Division Eleven Wins International ISAR ... - USCGAUX District 7

Division Seven: Success Through Unity.
By: Dorothy Joan Riley, ADSO-PB, SO-PB7
Page 26
“Changes. Improvements. More changes to come.” As members of the Auxiliary, we
hear those words frequently, and may wonder, “just what has been accomplished, and
what comes next?” The members of Division Seven know what has been accomplished
within our Division in recent years. We experience first hand the benefits of these
changes, and I dare add, we like it better these days. Conrad Palermo, DCP, and Peter
Lore, VCP, are putting into action goals initially set for our Division under the leadership
of Richard Erett, IPDC, while Conrad Palermo was Vice Captain. Like all plans, it took
on a life of its own, and the ripple effect changed ways of doing things that may not have
been anticipated in the initial vision, but Conrad Palermo successfully directed those ripples
to produce many positive, long term effects.
In addition to supporting the individual flotillas in their initiatives, Division Seven has
shifted many of the non-public program responsibilities to division level. Many activities
remain by necessity at flotilla levels. All of our flotillas continue to offer Public Educations
programs, Vessel Safety Checks, Marine Dealership Visitations, and other programs and
services that are best provided where the boating public can more readily access them.
Other programs, such as Member Training, Operations, and Public Affairs, to name a
few, have many projects and events conducted at division level, which provide a great
deal of interaction between members from different flotillas. More importantly, volunteer
hours, facilities, and other resources can be shared.
The QE mission in June included vessels and members of every flotilla in Division
Seven. Thirteen members successfully qualified as crew.
In March through June of this year, we
offered our first Division-wide crew
training program. The thirteen week
training involved vessels, mentors,
instructors, coxswains, and crew and
trainees from every flotilla. The training
was organized by Cliff Martin, SO-
OP, and successfully qualified thirteen
new crew members. One of the
benefits of centralized training is uniformity
in training, and the ability to
draw members and vessels from
every flotilla. This sharing of resources
helped make this venture a great success.
Other division level training initiatives
include, but are not limited to,
Team Coordination Training, Hazardous
Materials patrols (HAZMAT), Harbor
Patrol training (HARPAT), and a
Search and Rescue (SAR) exercise in
August.
The Division website maintained by
Terry Modica, SO-CS, has become a vital tool in keeping the Division on course. The
division maintains an on-line calendar. Flotillas that offer trainings post these dates to
the calendar, and members are encouraged to check the calendar regularly for programs
they may wish to attend. For example, in October, Flotilla 72 in St. Petersburg offered
the Auxiliary Operations Patrol program, one of the courses required to earn the Auxiliary
Operations (AUXOP) device.
In addition to our calendar, the site maintains up-dated member rosters for each flotilla,