I got this in an e-mail today... thought I'd pass it along....

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Note: forwarded message attached.



Subject: Fw: USCG Job Well Done



A pleasure to pass this on. Bob
----- Original Message -----
From:

Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 9:30 PM
Subject: Fw: USCG Job Well Done


Hi Zoomer and all! Congressional recognition well deserved. Passing it on. Thanks. ttyl, :-) Bob, etc.

And I'll bet you your next paycheck that each and every one of these Coasties involved in this rescue would tell you 'I'm only doing my job'...... That's the way ALL our military people are........even the Other Four services. Old Cost Guard, new Coast Guard....the real tradition still holds true....saving lives at sea. Bravo Zulu to 'em all who keep that tradition alive!
Zoomer

ALASKA SENATOR LISA MURKOWSKI LAUDS USCG'S EFFORTS IN THE ALASKA RANGER RESCUE

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
Senate - March 31, 2008
Page: S2218

UNITED STATES COAST GUARD --

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, many of my fellow Americans are very aware of the exhilaration but also the dangers and risks of commercial fishing in
Alaska's Bering Sea. The pictures and the stories--and even the sounds--are
brought into our living rooms every week on the Discovery Channel program
``The Deadliest Catch.'' Many have seen it.

When the Bering Sea fishing fleet finds itself in trouble, they rely on the
men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard to truly make order from the chaos.
These stories have not escaped Hollywood's attention. It is not only seen on
``The Deadliest Catch,'' but there was a 2006 feature film, ``The
Guardian,'' starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher, which paid tribute to
the Coast Guard search and rescue teams based at Air Station Kodiak in
Alaska.
Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak is home to aircrews and rescue swimmers who
endure some of the harshest winds and seas in the world. They put their own
lives on the line every day so that others may live.

The events that were depicted in ``The Guardian'' were fictional, but the
events that transpired this past Easter morning in the Bering Sea were very
real. I rise today to honor the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard who
participated in efforts to rescue the 47-member crew of the fishing vessel
Alaska Ranger. As a direct result of these heroic efforts, 42 members of the
Ranger's crew survived. There were no Coast Guard lives lost. In the words
of RADM Arthur Brooks, commander of the Seventeenth Coast Guard District, it
was ``one of the greatest search and rescue efforts in modern history.''

Let me kind of paint the scene fo r you. It was 2:52 a.m. local time on
Easter Sunday, March 23, that the Alaska Ranger, a Seattle- based factory
trawler, radioed the Coast Guard Communications Station Kodiak with a
distress call. The vessel at that time was located 120 miles west of Dutch
Harbor at the end of the Aleutian Chain. The vessel was taking on water.
There were 25-knot winds and seas 6 to 8 feet high.

The Coast Guard immediately launched a rescue effort. There was a cutter,
two helicopters, and a C-130. The crew of the Ranger had to abandon ship
before the first Coast Guard asset arrived.

First to arrive on the scene is a Coast Guard Jayhawk Rescue Helicopter,
deployed from St. Paul Island, located about 230 miles to the north of where
the Alaska Ranger was at the time.

The Jayhawk carried a crew of four men. There was no backup.
The Jayhawk arrives on the scene about 5:30 a.m. This is about
2 1/2 hours after the first distress call. This helps put in perspective

the distances with which we are dealing. By this point in time, the Alaska
Ranger has already sunk in the water. The vessel is completely gone. It has
already sunk in water that is more than 6,300 feet deep.

The air crew flies in and looks upon thi s sea of flashing strobe lights.
Keep in mind, this is 5:30 in the morning. It is still dark.
They have wind and sleet and waves coming up, and they see this sea of
flashing strobe lights, probably a mile end to end.
They are looking down at this scene through the helicopter thinking there is
a light there: Is that a liferaft? Yet another light and another light. Each
light is a member of the Ranger's crew wearing a survival suit. Some are in
liferafts, but others were literally in this human chain stretching almost a
mile in length.
Others are floating alone. The water temperature in the sea is about 32
degrees.

Rescue swimmer O'Brien Hollow is lowered into the water to triage the
survivors. One by one, he positions the survivors to be hoisted into the
h elicopter above. The helicopter is tossing above in these very heavy winds.
Hollow is tethered to the helicopter from above.

We also have then the Coast Guard cutter Munro. It has been diverted from
its position 130 nautical miles south of the incident. It is racing to the
scene at the speed of about 30 knots.

The Munro carries a Dolphin rescue helicopter which lifts off the Munro some
80 miles before the cutter arrives at the scene.

Rescue swimmer Abram Heller is lowered into the water and begins to gather
victims to be hoisted into the basket to be lifted up into the helicopter.
Heller stays in the water to make room on the Dolphin for survivors.

One has to remember, they have some 47 men in the water. They are trying to lift them into the basket and then into the helicopter,
but the helicopter can only accommodate so many people. The rescue swimmer
is saying: I am going to stay down here; move this group to safety.

The Jayhawk then departs the scene for the Munro, but the Jayhawk cannot
land on the cutter's deck because it is too big. So the Jayhawk crew hoists
the survivors down to the Munro's deck one by one. Just as they have been
lifting survivors out of the sea into this helicopter that is pitching
around in the air, they now have to be dropped down to the deck one at a
time in the basket.

In the meantime, a fuel line is sent up from the Munro's deck to refuel the
Jayhawk, and it then departs to the scene.

The Jayhawk recovers Heller, the rescue swimmer who has been down there with
the survivors, and rescues more survivors. In total, the Jayhawk is
responsible for saving
15 lives. The Dolphin saves five lives.

The third player in this supremely heroic effort is a Coast Guard C-130,
which circled over the scene serving as an airborne coordination and
communications platform.

The Coast Guard also received substantial assistance from the Ranger's
sister fishing vessel, the Alaska Warrior. The Alaska Warrior also had been
out on the Alaska fishing grounds. They left their fishing grounds to pick
up 22 survivors from the Ranger who were in liferafts and then returned them
to Dutch Harbor.

Unfortunately, four of the Ranger's crew members could not be saved. One
still remains unaccounted for. The Coast Guard sent the Jayhawk and a C-130
back to the scene with fresh crews to search for the missing mariner but
without success. The search for the missing crew member was suspended on
Tuesday, March 25.

The Coast Guard uses the maritime phrase ``Bravo Zulu''
to recognize a job well done, and this was truly a job well done. While the
Coast Guard rigorously trains its people to perform this mission, it is very
rare to undertake a mission of this intensity and this complexity.

Rescue swimmers Hollow and Heller had participated in rescues bef ore but
nothing approaching th is kind of a rescue.
In fact, rescues of this nature are extremely rare. After very carefully
examining the records dating back over 30 years, the Coast Guard could only
find a couple mass rescue cases that were even remotely similar to what we
experienced on Easter.

While dramatic search-and-rescue cases are no stranger to Alaska, most
involve 10 victims or less. Others involve a much more orderly abandonment
of a vessel. This was the case in 1980, when the cruise ship Prinsendam went
down near Yakutat, AK. But large numbers of peop le abandoning ship directly
into the water hardly ever happens. That is one more reason why this rescue
effort was remarkable.
But it is not the only reason.

The risks that were involved in this case were extreme.
They had, again, darkness, extremely high winds, high seas, ice, freezing
temperatures, extremely long distances from any supporting infrastructure,
and all these conditions present unique hazards to the rescuers.

Success such as this could not occur without the commitment of a great many
people. The crews of the Jayhawk, the Dolphin, and the Munro will long be
remembered for their heroism.

Backing them were the watch standers at Coast Guard Communications Station
Kodiak. These were the folks w ho answered the Alaska Ranger's mayday call.
The C-130 crews, the Kodiak Air Station duty officers, and the District 17
command center controllers in Juneau also contributed. In total, something
on the order of 170 Alaska-based Coast Guard men and women were involved in
this effort.

ADM Thad Allen has already expressed ``Bravo Zulu''
to all the men and women involved with this effort. I am honored to take a
few minutes from the Senate's day to praise these men and women of the U.S.
Coast Guard on a job well done. Our Nation is always well served by these
highly trained individua ls who stand ``always ready.''



CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
Senate - March 31, 2008
Page: S2218



Wray....

I ran into Capt Phil today from the show "Deadliest Catch." The smoking lamp was lit and we discussed the closure of the Elbow Room and how Dutch Harbor has grown. We are a pain in the arse but much appreciated by his profession for the services you provide up there.

Talk about a fish out of water. I believe Capt Phil is used to hanging with a different crew then what he faced today. Its a bit of a leap from the Elbow Room to the Biltmore in Scottsdale where he was touring with Alaskan Brewing and attending a craft brewing showcase. He said he hangs today at the Grand Aleutian since the Elbow Room closed down(four star last time I was up there around '94 when when the hotel opened).

Most of the brewers and importers booked a hotel next to my bar to facilitate a "small" after party. Sadly, Alaskan wasn't part of the bunch. I would've enjoyed a few more beers with him. We don't get much salt out here in the desert.

Great post Wray! GOD bless the families of those who have been lost.Without the Coast Guard we would be in a world of hurt.GOD bless all the men and women of that fine service!

Whats the deal with this thread it posts on all of the topics every time

Wray - thank you for sharing that with us. Although I know the "feature in all forums" can be a bit of a pain sometimes I felt your post was worthy of it.

Sarge - there is a feature that the moderators can use to feature a post on all the discussions; the rescue that was performed was of epic heroic porportions; and as the lead Coast Guard Forums Moderator I felt it was worthy of letting all hands know...

Tim, thanks for letting everyone see it.. Great Idea....

Sarge, we here on the CG Forums have had to deal with topics such as "BAD VOODOO'S WAR" & "Five Year Anniversary" for quite a while... as I was told, if you don't like it just ignore it....

Wray...

He-he-he-he,

You guys know that it's kind of a insult to call a Army 1SGT "Sarge". Seriously, when you do that in the Army the response screamed back in your face is: "What did you call me? a sarge is a fish that eats sh*t at the bottom of the Ocean." (heh-heh). You only make that mistake once.

He deserves the abuse though for everything he has posted in the past about the 101st.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ErichG2,

quote:

Originally posted by ErichG2:
He-he-he-he,

You guys know that it's kind of a insult to call a Army 1SGT "Sarge". Seriously, when you do that in the Army the response screamed back in your face is: "What did you call me? a sarge is a fish that eats sh*t at the bottom of the Ocean." (heh-heh). You only make that mistake once.

He deserves the abuse though for everything he has posted in the past about the 101st.

I always though "Sarge" was the fat, snaggled tooth Sergeant in Beetle Baily.

Sarge in this case is a familiar address. 1SGT is a formal address, used by troops.

Thank you for sharing the message, Wray. Our prayers continue to be with those whose loved ones were lost during this case.

This rescue and the resulting investigation have been getting a lot of press and tv coverage in the Seattle/Olympia area. Congratulations to everyone involved in this extraordinary rescue mission. Once again, an effort like this displays to everyone the amazing rescue professionals and teamwork we have in our U.S. Coast Guard...

G2,

quote:

You guys know that it's kind of a insult to call a Army 1SGT "Sarge". Seriously, when you do that in the Army the response screamed back in your face is: "What did you call me? a sarge is a fish that eats sh*t at the bottom of the Ocean." (heh-heh). You only make that mistake once.

I'm sure the retired Master Chief (E9) meant no disrespect.

Actually it was me who referred to the 1st Sargent as "Sarge". I think, maybe with 30 years of active duty and retiring as a Chief Warrant Officer 4 I know the difference between paygrades. Not that my active duty pay grade really matters (to anyone but me) now...have fun - I am. The thread is about an epic heroic effort by many people including a sister fishing boat crew to rescue fellow mariner's lives...

quote:

Originally posted by ErichG2:
He-he-he-he,

You guys know that it's kind of a insult to call a Army 1SGT "Sarge". Seriously, when you do that in the Army the response screamed back in your face is: "What did you call me? a sarge is a fish that eats sh*t at the bottom of the Ocean." (heh-heh). You only make that mistake once.

He deserves the abuse though for everything he has posted in the past about the 101st.

Well, in my day in the Army, you NEVER called a 1SG "First Sergeant", except for Basic Training.

He/She was always "Top".

A very good friend of mine has a son who was one of the Jayhawk pilots in a very recent rescue in that area. I wonder if this is the same instance.

quote:

Well, in my day in the Army, you NEVER called a 1SG "First Sergeant", except for Basic Training.

Jerry - what exactly was the enlisted rank structure in the Continental Army?

And in boot camp heaven help those who called a Chief, Sir - but only once...

One more for the Coast Guard!

Esther, yes, one more among many..... it's nice my friends send me this stuff when they get it...

Wray...

Keep on keeping on. I was amazed at the post's you made

quote:

Originally posted by Hooligan1790:
G2,

quote:

You guys know that it's kind of a insult to call a Army 1SGT "Sarge". Seriously, when you do that in the Army the response screamed back in your face is: "What did you call me? a sarge is a fish that eats sh*t at the bottom of the Ocean." (heh-heh). You only make that mistake once.

I'm sure the retired Master Chief (E9) meant no disrespect.

... and to add to that, if the retired Master Chief or CWO4 intended disrespect, there would have been no doubt in anyones mind about it.

Oh, and like the sign on the wall in the Chiefs Mess 29 years ago (when I was the Chief's messcook): "Once I thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken".

--Jim
Life is good!

"Once I thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken"

Jim, Didn't you know, I wrote that....

Wray...