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“Mariners in the vicinity of Great Point Nantucket Sound, be on
the lookout for three persons in the water...”
Coast Guard
Petty Officer 3rd Class Robert Anderson sat in the center of his
desk and manned a 4-monitor computer station, concern for the three
distressed people in the water off Nantucket showed on his face. He
bent over the radio microphone making sure his voice came through
loud and clear.
After a long silence, a voice answered.
Anderson breathed a sigh of relief.
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August 12, 2016 - The operations specialists on duty listen
intently to a radio call in Coast Guard Sector Southeartern's
command center. The initial call that came in is the beginning of a
search and rescue case involving three people off Great Point in
Massachusetts. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class
Nicole J. Groll)
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The crew of nearby vessel, Lisa B, saw the three people
in the water off Great Point and was preparing to save them.
Coast Guard operations specialists are always heard but
rarely seen by the maritime community they serve, and they
save countless lives behind the scenes.
Anderson is
an OS in the command center at Coast Guard Sector
Southeastern New England in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
The command center is run by four people on a 12-hour
duty shift: the communications unit watchstander, the
situational unit watchstander, the operations unit
controller, and the command duty officer.
Manning
the radio is the responsibility of the communications unit
watchstander. This is where almost all search and rescue
responses begin.
The person behind the radio has the
skill to decipher distress calls from the rest of the
airwaves that comes though on VHF-FM channels 16, 21, 22,
and other Coast Guard working frequencies.
The
watchstander must ascertain four pieces of information that
are imperative to the beginning of every search and rescue
case: the nature of the distress, how many people aboard, a
description of the boat, and the vessel's position.
“It can be difficult because we pick up radio chatter from
other areas, and those calls are fielded through other Coast
Guard units,” said Anderson.
Another key person in a
SAR case is the operations unit controller, who takes all
the information from the communication watchstander and
plans a comprehensive search plan.
“As the operations
unit controller, I have to know all the areas each station
is responsible for, their assets and capabilities and
determine what unit will respond to each emergency safely,”
said Petty Officer 2nd Class Michelle Crocker, an operations
unit controller in the command center.
Another vital
role, the command duty officer, is in charge of the watch.
The CDO signs off on all operations unit
controller's actions. During confirmed missing-person cases
- where location information is scarce- the CDO can request
permission to ping cell phones, look at bank records or
anything else of significance, to gain information about
last known locations. This allows for a more accurate search
and increases the chance of bringing missing mariners home
to their loved ones.
The Coast Guard has an array of
methods and assets at their disposal to assist mariners in
need. And it isn't just Coast Guard vessels that they
coordinate to effect rescues.
For example, during the
case in Nantucket Sound, the Coast Guard watchstanding crew
worked with a local fishing crew to rescue three people in
the water. The nearby Lisa B arrived on scene and pulled an
8-year-old boy, his 35-year-old mother and a 40-year-old man
from the water. They were brought to shore and met by the
Nantucket Harbormaster and local Emergency Medical Services.
The trio declined medical assistance.
Seemingly
dramatic days like this are routine for Coast Guard OS's who
strive to keep mariners safe from behind the scenes.
When the shift was over, OS3 Anderson and OS2 Crocker
turned the watch over to the next crew of oncoming
watchstanders, to man the microphones and keep an ear in the
airwaves.
By U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Nicole J. Groll
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2016
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