Welcome Aboard The CGC Morgenthau
February 5, 2006
Greetings from USCGC MORGENTHAU! This is the third report of our current deployment. We hope to keep you well informed of the great accomplishments and happenings of the Coast Guard Pacific Area’s ship of choice – the United States Coast Guard Cutter Morgenthau.
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The Coast Guard Cutter Morgenthau, homeported in Alameda, Ca.
Photo by Tony Gillilan.
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From The Bridge:
Captain M. E. Sullivan
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It's hard to believe another week has come to a close. We've been very busy, as you'll read below, so that has made the time go by faster. Although we have no seizure onboard - yet - we are in the hunt and closing in on the prize. The crew has performed magnificently and every day I get to sail with them is another day extremely well spent. They are doing you proud, serving their country, their service, and their ship. I am truly fortunate to be a shipmate of each and every one of them, and can honestly say that there is no other ship like this in the fleet. Know that we are well, working hard, and doing a good job out here. Thank you for your continued support. Best Regards, Captain Sullivan sends.
The Week in Review…
Sunset of the Week
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Routine has set in, and the week flew by. For a very long deployment as ours, we set a fairly fixed weekly routine. Of course, the routine of the day gets thrown out the window if we have urgent operations arise (such as a drug case) or if an emergency occurs. Generally though, we stick to a fairly generic weekly schedule:
• Mondays: Department & Division training in the morning; Engineering Training Team drills and exercises and law enforcement training in the afternoon.
• Tuesdays: Junior Officer training for Engineers; and all-hands emergency drills in the afternoon.
• Wednesdays: Damage Control Petty Officer maintenance and junior officer training in the morning; more Engineering training and law enforcement training in the afternoon; Flight Deck movie night.
• Thursdays: Department/Division training in the morning; general military training and live gunfire exercises in the afternoon.
• Fridays: Underway Officer of the Deck training in the morning; all-hands emergency drills (or more complicated integrated training drills) in the afternoon.
• Saturdays: Field Day (ship wide cleaning) followed by inspection, and then Morale Night in the evening concluding with Flight Deck Movie night.
• Sundays: Underway Holiday Routine; non-denominational services in the morning.
And then add:
• Twice-daily flight operations with our helicopter
• Nightly damage control training for new crewmembers
• Weekly advanced team damage control training for more experienced crewmembers
• A daily operations brief
• Nightly planning meetings for Department Heads at Evening Reports
• Daily small boat operations for training/proficiency
• Introduction to Business classes on Sunday and Wednesday
• Introduction to Computer Information Systems classes on Sunday and Monday
LTjg Steve Arnwine prepares for pepper spray
training on the flight deck
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That’s our typical BUSY week at sea. One can see how the intensity skyrockets when we’re active on a drug case or have to conduct a search and rescue mission suddenly. We did have a few departures from the weekly routine this week. We conducted some intense night flight operations on Monday night, practicing landings in extremely low-light conditions using night-vision goggles, as well as nighttime small boat operations on both Monday and Tuesday nights. Our law enforcement team built their rosters and recruited new members on Wednesday with the ever-popular pepper spray evolution. Before team members are allowed to carry pepper spray for force protection reasons, they must first be pepper sprayed themselves. LTjg Elizabeth Gillis, our lead law enforcement coordinator, promised new members that “it really doesn’t hurt!”—but of course it does.
CDR Mark Dietrich teaches Computer Science to
sleepy students
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The newsletter editor can attest from personal experience that your face feels like it’s on fire for an hour, and then the fire dies to burning embers for another hour. We had fifteen crewmembers brave the training and are now certified to carry pepper spray. Our live fire exercise on Thursday had to be rescheduled for Friday due to operations, and we did get the chance to conduct a .50 caliber
machine gun exercise, coordinated by our Gunnery Officer, ENS Miles Jenkins, and our Gunnery Division Chief, GMC Mark Jacobs.
GM3 Dan Baenziger does what he
does best: squint and point.
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The engineers were our guest chefs for Saturday’s morale night and cooked a great feast of baby back ribs and rib tips. The Morale Committee hosted a Pictionary tournament Saturday night, which was so popular that it lasted nearly two hours. And it was “Crazy Hat” night, always a keeper. Top prize went to CTI3 Amanda Flora (one of our U.S. Navy operations specialist supplementing our Combat Information Center division), who won a $25 gift certificate to a store of her choice. SK2 Mike Simonetti won second place with FS3 Alex Alonso taking show at third place.
Division in the Spotlight by ENS Pete Hsu
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The bright white hull of a Coast Guard cutter easily distinguishes it from other ships on the high seas. What isn’t quite so obvious at first glance is all the hard work the men and women of deck force put in to keep our 38 year old ship in such excellent condition.
SN Mike Bongiorno and SN Ryan Dunn attest that
Deck Force is an especially close knit group.
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Seaman Richard Spicer says the life of a “deckie” contains a lot of “painting and sanding.” Or as Seaman Craig Morrill puts it, “We take care of the cosmetics of the ship.”
Despite this, SN Spicer, who along with Boatswain’s Mate Third Class Jessica Young is in charge of the rescue and survival gear, is quick to point out that there is a lot more to deck force that simply “husbandry of the ship.”
“Any time we have flight quarters, we have to have a coxswain crewman,” he explains. Although the coxswain may be the most coveted position, the coxswain is not the only member of deck force who is busy. “All the other personnel, they’re the ones who make the boat get into the water… Without the deckies, the boat’s not getting wet.”
Deckies serve on anchor detail, are on the tie down crew, take care of line handling when the ship pulls into port, and mess cook. “When they’re not doing that,” SN Spicer says, “they’re standing watch up on the bridge.”
Weapons Dept Flight Deck Warriors,
led byBMCS Darren Davis
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Seaman Matt Morin explained some of the differences between life at sea and life on land: “On a normal day, everyone wakes up as late as they can, around 0730, and goes to muster to get their work assignment.”
SN Matt Morin continues to explain that actually getting that assignment done can be difficult because “most of the time we get interrupted with boat ops or flight quarters - helo ops.”
The daily menial tasks are also interrupted by experiences that are unavailable on land. “Two weeks after I got here,” SN Morrill says, “I was picking bales of cocaine out of the water.”
Berthing areas for deck force, most of whom came to MORGENTAU straight out of boot camp, are not exactly luxurious. “Having your own rack, that’s your personal space you can escape to.” SN Morrill explains that when “living with 20 guys, sometimes you say ‘OK, I need to get away.’”
YN3 Jessika Garay rubs MK2 Jesse
Ridgeway’s belly for good luck
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When the day is done, you can “hang out on the reck deck, talk to everything, or play video games.”
The cramped quarters and shared experiences also breed a special bond that can’t be gained at a land station. SN Morin explains “You have 20 people living in space that’s not that big; you’re bound to find someone you mesh with.” The best thing on the boat is “all the friendships I’ve made, that I’m going to keep.
“The Coast Guard is small enough” to stay in touch with people.
SN Spicer, who is striking boatswain’s mate, says “There’s just something about being underway. It’s quiet out here. It’s not an experience a lot of people can say they’ve had.”
The members of deck force, under the leadership of CWO2 James Bigbie and BMCS Darren Davis are: BM2 Sean McMullen, BM2 Nate Fraze, BM3 Matt Jones, BM3 Chris Kuhr, BM3 Caleb Paramo, BM3 Raquel Spear, BM3 Jessica Young, SN Sean Bahl, SA Wayne Benson, SN Mike Bongiorno, SA Max Bridges, SN Dan Brown, SN Julio Cardenez, SN John Clare, SA Josh Dalton, SN Ryan Dunn, SN Adam Durham, SN Ben Engle, SN Nick Helbert, SN Robert Hill, SN Amanda Jenkins, SN Tom Killacky, SN Caleb “KP” Kirpatrick, SA Dan Moraga, SA Matt Morin, SN Mike Morrill, SN Ruben Nieves, SN Jon Pangelinan, SN Jay Reynolds, SN Al Rodriguez, SR Kevin Sherman, SN Rick Spicer, SA Robert Todd.
Crew Recognition This Week:
• LTJG Steve Arnwine was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• EM2 Jason Barnick celebrated a Birthday on 04 Feb
• OS2 Dustin Bingham was advanced to OS2 and was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Combat Information Center
• OS2 Jeremy Borja was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Combat Information Center
• SK1 Brent Buchholz was awarded his second Good Conduct Award
• MKC John Buckley certified Engineering Throttleman
• DC2 Andrea Cooper was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• FNMK Jason Costley certified generator watchstander
• DCC Russell Cox was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• OS3 Brandon Debetham celebrated a Birthday on 04 Feb
• OSC Brian Dorsey was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Combat Information Center
• LT Michael Fisher was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• OS2 Pascal Fraisse was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Combat Information Center
• LTJG Elizabeth Gillis was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team, and was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Combat Information Center, and she found ten dollars.
• FN Shane Gorton was selected as MORGENTHAU’s Non-Rate of the Month.
• FN Jason Gregg certified security watchstander
• EM2 Timothy Ironimo certified Auxiliary watchstander
• OS2 Griffin Hall was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Combat Information Center
• FN Austin Hannasch certified Generator watchstander
• OS2 Kim Hawkins was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team and was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Combat Information Center
• SN Nicolai Helbert certified Helm Lookout
• ET2 Brandon Hewitt was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• BM3 Matthew Jones was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• SN Kaleb Kirkpatrick certified underway BMOW
• BM3 Christopher Kuhr was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• SN Christopher Lopez was awarded his one year Sea Service Ribbon
• MK2 Charles Malinski was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• BM2 Sean Mcmullen was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• ET2 Greg Meyer was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• ETC Phillip Miller was awarded his fifth Good Conduct Award
• SN Michael Morrill certified Helo Tie Down Crew
• SN Ruben Nieves was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team and certified Master Helmsman
• FS3 Luis Noriega was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• SN Johnathan Pangelinan certified Helm Lookout
• BM3 Caleb Paramo was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• OS2 Thomas Proctor awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Combat Information Center
• OS1 Alfredo Rivera was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Combat Information Center
• SN Alberto Rodriguez certified Helm Lookout
• SR Kevin Sherman certified Helm Lookout
• SK2 Michael Simonetti was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• OS2 Brian Soto was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Combat Information Center
• SN Richard Spicer certified underway BMOW
• Captain Michael Sullivan celebrated a Birthday on 05 Feb
• SA Robert Todd certified Helm Lookout
• BMC Robert Walper was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• DC2 John White was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team
• OS1 Eric Willett was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Law Enforcement Team and was awarded the CG Meritorious Team Commendation Ribbon, Combat Information Center
We’ll See You All Soon…
We’ll be safe out here on the high seas – you be safe too at home, and thank you for your support, e-mails and care packages! We’re thinking of you all the time.
Best regards,
The Officers, Chiefs and Crew of
USCGC MORGENTHAU (WHEC 722)
“Decus Pacifici – Pride of the Pacific”
Send care packages to:
USCGC MORGENTHAU (WHEC 722)
FPO AP 96672-3916
Visit us at: http://www.uscg.mil/pacarea/MORGENTHAU
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