Alaska Communities (ARCTIC) Outreach

By Commodore Michael Robinson

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In 2007, Rear Admiral Brooks began an initiative to establish a Coast Guard presence in the Arctic Regions of Alaska while at the same time establishing a rapport with the native communities by respecting native cultures and values. As District Commodore at that time, I chose to offer the services of the Auxiliary to work along with the active duty folks to help carry our message of Boating Safety to the villagers. This has been very successful with Auxiliarists going to the Bering Sea coast as well as Arctic villages. We owe many thanks for the support of the active duty Coast Guard for transporting both Auxiliarists and our Diplomats, "Coastie the Safety Boat and PFD Otter.”

In the early spring of 2009 it was suggested that the Auxiliary should travel the Yukon River with “Coastie” visiting villages along the way. Sector Anchorage and the Auxiliary got right to work on this project. Three river Coxswains (Rusty Scholle, Ray Miller, & Chuck Gewin along with Noel Robinson and I) held numerous meetings at the Robinson home. We developed a CON-OP for the project. All the required items were covered and approved including permission for 1 shotgun per vessel. As we worked on our plans, I consulted with the head of the Tanana Chiefs Village Public Safety Office for advice. Finally we were “good to go”. Sector Anchorage had even acquired an electric “Bear fence” to put around the campsite. Tragically, severe flooding struck many villages along the Yukon River doing major damage rendering many people homeless for some time. I made the decision in consultation with TCC to cancel the trip rather than get in the way of village reconstruction. We plan to attempt this again in 2010.

In March 2009, Dean and Nanci Terencio traveled with the Coast Guard to Barrow, Kotzebue, and Nome. As always they were well received, making new contacts and renewing old ones from 2008.

05 May Marilyn and Brian Marsh with Coastie and along with Michael and Noel Robinson traveled south towards Tok AK stopping along the way at Dot Lake School. Coastie spent about an hour interacting with about a dozen Indian children. 06 May, the team held two sessions with children from the Head Start Program which operates in the Tok Senior Citizen’s Center. On May 7^th, we held a session at Tok School in the morning then went to the village of Tanacross and did a presentation at the Tanacross School. Having Coastie along almost guarantees a successful event with children around.

10/24Aug found Dean and Nanci Terencio back to the Arctic with the Coast Guard. Operating out of Nome, they visited the villages of KOYUK, WALES, UNALAKLEET, TELLER, COUNCIL, and SHISHMAREF. During this extended visit the Terencios introduce the Auxiliary and the message of Boating Safety to about 200 people.

A good site for pictures is: www.uscgalaska.com Click on the Arctic button.

September 22/25^th will see Auxiliarists Mike Morris and Sue Lang (Terry Telkamp will be an alternate) traveling north with the Coast Guard.

I am excited about the future of our Outreach Program, and extremely proud of the work our Auxiliarists have so far done. My thanks to the active duty Coast Guard. We couldn’t have done any of this without their support.

6/15Jun2010: "The Yukon Coastie Trip" took place a year after the original plan. The plans and permissions and all of the details had been worked out from the year before. Putting the trip together in 2010 was much simpler. Six people and three boats carried Coastie the Safety Boat to eight villiages on the Yukon River. The crew was made up of 5 Auxiliarists and an Active Duty Coastie. Go to the D17 Coast Guard Blog to read the story and see the pictures.