Dear Companions,
On 28 January 1915, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill merging the Life-Saving Service and the Revenue Cutter Service, thereby creating one of our core sister sea services, the United States Coast Guard! The “coasties” have proudly served as part of the Treasury Department in earlier times, as part of the Navy during wartime periods, and now as part of the Department of Homeland Security. Their roles of been many including search, rescue and life saving at sea, drug and human trafficking interdiction, and maintenance of safety at sea protocols to name but a few. While the Coast Guard has been a small sea service in terms of numbers, its roles have been critical and it has played an outsized role in carrying out its assigned duties. NOUS is proud to number many Coast Guardsman among its membership and among its honorees for the Distinguished Sea Service Award and the DSSA for Senior Enlisted. When you next run into one of your Coast Guard colleagues in NOUS or elsewhere, thank them for the service with a hearty “Semper Paratus.”
Warm regards,
Peter L. Andrus MD MBA
RADM SHCE/MC USN (Ret)
Commander General, Naval Order of the United States