A thank you to my Active Duty, Reserve and Civilian staff shipmates

I have received absolutely outstanding support from my Active Duty, Reserve and Civilian component Coast Guard shipmates in response to the death of our member Tony Touch. This support has been offered to Tony's family, to our Flotilla and to me personally.

BM1 Mckenzie contacted Tony's family immediately on behalf of the Station upon hearing of the accident and began the notification process. I've met with Captain Myer and LT Trevinio of Sector Portland, and had conversations with LCDR Billeaudeaux our D13 DIRAUX and Chief Eaton, OIC at Station Portland. Their offers of support have been backed by the D13 Chief of Staff Captain Ewalt, D13 Senior Reserve Officer Forgit, Sector Deputy Commander CDR McClellan, D13 Command Master Chief Dunn,  BM1 Sierra, and many others. Our former Deputy Sector Commander Captain Russ Proctor, who is now at Headquarters, shared his memories of Tony which I have passed to the family.

When I got the news of Tony's death I was shocked and started to call upon my shipmates. Within fifteen minutes I did not have any doubt that I had the full resources of our service behind me (thanks Andre!) and any counsel I needed on how to effectively deploy those resources.

The Coast Guard excels in times of adversity and takes care of its own in times of grief. As Auxiliarists we are very much part of the Coast Guard family, something that has never been clearer to me than it has been over the last few days.

Thank you shipmates

Daren