NAV EX Florence Edition NavEx 3rd Qtr 2018 - FINALa | Page 7

Interviews with Active Duty
SUBJECT: Lieutenant Junior GRADE ROB MINEO
complex missions that we are going to send our
Auxiliary on, the command has no question whether
or not they are capable of doing it. It really embodies
what we do in unified effort and extends our reach
tremendously for the Coast Guard by having the
Auxiliary perform those missions.
NAVEX: What skills do Auxiliary Aviation supply to
augment the Coast Guard’s ability to carry out its
mission during times of crisis?
USCG Aux photo by Robert A. Fabich
NAVEX: What roles does Auxiliary Aviation fill in a
response to a hurricane event that provides value to
the Coast Guard?
During our hurricane response efforts, we normally
employ our Auxiliary assets in a logistics fashion.
We like to transport personnel, especially when no
commercial modes are available. Auxiliary aviators
also do post-hurricane damage assessment along
the coast to assess infrastructure as well as some of
the ports to determine whether or not they can be
reopened in a timely manner, that they are safe to
navigate, and it’s generally the quickest service we
have available to do that, especially when all other
assets are being focused elsewhere.
NAVEX: How does the relationship between the active
duty Coast Guard and the Auxiliary Aviation work to
maximize support during a hurricane response?
The relationship is very tight knit here at Air Station
Savannah. We have a very active Auxiliary group.
We have almost sixteen aircraft facilities, along with
nearly sixty members. We try to incorporate them
into as much of our standardized training when
we have safety stand down events, safety standup
events, as well as our annual workshop. When we get
together we have forward discussions about safety
and aviation matters and it gives our command a
face to face interaction with the pilots that are going
to be performing those missions. That establishes
a foundation of trust so that when we have these
OR express
Basically, like I said previously, the dedication and
the flexibility. There’s not many services I know that
have volunteers that, again, with less than 24 hours
notification, get an aircraft to your facility and start
unloading parts and people and get them to the most
critical site they need to be. That, as well as just the
years of experience that they have aviation-wise, is
really invaluable to us. Those are the skills that are
crucial to what we need.
NAVEX: Any anecdotes or memories that stand out
on the role of Auxiliary Aviation in the responses to
the hurricanes last year?
I had a few great experiences with Doug Armstrong
and Ken Plesser. It’s one of those cases where
Harvey was bearing down on Texas and we were
able to contact them. In less than twenty-four hours
they had a plane (Editor’s note – A twin jet engine
Cessna Citation Mustang with a capacity for four
passengers) here in Savannah taking crews to go
out to Mobile Aviation Training Center to set them
up to replace other personnel and to supplement
crews performing aircraft maintenance there. Then,
not even a month later, we had to send them both
down to respond to hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
We gave them a satellite phone and they took their
mission orders from the incident commander once
they were on site in Puerto Rico. I want to say that
that really speaks to the level of mission command
that the commanding officer here exercises that he
knows that he can trust those people with such a
difficult mission and it’s done flawlessly every time.
Those are the favorite memories that I have.
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