Fred's Place - The Place To Meet Old Coast Guard Shipmates

Welcome Aboard The CGC Northland

Sepcial Edition - Christmas at Sea

We join the crew of the Cutter Northland underway on patrol.

ENS Lexy Trypuc will be keeping us updated during this deployment with weekly updates. Thanks, Lexy.

All photos are official Coast Guard photos.

The Coast Guard Cutter Northland, homeported in Portsmouth, Va.

Catchin' Up

Although underway for the holidays, the celebration must go on! NORTHLAND hosted a White Elephant gift swap for all those interested. All gifts had to be wrapped beforehand so they were unidentifiable. Everyone drew numbers out of a stocking to determine the order that they chose a gift in. Once it was someone’s turn to swipe a gift they could either take a new one or steal one from someone who already unwrapped it. The game boils down to one unwrapped gift and one person without a gift who can then either choose to take the risk of choosing the unwrapped gift or steal another. Some of the secret presents included CDs, chocolates, a camping chair, Nerf gun, maracas, a cowboy hat, a CG windsock, board games and a tomato growing kit. What a random variety!

Our culinary staff surely did not let us down when it came to satisfying our holiday meal cravings. The well planned and prepared meal included: Baked Tom Turkey, Baked Ham, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Sweet Potato Casserole, Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, Cranberry Sauce, Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Apple Crisp, Spice Cake, and White Chocolate Chip Cake. Delicious food definitely makes for a happy crew!

Thanks to our Ombudsman, Nichole McLeod, for helping coordinate stockings for everyone as well as family pictures on a holiday tree and present picture frames. Crewmembers woke up to stockings either in their racks, rack sacks or hanging in their berthing areas. They were the perfect touch for adding a little holiday spirit to begin the day. The pictures trees were hung on the messdeck for all to see and enjoy. Everyone was grateful for the time, effort and thought put into their photo presents.

The Morale Committee wanted to host an event in the spirit of the holidays. We decided on the first ever, “Northland Idol,” based off of the popular TV show, “American Idol.” The Morale Committee bought “Karaoke Revolution,” for Xbox 360 on the messdeck. We used this game and 3 judges with scorecards, 1-10. The 3 big winners were: 3rd place-SNSK Perkins singing, “American Boy,” by Estelle and Kanye West, 2nd place-FS3 Cartee singing, “This Love,” by Maroon 5 and 1st place to OS1 Hampton singing, “Sex is On Fire,” by the Kings of Leon. Other participants included LT Kessler, LT Hamby, LTJG Staley, ENS Trypuc, ENS Woods, BMC Krotz, SKC Polaski, ET2 Newsome and BM2 Maddox. Judge panel consisted of ENS Trypuc, GMC Knapp and BM1 Frantzich. It was definitely a fun and entertaining event for all performers as well as the audience. Best Buy gift cards were given to the winners.

Once again, NORTHLAND would like to show thanks for all the support that we receive from our family and friends while we are gone. Hopefully postponed holiday celebrations can be had once we get home and back to our families. We are definitely anxious to see our loved ones again and you are always in our thoughts.