast Guard emblem is our crest; the golden wings on our chest are proof of membership. We share the view from above the clouds during our successes, and help put each other back together when a member is hard down.
For Petty Officer 2nd Class Shawn Pugmire, service is not just a theme but also a naturally ingrained trait. It’s no wonder why the American Legion, the nation’s largest veteran organization, would want to honor him for his commitment to community.
As an aviation maintenance technician, Petty Officer 1st Class Pablo LaGarde keeps a fleet of airplanes equipped to execute demanding missions. Assigned to Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., LaGarde performs a multitude of tasks from metalsmithing and inspections to tire changes and repairs. For LaGarde, Semper Paratus usually involves keeping the Coast Guard airborne. But one summer’s day, LaGarde found himself ready to save a life off duty.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Craig Longobardi, an aviation maintenance technician who was until recently stationed at Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii, has earned his own place in the over-achieving Coast Guardsmen hall of fame. Longobardi has just returned from the 2013 Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon in the Himalayas of Nepal.
20,000 missions is a lot of hours in the sky. And those hours require a lot of maintenance. To ensure each helicopter is ready to take flight, there are few people more valuable to have around Elizabeth City than Petty Officer 1st Class Ryan Parker.
With the threat of destruction looming every hurricane season, complacency is a responder’s worst enemy and aircrews work year-round to ensure they are ready to support their nation and community in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Altogether the preparedness and teamwork at the region’s four air stations paid huge dividends post-Isaac in the form of 28 lives saved and 54 assisted.
Graham is credited with many helicopter firsts, including the first wartime anti-submarine patrol requiring him to perform the first take-off and landing from a vessel on the high seas. In 1947 he successfully completed the Coast Guard’s first-ever night helicopter medical evacuation. As one of the first to use this technique, Graham was instrumental in exhibiting the capabilities and possibilities of rotary-wing technology to decision makers ensuring support for helicopter programs for decades to come.
Chief Petty Officer Robert Fielder, an aviation maintenance technician with Air Station Kodiak, uses a dremel tool to cut the skin of an HC-130 Hercules airplane. Fielder and members of the air station’s C-130 metal shop conducted a repair to the skin of a C-130 that had damage in a pressurized area of the plane.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Miguel Arellano, an aviation maintenance technician at Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles, operates the hoist on a MH-65C Dolphin helicopter during training operations off the coast of Venice, Calif. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Cory J. Mendenhall. Written by Petty Officer 3rd Class Cory Mendenhall, 11th
Although the birth of naval aviation is traced back to 1911, it wasn’t until almost 30 years later that one of the Coast Guard’s most powerful assets, the helicopter, became part of naval flight. In the spring of 1943, then Lt. Frank Erickson graduated from helicopter training and became Coast Guard helicopter pilot No. 1.