They Had to Go Out

Latest Episodes:

Episode 53: Russell Burress - BMC (Ret.) - 44 MLB - Coxswain - SAR - Risk vs Gain Jan 27, 2020

Show notes

Retired Chief Boatswain’s Mate Russell Burress tells making the decision to risk a boat in an attempt to save a life, serving on deck under the leadership of service legend BMCM Donald Horsley, setting a buoy to reopen a strategic port in the midst of a typhoon, towing a downed Coast Guard helicopter, and a tough decision during a mass rescue in the aftermath of a sudden thunderstorm.

Episode 52: John Gagnon - BMCM (Ret.) - Surfman - Officer in Charge Jan 21, 2020

Show notes

Master Chief Boatswain’s Mate John Gagnon (Ret.) talks the search for a fisherman who fell overboard in monstrous surf off the Oregon coast, how towing and searching are performed in the surf by motor lifeboat crews, and the most impactful lessons learned from his years in command of Coast Guard stations.

Holiday Special with MCPOCG Vince Patton (Ret.) Dec 23, 2019

Show notes

Holiday Special: 8th Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Vince Patton (Ret.) shares a holiday message, talks the short lived music career of the E-10s on the USO’s Overseas Holiday Tour, and encourages all who can to help get the National Coast Guard Museum built with a donation during their Matching Gift Challenge. Visit http://www.coastguardmuseum.org/out/ to become a plank owner today!

Episode 51: Steven Craig - USCGR - Captain (Ret.) - Author of All Present and Accounted For Dec 18, 2019

Show notes

Captain Steven Craig (Ret.) talks the dangers of walking a cutter’s deck in storm tossed seas, rising in the ranks from Seaman to mustang Captain, and being activated thirteen times as a reservist in response to major events and disasters including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, Deepwater Horizon, and the 7.0 earthquake centered on Haiti. He also talks the dramatic story behind his new book “All Present and Accounted For”, which tells how the USCGC Jarvis grounded then nearly sank in a storm off the Alaskan coast in 1972.

Episode 50: Dan Shirey - BM - Surfman - 44 MLB - Chetco River - CGC Modoc - Diver Dec 12, 2019

Show notes

Former Boatswain’s Mate Dan Shirey talks pitchpoling a 44 ft Motor Lifeboat on the Chetco River bar, responding to a sinking fishing vessel despite knowing he lacked enough fuel to make it back to shore, escorting a listing cargo ship hundreds of miles to reach a safe port, qualifying as a diver, using the skills gained through his service to pursue underwater treasure hunting, and diving on the wrecks of the same whaling ships that were the cause of the 1897 Overland Relief Expedition where some of the earliest Coast Guard heroes earned their fame.

Episode 49: Mark Holmes - Radioman - 210 WMEC Crew - Author Dec 05, 2019

Show notes

Former Radioman Mark Holmes talks heading out and into a storm so severe it forced the Navy into port, responding to a foundering sailing vessel with a skeleton crew aboard CGC Courageous, procuring a replacement deck gun for a cutter from the front lawn of a VFW, surviving waterspouts and tornadoes, and how his experiences in the service caused him to begin writing.

Episode 48: Gerry Rohrer - BM1 (Ret.) - Coxswain - Ice Rescuer - PATFORSWA - Instructor Nov 25, 2019

Show notes

Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Gerry Rohrer (Ret.) talks the lifesaving efforts to retrieve and MEDEVAC an elderly couple from a sailboat breaking apart on the rocks of a Michigan jetty, responding to hard water emergencies with an ice rescue team, deploying overseas to train Middle Eastern maritime forces with Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA), and finishing off his career as an advisor to the Kiwis.

Episode 47: Doug Johnson - Boatswains Mate - Coxswain - LORAN Station - Pacific Islands Nov 13, 2019

Show notes

Former Boatswain’s Mate Doug Johnson provides a travelogue of exotic locations he served at throughout the Pacific, including his time at a remote LORAN Station on Marcus Island nearly 700 miles from the nearest point of land. He also tells of responding to the aftermath of a typhoon in Guam and a few highlights from leading crews on search and rescue and law enforcement cases as a coxswain on 30 and 40 ft wooden hull boats and on the brand new 41 UTB at stations in Honolulu and Kauai. For the most choice assignments in a single enlistment, Doug may have the record.

Episode 46: CDR Tim ‘TJ’ Schmitz - Helicopter Pilot - HH65 - Alaska Ranger Rescue Nov 08, 2019

Show notes

Commander and helicopter pilot Tim Schmitz talks the daring effort to rescue nearly fifty victims after their vessel, the ‘Alaska Ranger’, sank in the Bering Sea 180 miles west of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. A nighttime takeoff from the storm swept and frozen deck of the cutter Munro, a flight plan with no possibility of reaching shore and no margin of error to make it back to the cutter, only dim strobe lights to guide the crew to those treading water, the loss of a victim despite the determined efforts of all involved, and the triumph of saving lives at sea - it’s a story that is truly dangerous, daring, and epic.

Episode 45: Kevin Gilheany - BOSN (Ret.) - QMCS - SAR Controller - USCG Pipe Band Oct 31, 2019

Show notes

Retired Quartermaster and Boatswain Kevin Gilheany talks a search and rescue case involving a commercial fishing vessel that was poised to play out like a Greek tragedy until he took action to establish a viable search area and direct assets to locate and save the survivor. He also talks heavy seas in a newly commissioned 270 foot medium endurance cutter, taking celestial fixes aboard America’s tall ship, and his work to form the USCG Pipe Band.

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