USA — Chairman’s Corner: Pride in the Coast Guard

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4, 2010 — Two hun­dred and twen­ty years ago today, the Unit­ed States Con­gress cre­at­ed the U.S. Rev­enue-Marine to safe­guard our young Nation’s shores. We proud­ly cel­e­brate this as the day the Unit­ed States Coast Guard was born.

Over the years, gen­er­a­tions of men and women have brave­ly stood the watch in our old­est con­tin­u­ous seago­ing ser­vice, keep­ing our home­land safe, pro­tect­ing our mar­itime resources and nobly serv­ing as America’s Mar­itime Guardians. 

I note with spe­cial pride the 2,500 Coast Guards­men on duty in and around the Gulf of Mex­i­co right now, work­ing hard each day to help clean up the worst oil spill in our nation’s his­to­ry. Hav­ing just vis­it­ed one of our com­mand cen­ters down in New Orleans, I can attest to the pro­fes­sion­al­ism and the sheer deter­mi­na­tion they are bring­ing to that crit­i­cal job.

Their ser­vice also extends well beyond our shores. This year alone, Coast Guard men and women respond­ed superbly to the dev­as­tat­ing earth­quake in Haiti, fought pira­cy off the coast of Africa, and exe­cut­ed counter-drug oper­a­tions in the Caribbean, all the while keep­ing our peo­ple, our ports and our water­ways safe and secure. 

Quite sim­ply, Coast Guards­men serve wher­ev­er Amer­i­ca needs them. And Coast Guard fam­i­lies are right there, too, mak­ing pos­si­ble through their own ser­vice and sac­ri­fice every­thing their loved ones do for the nation. 

This remark­able sto­ry of glob­al ser­vice points to a courage and flex­i­bil­i­ty that makes the Coast Guard’s his­to­ry a very spe­cial one. From the hum­ble begin­nings of ten schooners designed to pro­tect a small nation from smug­glers, the Unit­ed States Coast Guard now stands as a mod­el around the world. I am very proud to serve with you. 

The Joint Chiefs and I salute the incred­i­ble men, women, and fam­i­lies of our Unit­ed States Coast Guard, Reserve and Aux­il­iary. Amer­i­ca is safer because of you. 

Hap­py Birth­day … and Sem­per Paratus! 

Source:
Chair­man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

Face­book and/or on Twit­ter