Mel Borofsky and Nick Tarlson, a couple of the originators of SITREP, were at the banquet.

Picture 300 men and women in their Auxiliary formal attire and their spouses and guests in their suits and gowns. The business of the conference has concluded and the attendees are participating in one last gathering before departing to the four corners of our country, and beyond.

Following a delicious meal National Commodore Seibert thanked the conference staff for their fine work of planning, scheduling and “putting out fires” as soon as they popped up.

Commodore Seibert read the credentials and then introduced Vice Admiral Terry Cross, Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard and the Keynote Speaker of the evening.

“Auxiliary Has Become A First Line of Defense”

VADM Terry Cross, told Auxiliarists assembled at NACON that the Auxiliary has become a “first line of defense” for our nation.

He cited the Auxiliary involvement in America’s Waterway Watch, and spoke of how training by the Auxiliary gave the Captain of a tour boat the skills to recognize suspicious activity by a passenger and alert authorities in a timely manner. Authorities detained the man and found that he was an Al Queda operative who had tried to buy explosives in New York City.

A Coast Guard Auxiliary boat, he said is more likely to see a problem than a regular Coast Guard boat because terrorists are less likely to recognize the Auxiliary boat for what it is.

“We have never had a more professional or better Auxiliary than we have today,” commented VADM Cross.

VADM Cross cited four important accomplishments by the Auxiliary in the past year.
1. The re-writing of the Auxiliary Operations Policy Manual.
2. The establishment of the new Contingency Planner specialty.
3. The International Program, where PNACO Tucker was cited as a “Force Multiplier.”
4. The work by Auxiliarists at this year’s Boy Scout Jamboree. Auxiliarists there attended to over 500 Scouts that needed medical attention.

VADM Cross cited two Auxiliarists as examples for all.
Army PFC Kevin Wessel, a member of Flotilla 69 in Yaquina Bay, Oregon, gave his life in service to his county in Iraq in April 2005, the first known Auxiliarist to be killed in military operations in Iraq.

Charles Greanoff, now 90 and a former National Commodore, was cited for his over 62 years of service to the Auxiliary. Greanoff joined the Auxiliary on 27August 1943 and was one of over 49,000 Auxiliarists serving during World War II.

Facing its present evolving mission and challenges, Cross commented, “The Auxiliary has done an absolutely terrific job adjusting their sails,” (to the winds of change).

Many distinctive awards were presented at the banquet; these awards will be enumerated in another SITREP-NACON column,

Editor’s note: Over 175 photos were taken at the Saturday night banquet. If you would like a copy of these photos, please email melborofsky@comcast.net with your request. Please include your postal mailing address. Look for the photo CD in about two or three weeks.

ALSO, a complete copy of Vice Admiral Cross’ remarks is included in SITREP’s NACON coverage. Click on "NACON top" above and click “VADM Cross Keynote Speech.”