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For those who missed the July meeting, Wesley Freeburg provides this update:

We had the distinct pleasure of hosting Lieutenant Commander Richard J. Burke, Commanding Officer - Station New York, together with USCG Auxiliary Liaison Jennette R. Rozmus (BM2) for our July monthly meet at the MIO this past Thursday. The attached photo only included those uniformed Auxiliarists in attendance (minus FC Gallagher who was teaching a recreational boating safety class in the adjacent conference facility). All current Vessel Examiners present were also given slim Mustang auto-inflate hybrid life vests.

Thanks to Station New York for their support!

If you boat in the NYC area, you need a "license," meaning a certificate from an approved boating safety course. One of the courses that meets that standard is the USCG Auxiliary's "America's Boating Course," and you can take this condensed class this month if you act now. Here's the key information:

Total time commitment: 2 days, 8 hours

Location: Offered at the USCG Building, 2 South Street (Directly next to Staten Island Ferry at eastern end of Battery Park). Enter through parking lot. Class will be held on second deck in the wardroom (second floor conference room in lubber-speak).

Dates and Times: July 16 and 17 from 6PM-9:45PM

Cost: $50 for non-USCG. Discounts are available for USCG and affiliated organizations.

Please confirm registration by contacting the lead instructor, John Gallagher. To do that, click the "Contact" link above, and choose "July Boating Course" from the subject menu.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own food and beverages.

On Memorial Day weekend, members of USCG Auxiliary Division 5 had an opportunity to ride along aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter Katherine Walker. She's a buoy tender in New York Harbor, doing the hard but important work of maintaining our local aids to navigation. Brian Luster took some excellent photos of the trip:

The re-test of the 3N notification system is scheduled for this afternoon and evening. If you are a member of the Auxiliary, you should receive a message through this system. Check your email, voice-mail, cell phone text messages, and of course any and all of your spam filters, then contact your FC tomorrow to let him or her know whether you got the notification.

This Sunday, Auxiliarists will be able to ride along on CGC Katherine Walker to learn more about how the regular CG performs MDA patrols and does ATON work.

This is a great opportunity to increase your knowledge and have a good time. The current forecast calls for pleasant weather, but of course you should also be prepared for the possibility that it won't be.

If you are interested, please follow the "Contact" link above, and choose "Division Captain" from the category list. John will get back to you with the time and place for boarding.

In addition to the previously announced Boat Crew training opportunities within our Division, we now have another excellent option in New Jersey. As Mark Dunmire, SO-MT, explains:

On-the-water Boat Crew is now available to members of all Division 5 flotillas at Greenwood Lake NJ.

Those wishing to participate should contact me directly. Candidates will typically be asked to commit to six sessions, approximately once every two weeks, leading up to their dockside oral and check ride.

This is a chance for your members to train for crew with the District's top coxswains in a safe, supportive and proven training process with one of the top operational crews in the nation.

To sign up, email Mark by visiting the Contact form on this site, and choosing "Member Training Opportunities (SO-MT)" as the category.

After discovering that a majority of members are not, in fact, registered in the 3N notification system, the District is going to send out a new notification. This one should go to everyone, and it should include an authorization code and instructions to register yourself in the system. The email will be sent to the address you have in Auxdata, and its subject line will be something like "Auth Code."

It is very important that you not delete this email - you must follow the instructions inside it to be registered in the Auxiliary's notification system. Besides paying attention to your inbox, you should also check your spam filters over the next few days, as the message may get misdirected there.

The latest (2006) revision of the US Coast Guard Incident Management Handbook is now available for free online. You can download the PDF version directly from the official site (recommended), or if that link breaks, you can find a backup copy in our local Manuals Library. All members, especially those involved in Operations, should at least look through this manual, as it represents the current Coast Guard way of responding to incidents of all types.

If you're a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, then sometime today you should receive an alert about Hurricane Elizabeth. Don't worry, there's no actual storm coming - this is a drill. A major purpose of the Hurricane Elizabeth exercise is to test our new 3n alert system.

This system was previously set up to alert only a subset of Auxiliarists in the event of an emergency, but the Gold Side has extended it to include all of us. At least, they hope they've extended it to include all of us. If you don't receive any notification today, that means the Coast Guard doesn't have your correct contact information in the system. You can fix that by notifying your FC, who can get your information corrected in (or inserted into) the system. If you do receive the alert, of course, it means you're all set.

John Howell just sent out the following announcement:

Richard Turrin, FC of 5-10, has introduced us to an excellent opportunity. We've been looking for a good first aid and CPR course that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, something you can put your heart into without losing it. Auxiliarists can bring a family member or significant other, so long as they pay the fee.
Event: Adult CPR with AED certification class including First Aid
Date: Saturday, May 10, 2008
Time: 1000hrs to about 1500hrs
Cost: $55/person
Place: CG Battery Park Building, 2nd deck

Please John know as soon as possible if you plan to attend - use the "Contact" link above, and choose "Division Captain" in the pull-down menu. Then count to 15 and take two quick breaths.