The Long Blue Line

The Coast Guard established the Ancient Mariner Award in 1978 to honor the officer and enlisted cuttermen who personify the dedication and professionalism associated with long service at sea and have held the distinction of cutterman longer than any other officer or enlisted member.

In 1926, the Coast Guard’s Loening OL-5 launched aviation for Prohibition interdiction, with Gloucester and Cape May air stations aiding cutters to counter rum-running.

It should come as no surprise that over 100 years ago a Coast Guard aviator was the first to pilot an aircraft across the Atlantic. Elmer Fowler Stone topped the list of applicants for the Revenue Cutter Service School of Instruction class of 1913, a small group that would feature several distinguished graduates in the history of Coast Guard aviation.

With the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the War on Terror set in motion dramatic changes to the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard has a rich history of underwater operations. Since the early 1940s, the service has nurtured a diving capability that has become vital to modern Coast Guard missions.

Oftentimes during a crisis, an iconic image or object defines that moment. During the search and rescue effort following landfall of Hurricane Katrina, several of those images and relics became a hallmark of Aug. 29, 2005, the day the massive storm ravaged the Gulf Coast. To the men and women stationed at Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans, the air station’s sign became that iconic relic.

Katrina destroyed between 70-90% of all the navigational aids on the Mississippi River south of Baton Rouge. With rescue and evacuation activities complete, Pamlico’s next priority was to restore aids to navigation and to make the river more accessible for recovery activities.

The Coast Guard’s response to Katrina was not simply wild improvisation. After gaining significant hurricane response experience during Hurricanes Hugo and Bob, planning, training, and extensive preparations were made for a catastrophic weather scenario. Coast Guardsmen in the field would rely heavily on these plans and preparations. These instructions could be summarized as “don’t wait for permission,” and they became the basis for successful improvisation.

In the still darkness of a foggy June night in 1942, what began as a routine beach patrol turned into a daring encounter with Nazi saboteurs—the first enemy operatives to land on U.S. soil since the War of 1812.

Units and personnel of the United States Coast Guard and its predecessor services have served with distinction in every major American conflict since the founding of the United States and the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991 and operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm proved no exception to this rule.