Good evening, everyone. Commodore Seibert, Past Commodores, senior leaders, ladies and gentlemen thank you. And Gene, thank you for the kind introduction.

Admiral Collins sends his best to all of you and asked me to thank each of you for the terrific work you do for the Coast Guard and the nation.

Perhaps I should have said for the world. My understanding is that we not only have the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary well represented tonight, but we also have several international representatives attending again this year. Welcome to all of you and thank you for your willingness to partner with us. We have long recognized the value of international partnerships. Indeed, they are an important element of our maritime security strategy, so i am pleased to welcome so many of you here.

I know I have told some of you about my first encounter with the Auxiliary. It came late in my career. I was a full Commander, serving as the operations officer at Air Station Cape Cod. One day I was tasked with filling in for my Commanding Officer at an Auxiliary change of watch. Surprisingly, I knew next to nothing about the Auxiliary. So, I did some homework. Of course I learned that the Auxiliary was an all volunteer force that helped the Coast Guard accomplish Coast Guard missions. As I drafted my remarks all I could think of to say was thank you. I enjoyed the camaraderie that evening, and I still do, but I have always thought it important that those of us serving on active duty say thank you on occasions like this. Thank you.

You have been terrific partners. Moreover, you have been the willing victims of mission creep. This has been going on form many years, but it accelerated after the 9/11 terrorists attacks. Post 9/11 we asked you to do more, including new missions. The Auxiliary response was magnificent! Moreover, you not only took on new and different missions, but you did so while continuing to do what you had done before! I know. I checked. Partial 2005 metrics for traditional missions show 114 lives saved, 3,574 persons assisted, nearly $18m in property saved and over 100,000 hours of safety, regatta, chart verification, environmental protection and marine safety patrols. This does not include your marine safety work in our new prevention departments.

We all know how much the work of our Coast Guard has changed since 9/11. Just one metric might be that pre 9/11 port security operations was less than 2% of our work. Now it is about 25%.

As the Coast Guard’s work changed we asked the Auxiliary to change its work too. That is why I think the theme of your conference hits the mark. “Sailing the winds of progress … charting our course to the future.” The fact that you are talking about charting a course to the future implies that the new course will be different.

Of course you know that because the helm is over and it has been since before 9/11, but especially post 9/11.

One example is operation patriot readiness continues to add tremendous value to our surveillance, detection and identification efforts.
More recently, Auxiliary contributions to America’s Waterways Watch have made a significant difference. This is an important program headed by our office of port security. While the program is important, we simply lack the active duty Coast Guard resources to do it. In this instance the Auxiliary has become a first line of defense against terrorism and a vital element of the “shield of freedom.”

The program is working! Here is a recent example. The Captain of a tour boat in Miami was conducting a tour when he notices something out of the ordinary, something his America’s Waterways Watch training had taught him to look for. The Captain became suspicious when a man with a strong middle eastern accent brought a video camera aboard and sat next to the Captain and engaged him in conversation. Because of his training the Captain was able to identify the oddity of the situation – the camera the man was holding was not trained on the horizon or the harbor sights as did the other tourists. Instead his camera was pointed straight at the bridge and under the bridge at the pylons. Also, the man was asking unusual questions like, could he get close enough to the bridge to climb onto it? He asked what security was like around the cruise ships in Miami harbor as they passed by, and if the Captain thought anyone would notice if he drove a seadoo close to one of them.

The Captain went below and called authorities as he was instructed by the Waterway’s Watch program. The Coast Guard detained the suspicious man at the pier for questioning when the tour ended. Later, the FBI took custody to the man, who turned out to be an Al Queda operative conducting surveillance of bridges and cruise ships. Previously this man had tried to purchase 10,000 pounds of explosives in NYC. The man is now in jail. This was one of many terrorists’ interdictions you didn’t read about in the papers.

Having done some charting myself I know that charting a new course isn’t easy. But you have a master helm, Commodore Gene Seibert and his staff have are doing a terrific job. Commodore Bill Edgerton passed the baton on November 1st of 2004. Commodore Seibert brought three watchwords – ready, responsive, and resolute – and hit the ground running.
You recently completed a revision of the Auxiliary operations policy manual. Having been written 10-years ago, the manual was severely out-dated, overly complicated, and hard to read. A talented team undertook this difficult task, and with diligence and the wind at their backs rewrote the “bible” of the Auxiliary. They reformatted it, electronically mapped it, and placed it online. The rewrite clarified procedures for surface and aviation operations and included descriptions and metrics for accomplishing the new ports waterways and coastal security mission.

As always, in charting a course, we’re looking over the horizon and thinking beyond the present about what will, or could happen, in two, five, ten, or twenty years from now.

Again, looking to the future, the Auxiliary designed a new contingency planner specialty. This is a terrifically thoughtful and useful addition. As an Area Commander the staff function that we were least capable of performing was contingency planning. Good contingency planning is the key to coordinated responses to homeland security threats and just as natural disaster response and recovery evolutions like we are currently engaged in along the Gulf Coast. Good planning is critical. Our operational success depends on it.

For several years now the Auxiliary, led by Past Commodore Tucker, has become a valuable international force multiplier – a partner if you will – in the Caribbean search and rescue initiative, or the CSAR. The CSAR had their 2005 subject matter expert exchange (SMEE) conference this past June in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The stakeholders represented 12 nations, the U. S. Southern command, and the Auxiliary, who helped organize the original gathering four years ago. They all came together to exchange information and best practices that would help emerging nations develop a volunteer search and rescue capability. “Progress” was a word rightfully heard many times during the CSAR 2005 SMEE Conference as the participants worked to improve their search and rescue competencies. Not surprisingly, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary was the role-model those nations want to emulate.

Auxiliarists were terrific role-models in another setting too this past summer. The Auxiliary was in force at the 2005 National Boy Scout Jamboree with 75,000 scouts, leaders and staff from 25 countries. It was the largest Jamboree since 1964 … and, the hottest with a heat index of well above 100 degrees. In fact, on July 27th, the hottest day of the entire year, Auxiliarists, working with other members of Team Coast Guard, attended to over 500 Boy Scouts who needed medical attention as a result of the extreme temperatures. Once again, the over 300 Auxiliarists, including some physicians, nurses, and emergency medical technicians were resolute in their commitment to provide aid and assistance to those in need. Those heroes prevented potential significant heat related ailments and perhaps even fatalities.
As I work my way toward conclusion, I want to pay tribute to two Auxiliarists who exemplify both our core values and Commodore Seibert’s watchwords.
First, is Private First Class Kevin Wessel, a member of both the U. S. Army and Yaquina Bay, Oregon’s Flotilla 69. He was the first-known Coast Guard Auxiliarist to be killed during the military operations in Iraq. Kevin, just 20 years old, died April 19th in Baghdad when a car bomb detonated near him while he was on foot patrol. Having always wanted to be in the military, Kevin applied to the Coast Guard, but couldn’t endure the two year wait that stood between him and boot camp. So, he went to the Army and enlisted. But, he couldn’t shake his love for the work that we do in the Coast Guard. So, he applied to the Auxiliary. Leora Johnson, Flotilla 69’s Flotilla Commander at the time, said that Kevin took the new member examination, passing it with a perfect score, just one day after he received the Auxiliary's resource guide and voluminous manual. He was so motivated to join that he had read the materials from cover to cover the night before. Flotilla members remembered Kevin as “a hell of a kid” and have been heard to say that he was "where he wanted to be, doing what he wanted to do because he felt he could make a difference. That applies to all of you as well.

The second is Mr. Charles Greanoff. Mr. Greanoff is a Past National Commodore and a public servant who, through his membership in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, has logged over 62 years of service to our country. Charlie continues to serve today at 90 years of age. Charlie joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary in 1943 – just four years after it was established! He came directly to us after he was released from the Army … Charlie joined us just in time to become a member of Flotilla 73, a port security unit that was responsible for protecting the port of Cleveland, the Cuyahoga River and all of Cleveland’s bridges. And, as we say in the Coast Guard, it was the start of a beautiful relationship!
Charlie, and 49 thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine of his colleagues, were part of a team of our greatest generation of Americans who performed as Auxiliarists and temporary reservists during World War II. Their contribution to the defense of our country lay in the astounding number of active-duty-Coast Guardsmen they freed up for duty overseas. I’m sorry Charlie couldn’t be here with us so we could show him how much we appreciate all he and his shipmates did for the Auxiliary and the nation. However I hope his network of friends and supporters will let him know we talked about this evening and how much we appreciate his continued service.

Both of these Auxiliarists exemplify what the Auxiliary is all about. And, finally, our Auxiliary is making a big difference in changing the way we, as a nation, maintain maritime awareness and security in our ports, waterways and coastal waters.

These are very exciting and challenging times to be wearing a Coast Guard uniform … to be a part of the Coast Guard team … to be making a difference to our country’s maritime safety and security. 9/11 attacked our sense of security and changed the way we view and live in our world.

It whipped the winds of change that swept across our nation, our service, our world, and shook foundations that have stood firm through much of time. The winds of change and progress are dynamic and ever-shifting – just like the wind that powers a sailboat. And, just as with the winds that affect a sailboat, we have to know both the direction and strength of the winds of change … they’re important in setting our sails and maintaining control of the organizational boat so we can follow our charted course.

From my vantage point, the Auxiliary has done an excellent job of adjusting their sails, and charting their course to the future. They’ve taken actions, developed systems, and reacted to the unexpected in such a way as to make them ready and able to develop answers for the next decade.

Auxiliarists have a fitting slogan with which I wholeheartedly agree: “a proud tradition, a worthy mission.” True to every word, you continue to be the shining example of dedication and volunteerism we have come to depend on. Thank you to each and every one of you for your unselfish readiness, your responsiveness, your resolve and your devotion to duty – 66 years ago in 1939, four years ago in 2001, today and tomorrow.

Semper Paratus.