A blogger who spends most of his time on the history of Navy aviation has been good enough to recognize the Coast Guard’s contributions to the larger world of Naval aviation.
Included is a photo of a very unique T-34C.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog
A blogger who spends most of his time on the history of Navy aviation has been good enough to recognize the Coast Guard’s contributions to the larger world of Naval aviation.
Included is a photo of a very unique T-34C.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
Nice pictures, however, I do not understand this comment, “It is also altogether fitting that there is at least one Heritage scheme for the USCG:”
As part of the 100th anniversary of Naval aviation activities, there has been an effort to repaint selected aircraft in paint schemes that were used in the past (heritage schemes). The T-34 in the bottom picture was an attempt to apply a Coast Guard paint scheme from 1936. Some other photos are at the web sites below.
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?193369-Centennial-of-Naval-Aviation&s=8e2bb19567b70a380fb293eb0173498c
Ah, I gotcha. My left and right brains were communicating. A modern aircraft in a heritage paint scheme. Geez. I’m a little slow on the uptake.
I would have been cool to see a 1930s scheme to mark the development era of CG aviation.
Within the past few years, I have seen pics of both a HH-65 and a C-130 flying around in CG heritage paint schemes. Since I’m not an aviator, I don’t remember where the airframes were stationed, or for what purpose they were painted, but perhaps there is some aviator on here who can provide some info.
Quick Google search results:
C-130: http://www.flickr.com/photos/18842924@N03/5441113743/
MH-65: http://www.flickr.com/photos/phantomphan1974photography/5008078416/in/photostream/
There is another picture of the “Coast Guard” T-34 on this page that allows you to see the yellow horizontal surfaces of the paint scheme.
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?193369-Centennial-of-Naval-Aviation/page3
How about some recognition for the aviator’s abuse and misuse of the awards system aftet Katrina?
There’s always one in the crowd… don’t be such a prick.
I guess the truth hurts.
If you have a point to make, make it using facts and examples, otherwise, this is rather pointless. If you want to contend that sometimes awards are given for acts that really don’t justify them, I’d concede that. That’s not exactly news.
Not exactly news indeed. At one of the units I was stationed at, one of our departing shipmates got a well deserved CG Commendation Medal in part for his innovative changes to certain work processes. Over the next two years, three other officers also got departure Commendation medals – in part for the exact same thing – which they had little direct involvement in.
Clearly no one on that particular District’s Awards Board was actually reading the award submissions.
I believe one facts is that more DFCs were awarded to Coast Guard pilots for the period of August 30 to September 5 during the heaviest operations of flying in the Katrina operation than for the five years of World War II.
MSgt. Gene Duncan (USMC ret) in his books of wit and military truisms wrote, “Many combat awards rest upon the art of writing; not fighting,” and “In Viet Nam, we were so damned anxious to give medals, that some of the award write-ups were comical.” Of course, the elements of combat were not part of Katrina.
Just at Mobile alone, two Legions of Merit (one for each of the COs at New Orleans and Mobile), nineteen (19) DFCs, thirteen (13) MSMs, and sixty-one(61) Air Medals– all at one presentation. All told ninety-five (95) rather high personal awards by a peace time standing. It has not been recorded in the news the others that may have received such awards. The DFC is awarded for “Heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight.”
In comparison, all of WWII saw but eleven (11) [10 officers, 1 enlisted] DFCs (two posthumous) and one hundred and eight-three (183) Air Medals (53 to officers and 130 to enlisted).
One point of contention in awarding so many that has raised the “abuse” allegation are the citations. As noted, the DFC is supposed to awarded for a single incident, “while participating in an aerial flight” according to 14 USC 492a. The Coast Guard Awards Manual M1650.25D shows an error in transcription, “May be awarded to a person who, while serving in any capacity with the Coast Guard, distinguishes him or herself by heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight.” The “an” was been removed from the language of the statute in the CG Awards Manual version. This error made the use of multiple incidents that would have been inappropriate and unintentional illegal. I am sure the awards board did not read the statute but relied on the error in the Coast Guard Awards Manual. I do not believe that multiple incidents for one award were ever the intent of the DFC creators.
However, below is a sample award citation for the period August 3 to September 5 that appears to include all the flights.
“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to [Name and rank removed], United States Coast Guard, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight from 30 August 2005 through 5 September 2005 as an Aircraft Commander aboard Coast Guard HH-65B helicopters during Hurricane KATRINA rescue operations. [Name and rank removed] flew 22 hours of arduous day and night rescue missions in an urban disaster environment. On the night of 31 August 2005, [Name and rank removed] rescued 10 survivors clinging desperately to a heavily damaged rooftop surrounded by torrential storm surge floodwaters. Despite aircraft power limitations and total darkness, [Name and rank removed] repeatedly maneuvered his aircraft in the only possible position to make the rescue, hovering 75 feet above the roof, yet just a few feet below dangling power lines. On 1 September 2005, saved 53 survivors trapped without food or water on a warehouse roof. Operating at the absolute limits of the HH-65, with exacting skill, [Name and rank removed]flew repeated sorties from the roof, requiring him to maneuver the aircraft through a maze of obstacles blocking both the arrival and departure paths. Later that day, while conducting a MEDEVAC from Baptist Hospital, guaranteed safe aircraft clearances as his co-pilot re-positioned the helicopter backwards between buildings and towers, to recover a stranded doctor from an adjacent roof 100 feet below. On the night [Name and rank removed]of 03 September 2005, utilizing night vision goggles, he located 20 survivors clinging to the rooftop of a flooded school bus. [Name and rank removed] hoisted the first three survivors, hovering above wires with rotor blades only feet from a billboard, while the cockpit of his HH-65 filled with smoke and ash from a nearby fire. During the third recovery, his aircraft experienced a total hoist failure. With survivors hanging beneath the aircraft, he navigated six miles through reduced visibility and unlit towers to deliver them to safety. [Name and rank removed] actions, aeronautical skill and valor were instrumental in saving 78 lives. His courage, judgment and devotion to duty are most heartily commended and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Coast Guard.”
Pretty much the same for the enlisted side,
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to , United States Coast Guard, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight from 30 August to 5 September 2005 in support of Hurricane KATRINA response operations in metropolitan New Orleans. Demonstrating exemplary skill and superlative physical stamina, [Name and rate removed] served as [rating] aboard HH-60 and HH-65 helicopters for over 27 flight hours in an urban disaster environment. On 30 August, [Name and rate removed] displayed remarkable agility and creativity freeing two elderly women trapped in their home. At great peril, he suspended himself over the roof’s edge and by swinging the tethered rescue basket he smashed out the window. Continuing to hang upside-down from the roof, he steadied the basket at the window’s edge four feet below to allow the women to climb in. The following day a bed-ridden woman was found trapped in her home due to recent hip-replacement surgery. Knowing that she faced life-threatening infection from the contaminated and potentially toxic water, [Name and rate removed] physically carried her above his head 25 yards through the chest-deep water to a safe hoisting site. On 3 September, [Name and rate removed] was delivered to the University of New Orleans where he ventured throughout the neighborhood to gather survivors. He located a good Samaritan operating a skiff and charged him with collecting survivors located beyond his own reach. Spending nearly an hour immersed in the floodwaters, [Name and rate removed] recovered and delivered eight survivors to the aircraft by hoist. Later that day, he was threaded 150 feet through a network of power lines and trees to an isolated island in an inundated neighborhood to reach a frail 90-year-old couple trapped in their house. After carrying them through the floodwater to the hoisting site, he carefully guided the survivors in the basket through the tangled debris to the helicopter, tending the trail-line with expert precision. [Name and rate removed] actions, skill, and valor were instrumental in saving 93 lives. His courage, judgment and devotion to duty are most heartily commended and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.
I hope this helps clear some things up.
Different services do things different. AF, and to a lessor extent, Army hand out medals like popcorn at the movies, while CG seems to be very tight-fisted with them.
Personally, after reading the citations above, I’m hopeful the CG awards board is loosening up a little. It’s needed. The cited actions were well-deserving of the recognition they got.
Bill,
I would say there has been some very loose presentations. Look on the chest of nearly anyone in the Coast Guard today.
The citations above may be well-deserving but no on the up and up. The combining of actions for the DFC is prohibited. The idea is that the medal is awarded for a singular action and not for cumulative sorties. The Air Medal is the sortie medal and has been handed out by the thousands (in fact, some individuals have received hundreds so them because it was based on a formula not deed). Also the awarding of everyone in the aircraft is inappropriate even by Coast Guard standards and it is selective.
I have not seen such a mass awarding for any of those in the ground (flood) operations that saved twice as many people in Katrina. Mass awards only corrupt the integrity of any award.
In the 1980s, I recommended the Coast Guard to stop awarding the Expert Rifle and Pistol Shot Medals because they did not mean anything any more. The original purpose of the medals was to show continued and repetitive proficiency over time. The permanent award of any Expert medal required firing expert over much more difficult courses of fire annually for three years (fiscal years) in a row. The silver “E” doesn’t mean much at all.
You believe the Coast Guard is “tight-fisted?” Maybe they are in comparison to the other services, but I would submit that that the entire medals and awards process has gotten out of hand. If you don’t believe me, look up the U.S. military medals and ribbons earned by Fleet Admirals Ernest King and Chester Nimitz. Then compare them to the U.S. military medals and ribbons earned by ADMs Allen and Papp.
I mean no disrespect to either Allen or Papp – they simply serve as an example of the current orgy of self-promotion that exists across the entire U.S military, the never ending quest to add more fruit salad to the dress uniform.
Well, I don’t disagree with you Anonymouse. The Brits have semi-recently re-vamped their decorations system, making it simpler and more straight-forward. I’m not sure the Brits did it perfectly either, but it was definitely a step in the right direction. By my count, we currently have 6 levels of honor/merit in our awards system:
1) Medal of Honor
2) Cross/Distinguished
3) Silver Star/DFC/LoM
4) Bronze Star/Meritorious/Air Medal
5) Commendation
6) Achievement
In addition to the individual service’s versions of these awards, we have a DOD/Joint version of most of these levels as well, and I didn’t put in the lifesaving awards, since they rather stand alone, although they have their place in the hierarchy and lower levels of risk rate Commendation/Achievement medals. There is a smorgasboard of salad for the left chest; I just hope that when the lightbulb comes on and they decide to reduce this down somewhat, they don’t go so far as eliminating all of the services’ medals in favor of the Joint/DOD versions, because they are generally hideous-looking in my opinion.