December Meeting Highlights

Post by FSO-PB Jonathan James

FC John Poulson, thank you sir for your outstanding dedication and hard work to this flotilla and your shipmates. You pulled us through some confused seas the last couple of years and the flotilla is stronger then ever and thriving because of your leadership.

Last Wednesday was your last meeting as Flotilla Commander and probably the quickest of all the meetings in which you were the Chair. Was this you, ready to give up the Gavel, or was it because you had something planned for after the meeting? Well of course you had something planned for after the meeting, it was a fun and non-violent gift exchange and party to allow us all to have some great fellowship and food. And what better way to go out than with a party.

Some quick highlights from the meeting before you get to see some pictures.

* If you plan on participating in the crew and coxswain academy this year, please contact John Poulson and Kevin Thiel FSO-OP 2012 with your intentions. They will work with you to see that your squared away for the academy.

* Congrats to Lynn Easton. Your a Grandaddy to another Granddaughter . Another lucky one to spoil.

* DIRAUX notes are being sent once a month highlighting activities in DIRAUX's office. This is a great source of information from DIRAUX and the staff that helps keep the auxiliary running.

* Uniform of the day at the boat show will be Tropical Blue. Please see that your uniform is squared away when attending the boat show.

* The UDC has an excess of the untucked ODU which means you may now purchase more then 1 set of the ODU from the UDC.

*Commanders remarks were short due to the Change of Watch where FC Poulson will grace us with his last Commanders Comments before passing the Gavel to FC elect Rick Williams.

*If you have not sent your check in for the Change of Watch, please do so as soon as you can. Its going to be a memorable COW.

Stay tuned for more on the meeting in the December meeting minutes.


Here is a slideshow of the meeting and party.


Photos by FSO-BP Jonathan James

October Flotilla Meeting Highlights.

Post by FSO-PB Jonathan James

This months flotilla meeting was outstanding. We had close to 30 members and 3 guests which made for a great time for fellowship and to conduct the flotilla business.

First off, I would like to thank our visitors for joining us Wednesday night. It was nice to meet you all and I hope it was a good experience for all of you. Flotilla meetings are usually the most nitty gritty function of the auxiliary but it is vital to the success of our unit. It allows us as members of a flotilla to come together and plan for the months ahead. It also allows us to get together as friend and catch up on the going on's for the month and recognize members for their hard work.

Speaking of awards.
Paul Ploeger was awarded his 2nd Operational Service Award for more then 341 hours underway this year. That is just outstanding.

Rebecca Easton was awarded her1st Sustained Service Award for 5 years of service in the Auxiliary.

Matt Epstein was awarded his 4th Sustained Service Award for 20 years of service to the Auxiliary. BZ Matt, I know your looking forward to another 20 years of service.


Daren Lewis was officially introduced to the flotilla as District Captain elect and now represents the southern divisions. The District Captain is also responsible as a liaison for the Coast Guard Units in his area. The District Captain delegates some of this to the ASC (Auxiliary Sector Coordinator)BZ Captain Lewis on your new position.








For the program visitors, we have some PV specific materials that you may not be aware of. The most important is the CG-5093 Manufacturer ID Code System, which is the form to sign up the marine dealers as a program partner. The biggest thing this can can do for the dealer is provide them with the quickest recall updates available. There is no yearly renewal unless the business name or location changes.
ANSC 7048 PV Activity Report is another must have. You don't get credit for your visits unless this form is filled out and SENT TO THE FSO-IS.
A program partner sticker is also available for our partners to show their customers at the front door that they care and participates as a program visitor.


A FRIENDLY REMINDER: MEMBER DUES ARE PAST DUE. PLEASE GET YOUR DUES IN TO THE FSO-FN

The Flotilla COW has changed the date to 15 January 2012 due to the Division COW being held on the 7th and would require a good number of flotilla members to participate in 2 COW that weekend. Boarding time and meal cost will be available via email soon.


We voted on a couple VERY IMPORTANT motions at the meeting this month. The first of the two motions is as follows.............. Sorry I can't tell ya on the blog what the motions were. I will have the motions available soon in the flotilla meeting minutes.


Mary Magrant conducted our member training session at the meeting which covered the steps/process to becoming an instructor (IT). The first step to gaining your qualification is to study the Instructor Development Course located at http://www.cgauxed.org/elib/idc.htm
Once finished with the course you need to log onto the E-Learning site and take an openbook, none proctored test.
Once the course and test is completed you can move onto the Personal Qualification Standard (PQS) which is a book that has tasks that must be complete in the presence of a mentor. Once this is completed, your paper work is sent to district and walla. Please call Mary for a more in depth discussion on the steps required.

VE's please remember to submit any Vessel Exam paperwork that has not been entered. The leadership would like to see your numbers accounted for this year.


EVENTS TO ADD TO YOUR CALENDER:
22 OCT Sat: ECP Training Session at MSU.
02 NOV Wed: Division Meeting
09 NOV Wed: Flotilla Meeting. Elections will be held.
12 NOV Sat: HAZWOPER Training and Exercise.
19 NOV Wed: ABS Class. Contact FSO-PE for details.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Post by FSO-PB J. James
Member training is the highlight of this weeks photo of the week. Without this most important program, we couldn't serve the boating public or the Coast Guard. A BIG thanks to Jon Polimeni for some outstanding training offered at the division level this year and his support to the flotilla's who have offered training to members in the division.

Damage Control Trailer
Photo By FSO-PB Jonathan James
Area Captain elect Daren Lewis (left) and SO-MT John Polimeni (right) work on repairing a leak in the Damage Control Trailer. This trainer is used to train Coast Guard personnel and commercial fishermen on the methods used to patch leaks due to cracks, holes, splits and leaking seals. This is also a great piece of equipment to show what TCT is all about.

Flotilla 73 Crew Academy With 76 OPFACs

Photo by Area Captain elect Daren Lewis
In this photo, 051 Coxswained by Todd Mains is practicing the side tow evolution with 173 Coxswained by Ken Babick who is the academy lead officer. In the background 267 Coxswained by Lynn Easton stands off while the crew observes the process of a side tow evolution.


Training With The Active Duty
Photo by Area Captain elect Daren Lewis
The station often asks the auxiliary to participate in training of the station boat crew and coxswains. In this photo an auxiliary OPFAC is being used as an escorted vessel to allow the active duty to practice their escorting procedures.


Classroom Instruction

Photo By Area Captain elect Daren Lewis
In this photo Todd Mains teaches the Boat Crew candidates of an easy method to remember the sound signals when approaching or passing a vessel. We are lucky in our area as we have a bus load of outstanding instructors who have a wealth of knowledge.

Note: Wednesday we will be hosting the division meeting which is also the division election. Lets have a great turn out and support or members running for higher office. I would like to say thank you to Matt Epstein who is running for Division Vice Commander and Brad Schuldt who is running for Division Commander. Good luck to you both on Wed.

September Flotilla Meeting Highlights

Post by Jonathan James

A few photo highlights of the flotilla meeting.
There was a table full of awards and qualifications to be presented.





Thanks to Peggy Stevens for the great photos.

Some highlights for those not present:

a. Dues are due at months end, please save the commander some stress and get your dues in.

b. This years Change of Watch will be on the Portland Spirit. More info in the meeting minutes.

c. Commander Poulson talked about what it means to step up and take a staff position. He also had staff members or members in special projects highlight their job duties to show the members present what it takes to keep the local auxiliary operating.

d. We all had our taste buds in an uproar from the wonderful food that the fellowship team put together. It was fantastic.

e. Our flotilla will be hosting the next division meeting. This is the first Wednesday of October which is the 5th. DIVISION MEETINGS ARE NO LONGER HELD THE FIRST MONDAY....

June Flotilla Meeting Photos

Shipmates,
Here are a few photos from our June Flotilla meeting. It was great to see Wes and Elisabeth sworn in as our newest members. Congratulations to all of our members who received recognition.



[If you do not see the slideshow please visit the blog site. Will not show on iPhone/iPad/iTouch - visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/usefulguy/sets/72157624262300876/]

Warm regards, Daren

Division 7 Meeting Report: October 2009

Shipmates,
It was great to see so many members of the Flotilla in attendance on Monday. The 12 members (+3 soon to be 76 members) exceeded the total size of the Flotilla a few short years ago -- today we find ourselves at 58 members with a number of new applicants in the pipeline. Bravo Zulu!

The Director and District Commodore were in attendance. The Director briefly discussed the budget and reminded us that we've got to make the most of the available funds, particularly for PPE. As I've discussed previously we need to use every available dollar and piece of equipment wisely to maximize mission execution and program participation. In plain language this means doing our missions and adding the capability through exercises, training and stewardship to do more.

Elections were held and I'm honored to have been elected to serve as the Division Commander for 2010 along with my friend Carol Bobo as Vice Division Commander -- more on our plans in coming posts but I ask that we focus on finishing strong in 2009.

A number of awards were presented. The Division won for the highest number of Vessel Exams in the District, Peter Kirshner received an Auxiliary Commandant's Letter of Commendation (accepted by FC73 Don Verkest), and Ken Babick received the first place award for Direct Support: Operations for D13.

We will be participating in the Veteran's Day Parade in Vancouver on 07NOV2009. John Hillbrands, FC78, is coordinating the participation. Please contact him if you would like to take part in this outstanding event.

To date the Division has completed 1467 Vessel Exams in 2009. With our new crop of Examiners in 76 I hope to see this number grow and I hope to substantially exceed this figure in 2010.

Thank you to the membership of Rose City Yacht Club and RCYC Commodore (and Auxiliarist) Karl Quade for the use of their beautiful facility while the parking at Sector Portland was being repaved.

Division meeting update

Since we do not have a flotilla meeting this month I want to update you on a few items from the Division meeting:

Sector Portland:

• Commander Proctor reminds everyone to be safe during the holiday season, on duty and off.
• Operations will continue through the winter months by using appropriate risk management practices as we seek to fill the PPE gap
• The issue of salvage insurance is still being explored
• Please do not use any external mass storage devices (USB keys, external hard drives, etc.) in the Sector computers
• The training deck should be available on schedule in January

Communications:

• We need vehicles that can tow the Auxiliary Emergency Command post.

Member training:

• There is no scheduled member training in December
• An eight hout Team Coordination Training (TCT) class will be held on 21 FEB 2009
• The topic for the 10 JAN 2009 class is yet to be determined
• The details for ICS210 are still being worked out. You can substitute ICS 300 to meet the 31MAR2009 deadline for coxswains and pilots.

Vessel examination:

• Our Division target is 2009 VEs in 2009

Operations:

• All dry suits must be tested semi-annually
• Please maintain your issued PPE to the standards set in the Rescue and Survival Systems manual

Public Affairs

• We need a Sportsman's Show coordinator for February

Flotilla meeting reminder - Wednesday evening 1900

All,

We have a meeting on Wednesday 08OCT08 at 1900hrs at Sector Portland.

Just a reminder, please remember the gate rules.

1. If the gate guard is on duty you must stop and show your ID. Please no rolling stops.

2. When arriving or leaving the base any time the gate is unattended you must stop and allow the gate to close completely before you drive away. This applies to both arrival and departure from the base when there is no gate guard. The safety and security of our shipmates is our responsibility, leaving with the gate open and unattended puts the base at risk.

On departure if there is another car behind you it is permissible to clear the gate and depart the car to the rear must assure the gate closes.

If there is a car waiting to enter they must wait.

On entry you may never clear the gate for a vehicle behind you unless the gate reopens. Usually the gate will start to close and then reopen, you may then proceed.