Many people don’t think much about the Coast Guard, especially landlubbers. It’s easy to forget the Coast Guard’s very real war against the weather and other important threats like industrial pollution and coastal insecurity. Heroic American men and women battle professionally and courageously every day in the Coast Guard, at the risk of their own life and limb, to keep people and shipping safe in American coastal waters, shore lands, ports and rivers.
Any time you feel moved to honor the troops, remember the Coast Guard, too. You will if you think of the story of heroic service by Coast Guard men and women on the Texas coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.
The Houston Chronicle reports Ike's catastrophic destruction of the ports of Houston and Galveston, and the channels that serve them. Pre-Ike navigation charts of channel width, depth and contours became obsolete literally overnight. The storm variously moved, destroyed or rendered inaccurate the entire system of aids to navigation. That includes old fashioned but important things like buoys and other, higher tech stuff. The destruction forced the Coast Guard to close the ports. It then fell to the Coast Guard to inspect, survey, replace, rebuild, test and certify the reasonable safety of any navigation of the channels.
No small matter, this. No small consequence, either. The way ocean shipping works, ships move around the globe for thousands of miles at speeds of maybe 250 - 500 miles per day. That means that ships bound for Houston and Galveston set out for those ports days or weeks before Ike struck. Unable to enter Galveston or Houston after Ike, arriving ships began to stack up quickly.
A big job for the Coast Guard, but heroic? Well, consider that while our Coast Guard men and women are going all out, Ike destroyed their own base, including their own quarters, not to mention the antenna network for their communications. Look at this video report from Houston's CBS affiliate. Meanwhile debris piles up dangerously everywhere, particularly in the channels and around the waterways where the Coast Guard must patrol and work. That ought to be heroic enough.
So, after your moments of self-motivating thought, reflection and anger over how horribly the Republicans have misused our brave volunteer military, remember to shine part of your righteous glow on the Coast Guard, along with the Navy and Marines, the Army, the Air Force and all our state forces. Support our Troops: Supply them. Equip them. Train them. Reward them. Appreciate them. Bring them home. Use them wisely ever after.