Coast Guard Auxiliarists Provide Essential Support for Eagle Underway
From USGC Eagle Public Affairs  


May 8, 2009

Some also have the opportunity to get underway aboard America’s Tall Ship, to work alongside their active duty counterparts in the Coast Guard. There are four auxiliarists aboard the three-masted, square-rigged cutter as it sails 3,149 miles along the 35th parallel north on an 18-day cruise that began April 20 in New London, Connecticut, bound for Rota, Spain.

“I don’t think anybody has ever tried to put a figure of value on what the auxilarists bring to the Eagle and our other units, but it is a huge benefit to the service,” said Capt. Chris Sinnett, commanding officer of USCG Eagle. “Our auxiliarists train to the same standards as our active duty sailors, attain the same qualifications, and stand the same watches. With my permanent crew, I can either safely run the ship, or I can run the training program, but I don’t have enough people on the permanent crew to do both. Every qualified auxiliarist who comes aboard to fill one of those temporary additional duty billets represents an active duty member that we don’t have to take from another Coast Guard unit.”

Tom Savoy, who works for Connecticut’s Department of Environmental Protection, joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary in the late 1980s. Throughout the last two decades he has devoted numerous weekends to courtesy boat examinations, boating classes, search and rescue patrols, marine domain awareness and pollution control.

This is his first underway aboard America’s Tall Ship. Originally commissioned Horst Wessel by Germany in 1936, she was recommissioned USCG Eagle a decade later, and her permanent crew of 55 Coast Guard sailors are joined by hundreds of cadets and officer candidates for sail training every year.

“I came aboard to qualify as navigator of the watch, and I am about three-quarters done with my qualification packet now,” he said. “In the last week, I stated my helm and lookout qualification package, and may be able to complete that before departing the ship.

“I had to take three weeks’ leave of absence from work, which is a long time, but my time aboard Eagle has been worth it. The rewards of doing this have been multitudinous: I’ve gotten to experience a lot of camaraderie aboard, and the crew has gone out of our way to help the four of us auxiliarists to understand the military way of doing things. We may try to come back to the ship later this summer, when Eagle is sailing stateside.”

The Coast Guard Auxiliary was established by Congress in 1939 to promote safety, security and stewardship. Following passage of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1996, the auxiliary assists the Coast Guard in the performance of any function, duty, role, mission or operation authorized by law.

To learn more about the Coast Guard Auxiliary, visit the official Web site at www.uscgaux.org.