(Top row)
For their Central Louisiana Composite Squadron members, Coast guard members demonstrate their techniques for retrieving a man overboard.
(Second row)
A closer view of the man overboard dummy.
(Third row, left)
Coast Guard Chief Boatswain's Mate Richard Waring, officer in charge.
(Third row, right)
A cadet watches Coast Guardsmen haul up a buoy.
(Fourth row)
Cadet Lt. Col. Barry James (left) and Cadet Senior Master Sgt. Luke Hazmark track an ELT along the riverbank.
(Fifth row)
Cadets get a ride in a 20-foot boat.
(Photos by Maj. Michael James)
(Bottom row)
The Central Louisiana Composite Squadron members.
(Photo by U.S. Coast Guard Chief Boatswain's Mate Richard Waring)
Maj. Michael James
Public Affairs Officer
Central Louisiana Composite Squadron
Louisiana Wing
LOUISIANA – Eight members of the Central Louisiana Composite Squadron recently combined emergency services training under unusual circumstances with a chance to see firsthand how the U.S. Coast Guard operates on inland waterways.
The opportunity came when the Civil Air Patrol members visited the U.S. Coast Guard’s Aids to Navigation Team unit at Colfax. The unit is primarily responsible for installing and maintaining navigation structures along the Red and Black rivers.
At the request of the central Louisiana squadron’s emergency services officer, 2nd Lt. Robert Piercy, the Coast Guardsmen placed emergency locator transmitters along the riverbank for the cadets’ training.
As they rode along the river aboard the 64-foot Aids to Navigation boat, the cadets began listening and searching for the ELT signals. The setting reflects an unusual but very realistic scenario, since a boat could capsize or an aircraft could make an emergency landing in the river.
The waters of the U.S. and its territories are marked to assist navigation by the Aids to Navigation System. The system employs a simple arrangement of colors, shapes, numbers and light characteristics to mark navigable channels, waterways and obstructions adjacent to these.
Aids to Navigation can provide a boater with the same type of information drivers get from street signs, stop signals, road barriers, detours and traffic lights. These aids can include lighted structures, beacons, day markers, range lights, fog signals, landmarks and buoys.
Each has a purpose and helps in determining location, getting from one place to another or staying out of danger.