SITKA, Alaska – Coast Guard Air Station Sitka is scheduled to hold a change of command ceremony where Cmdr. Ward Sandlin will relieve Cmdr. Doug Cameron as Air Station Sitka’s commanding officer Wednesday at 1:00 PM in the hangar.

Sandlin is arriving from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., where he served as the Operations Officer.

Sandlin’s prior assignments include a variety of operational and staff assignments. After graduating from Harding University in 1991 and Coast Guard Officer Candidate School in 1992, he served at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington as a staff officer in the Marine Safety Planning Division. He was then selected for flight training at Naval Flight School, Pensacola, Fla. He served operational tours at Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., and Air Station Kodiak, before being sent to Aviation Training Center Mobile, Ala. as an instructor pilot. Following his tour in Mobile, he again served in Coast Guard Headquarters as the HH-60J Platform Manager before transferring to Clearwater.

Cameron has led Air Station Sitka since June, 2010. His next assignment will be as the Chief of Incident Management for the 5th Coast Guard District in Portsmouth, VA.

Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo, commander, 17th Coast Guard District, will preside over the ceremony.

For more information, please contact Lt. David Birky at 907-966-5613

SITKA, Alaska – Coast Guard Air Station Sitka is scheduled to hold a change of command ceremony where Cmdr. Ward Sandlin will relieve Cmdr. Doug Cameron as Air Station Sitka’s commanding officer Wednesday at 1:00 PM in the hangar.

Sandlin is arriving from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., where he served as the Operations Officer.

Sandlin’s prior assignments include a variety of operational and staff assignments. After graduating from Harding University in 1991 and Coast Guard Officer Candidate School in 1992, he served at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington as a staff officer in the Marine Safety Planning Division. He was then selected for flight training at Naval Flight School, Pensacola, Fla. He served operational tours at Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., and Air Station Kodiak, before being sent to Aviation Training Center Mobile, Ala. as an instructor pilot. Following his tour in Mobile, he again served in Coast Guard Headquarters as the HH-60J Platform Manager before transferring to Clearwater.

Cameron has led Air Station Sitka since June, 2010. His next assignment will be as the Chief of Incident Management for the 5th Coast Guard District in Portsmouth, VA.

Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo, commander, 17th Coast Guard District, will preside over the ceremony.

For more information, please contact Lt. David Birky at 907-966-5613

KEY WEST, Fla. — Rear Adm. Bill Baumgartner (center), Coast Guard 7th District Commander, stands with Capt. Aylwyn S. Young (left) and Capt. Pat DeQuattro (right), immediately following the transfer of command from DeQuattro to Young during a change of command ceremony at Coast Guard Sector Key West May 4, 2012. During the ceremony, which was presided over by Baumgartner, Young took over the duties of Commander, Coast Guard Sector Key West from DeQuattro. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer Russ Tippets.

KEY WEST, Fla. — Capt. Aylwyn S. Young (left) reads his orders during a change of command ceremony at Sector Key West May 4, 2012. During the ceremony, which was presided over by Rear Adm. Bill Baumgartner (center) Young took over the duties of Commander, Coast Guard Sector Key West from Capt. Pat DeQuattro (right). U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer Russ Tippets.

KEY WEST, Fla. — Capt. Pat DeQuattro  (right) receives an award from Rear Adm. Bill Baumgartner, 7th Coast Guard District Commander, during a change of command ceremony at Sector Key West May 4, 2012. During the ceremony, which was presided over by Baumgartner, Capt. Aylwyn S. Young took over the duties of Commander, Coast Guard Sector Key West from DeQuattro. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer Russ Tippets.

KEY WEST, Fla. — Capt. Pat DeQuattro (right) receives an award from Rear Adm. Bill Baumgartner, 7th Coast Guard District Commander, during a change of command ceremony at Sector Key West May 4, 2012. During the ceremony, which was presided over by Baumgartner, Capt. Aylwyn S. Young took over the duties of Commander, Coast Guard Sector Key West from DeQuattro. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer Russ Tippets.

KEY WEST, Fla. — Capt. Pat DeQuattro performs a troop inspection during a change of command ceremony at Sector Key West May 4, 2012. During the ceremony, which was presided over by Rear Adm. Bill Baumgartner, Capt. Aylwyn S. Young took over the duties of Commander, Coast Guard Sector Key West from DeQuattro. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer Russ Tippets.

KEY WEST, Fla. — Coast Guard Sector Key West welcomed its new commanding officer during a change of command ceremony Friday.

Capt. Aylwyn S. Young relieved Capt. Pat DeQuattro, as Commander, Coast Guard Sector Key West in a formal change of command ceremony presided over by Rear Adm. Bill Baumgartner, 7^th Coast Guard District Commander.

Young’s previous assignment was as Executive Assistant to the Coast Guard Atlantic Area Commander. Young enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1978. He is a 1989 graduate of the Coast Guard’s Officer Candidate School and a former Chief Petty Officer, and he has more than 33-years of service in a variety of units.

Young is a graduate of Southern Illinois University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Workforce Education and Development.

DeQuattro will be reporting to Coast Guard Headquarters to assume the duties as Executive Director to the Deputy Commandant for Mission Support.  

The change of command ceremony is a time-honored tradition, which formally restates that the continuity of command will be maintained. It is a formal ritual, conducted before the assembled company of command. It conveys to the officers, enlisted personnel, civilian employees, and auxiliary members of the Coast Guard that although the authority of command is relinquished by one person and is assumed by another, it is still maintained without interruption.

During the ceremony, Baumgartner said, “As the Coast Guard, we protect the sea, we protect America from threats delivered by the sea and we protect the sea itself. No unit in the Coast Guard exemplifies this statement better than Sector Key West.”

Sector Key West is a unified command consisting of four patrol boats, eight dual crews, three small boat stations, an Aids to Navigation Team and three staff departments.  The Sector Commander performs the duties of Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator, Captain of the Port, Federal Maritime Security Coordinator, Federal On-Scene Coordinator and Officer in Charge of Marine Inspections. Sector Key West has a unique area of responsibility; 55,000 square miles that borders the territorial seas of Cuba and the Bahamas.

WHO: Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile, Ala.

WHAT: Dedication ceremony.

WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011 at 1 p.m.

WHERE: Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile 
                 8501 Tanner Williams Road
                 Mobile, AL 36608

The Wilks Hall dedication will be named in honor of Capt. Bobby C. Wilks, the first African American in the Coast Guard to become a pilot, to the achieve the rank of captain and to command a Coast Guard air station, which was located in Brooklyn, N.Y. Wilks earned his commission from Officer Candidate School in 1956 and completed flight training in 1957. A few of Wilks’ many accomplishments include more than five personal military awards, more than 6,000 flight hours, a Bachelor of Arts from Harris-Stowe Teachers College and a Master of Arts from the University of St. Louis.

Additionally, the base pond will be named in honor of Capt. Bradley W. Bean. Bean served 28 years in the Coast Guard, which included a tour as executive officer for ATC Mobile. He received more than five personal military awards, flew more than 5,000 hours, and he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Science from Saint Anselm College and a Master of Science in Industrial Administration from Purdue University.  

***Media wishing to attend the dedication ceremony are asked to R.S.V.P. to Lt. Terdell Nash at (251) 441-6807. Attendees are asked to arrive no later than 12:15 p.m.***

MEMPHIS – Capt. William M. Drelling relieved Capt. Michael S. Gardiner as commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector Lower Mississippi River in an official change-of-command ceremony, Friday.

Capt. Gardiner assumed command of Sector Lower Mississippi River in June 2008, and will become the Chief of the Prevention divsion at the Thirteenth Coast Guard District in Seattle. 

As sector commander, Gardiner served as Captain of the Port, Federal Maritime Security Coordinator, Officer in Charge of Marine Inspection and Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator. He was responsible for all Coast Guard missions conducted by 225 active duty and reserve members. 

Capt. Drelling is coming from Coast Guard Sector Mobile, Ala., where he was the Deputy Commander since June 2009. He served as Deputy Director of the Coast Guard Force Readiness Command Implementation Team from August 2008 through June 2009. Drelling oversaw the facility and container inspection programs and led the responses to numerous oil spills and other pollution events.

Drelling, who is a native of California, earned his commission as a Coast Guard officer when he graduated from Officer Candidate School in December 1987. Drelling holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Irvine. He was awarded a master’s degree in public policy and administration by California State University in 2001. 

The change-of-command ceremony is a time-honored tradition and deeply rooted in Coast Guard and Naval history. The event signifies a total transfer of responsibility, authority and accountability for the command.

For an official Coast Guard photo of the ceremony, click here.

JUNEAU, Alaska – Coast Guard Sector Juneau will hold a change of command ceremony on the dock at Coast Guard Station Juneau where Capt. Scott Bornemann will relieve Capt. Melissa Bert as Sector Juneau commanding officer during a formal ceremony Friday at 10:30 a.m., with Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo, the 17th Coast Guard District commander, presiding.

Bert has commanded Sector Juneau since June 2009. Bert’s next assignment will be at the Military Fellowship program at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York City.

Bornemann is arriving from the 13th Coast Guard District in Seattle where he served as chief of prevention. While in the 13th District he temporarily served as commander of Sector Seattle/Puget Sound.

Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, Bornemann served as deputy incident commander and federal on-scene coordinator’s representative for the Gulf Coast incident management team for one month. He helped lead the effort to combat the largest offshore oil spill in United States history. This monumental response required the unity in effort and assiduous teamwork of over 47,000 federal, state and local responders, including over 7,000 Coast Guard personnel and the deployment of more than 80 Coast Guard cutters and aircraft.

His prior assignments include a variety of both operational and staff assignments. After graduating from Virginia Tech in 1984 and Coast Guard officer candidate school in 1987, he served as a marine inspector and investigator at marine safety office Mobile, Ala., as an instructor at Reserve Training Center Yorktown, Va., chief of marine safety with Marine Safety Office Valdez now Marine Safety Unit Valdez, Port of Marine Safety Office Pittsburg executive officer, chief of prevention and compliance branch with the 17th Coast Guard District and Sector Juneau deputy commander.

Bornemann has two sons, Jeffrey, 21, and Jay, 15.

JUNEAU, Alaska – Coast Guard Sector Juneau will hold a change of command ceremony on the dock at Coast Guard Station Juneau where Capt. Scott Bornemann will relieve Capt. Melissa Bert as Sector Juneau commanding officer during a formal ceremony Friday at 10:30 a.m., with Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo, the 17th Coast Guard District commander, presiding.

Bert has commanded Sector Juneau since June 2009. Bert’s next assignment will be at the Military Fellowship program at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York City.

Bornemann is arriving from the 13th Coast Guard District in Seattle where he served as chief of prevention. While in the 13th District he temporarily served as commander of Sector Seattle/Puget Sound.

Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, Bornemann served as deputy incident commander and federal on-scene coordinator’s representative for the Gulf Coast incident management team for one month. He helped lead the effort to combat the largest offshore oil spill in United States history. This monumental response required the unity in effort and assiduous teamwork of over 47,000 federal, state and local responders, including over 7,000 Coast Guard personnel and the deployment of more than 80 Coast Guard cutters and aircraft.

His prior assignments include a variety of both operational and staff assignments. After graduating from Virginia Tech in 1984 and Coast Guard officer candidate school in 1987, he served as a marine inspector and investigator at marine safety office Mobile, Ala., as an instructor at Reserve Training Center Yorktown, Va., chief of marine safety with Marine Safety Office Valdez now Marine Safety Unit Valdez, Port of Marine Safety Office Pittsburg executive officer, chief of prevention and compliance branch with the 17th Coast Guard District and Sector Juneau deputy commander.

Bornemann has two sons, Jeffrey, 21, and Jay, 15.