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Flotilla played key role after Katrina struck
Crew set up radio after storm to help Coast Guard direct rescue operations

Wednesday, October 17, 2007By GEORGE WERNETHStaff Reporter

Mobile-based Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 3-9 played a key role in the immediate response to Hurricane Katrina after it wracked the central Gulf Coast a little over two years ago, and the unit continues today to help in the recovery effort.

The flotilla -- which has some 55 volunteer members from an array of walks of life -- quickly responded after Katrina slammed into the central Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, members noted in a recent interview.

Immediately after Katrina passed, Flotilla 3-9 members aided the Coast Guard by using the 43-foot trawler Argo to survey the Mobile Ship Channel and other local channels to determine the extent of damage done to buoys and other navigation markers, said Jim Patterson, 60, a member from Mobile. Patterson, an information technology specialist with the FBI's Mobile Office, said the flotilla undertook the mission because local Coast Guard vessels had been removed from the area for safety reasons as Katrina approached.

"Communications at Coast Guard Sector Mobile and the Coast Guard Aviation Training Center were all down," after Katrina struck, Patterson noted. "An auxiliary member went to the ATC and installed a portable Marine VHF radio." Also, he noted, another member of the auxiliary unit, Rene Stiegler, owns WLO -- a Marine radio station. Patterson said Stiegler altered his equipment to the same frequency as the Coast Guard to provide the Coast Guard's only radio communications in the Katrina-devastated area."

The Mobile ATC was the staging site for scores of Coast Guard helicopters who rescued thousands of stranded Katrina victims from the rooftops of New Orleans and along the Mississippi coast. Wayne Kindred, a civilian employee of Sector Mobile who acts as a liaison between the Coast Guard and the auxiliary, noted that the rescues could not have been made without the communications.

"In other words," said another Flotilla 3-9 member, Fairn Whatley, 40, of Mobile, with a laugh, "without our assistance, I don't know what the Coast Guard would have done."

Flotilla 3-9 remains active in the Katrina recovery effort, noted Whatley. Since September 2006, the flotilla has been providing a half-dozen boats to be used to transport Coast Guard officials to and from debris cleanup sites in navigable waters along the Mississippi coast, she said. She said the officials are overseeing the debris removal being done by contractors.

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary has about 27,000 members, according to the organization's Web site, nws.cgaux.org, and was established by Congress in 1939. Their services include making requested vessel safety checks; conducting boating safety classes; and helping in search and rescue missions and marine environmental protection.

Flotilla 3-9 meets at 7 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month in the auditorium of the Mobile Gas Service Corp., 2828 Dauphin St.

The flotilla's members include teachers, doctors, pilots and others and the members include retirees and persons who are still working for a living. It is open to people 17 and older, noted Kindred, who added: "If they can walk, we'll take them."

Whatley, an artist, said she joined because, "I love volunteerism and I love the water." Of the reasons others join, she said, "I think volunteerism is important to all of us."

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I was misquoted!!!

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"If they can walk, we'll take them."

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It actually surprised me when I learned exactly how controlled the Aux was when it came to actual public affairs

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Remember that anything you say or do can be a positive or negative reflection on the organization. When dealing with the media and the public, the first thing you want to remember is –“DO NO HARM.” It is important to make sure that nothing you say, write or do harms our national security, the mission of the Coast Guard, the reputation of the Coast Guard in general, the Auxiliary in particular, and to the people we seek to serve.

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To make sure we do no harm, District Seven has a review policy that must be followed without exception.

For the routine announcement of local meetings and classes, review by the Flotilla Commander, Vice Commander, Division or Vice Captain is appropriate. For any other material, review by an ADSO or DSO-PA or ADSO or DSO-PB for internal publication is mandatory. In matters where Operational or Security issues may be present, review should also be by the appropriate level Elected Officer. Materials written by those in leadership are not exempt from review and a second set of eyes should review all material going out.

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When dealing with the media and the public, the first thing you want to remember is –“DO NO HARM.”

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To make sure we do no harm, District Seven has a review policy that must be followed without exception.

For the routine announcement of local meetings and classes, review by the Flotilla Commander, Vice Commander, Division or Vice Captain is appropriate. For any other material, review by an ADSO or DSO-PA or ADSO or DSO-PB for internal publication is mandatory. In matters where Operational or Security issues may be present, review should also be by the appropriate level Elected Officer. Materials written by those in leadership are not exempt from review and a second set of eyes should review all material going out.