The Coast Guard Emergency Management Awards recognize a member and unit who exemplify the highest standards for professionalism and initiative in the field of Emergency Management and Disaster Response. The awards honor emergency management practitioners and units whose outstanding contributions to the field of Coast Guard emergency management and disaster response have enhanced the preparedness and response capacity of the Coast Guard
The 2022 Coast Guard Emergency Manager of the Year is Lt. Cmdr. Michael Griffin, the Chief of Sector Corpus Christi’s Emergency Management/Force Readiness branch.
The 2022 Coast Guard Emergency Management Unit of the Year is Sector Key West.
Emergency Manager of the Year
Lt. Cmdr. Griffin increased the quality, attendance and outputs across the unit’s area of responsibility while representing Sector Corpus Christi among national-level leadership in military outloads, energy exports, innovative security measures at waterside facilities, and port grants and partnerships through readiness committees. His efforts were most notably demonstrated throughout the preparation and execution of the annual Area Maritime Security Training and Exercise Program (AMSTEP) full-scale exercise. His work and committee leadership led to one of the first-ever cybersecurity AMSTEP exercises in the country where 200 Coast Guard and agency partners participated over a two-day period. The results were shared cross the Coast Guard Port Security Specialist community. Under his leadership, Sector Corpus Christi’s Reserve Force reached 98% deployability resulting in a force of 97 members completing 29 deployments. Additionally, he raised Sector incident management team (IMT) readiness to 75% far exceeding the service average of 53%. This was accomplished by an initiative to qualify personnel for gapped positions in the IMT, resulting in 36 new qualifications.
Honorable mention goes to Mr. Ken Jones at Sector Charleston.
Emergency Management Unit of the Year
Sector Key West displayed excellence in exercise completion/currency, IMT readiness, innovation and external partner engagement. Sector KW obtained more than 40 incident command system (ICS) qualifications and enhanced readiness by facilitating training and boards that resulted in over 100 ICS qualifications for members serving on the Operation Vigilant Sentry IMT. The unit played a key role in the West Harbor Safety Committee which used historical data for safety issues to develop communication tools and spearheaded efforts with local partners to expeditiously deliver 250 gallons of water for migrants located on a remote island of Marquesas Key. Sector members successfully executed the port security grant process for the Florida Keys securing an almost half-million-dollar grant for the Key West Pilot Service, improving the city's resources, and maximizing harbor safety. Furthermore, Sector KW accomplished a successful stand-up of Operation Vigilant Sentry which resulted in 176 lives saved, all while responding to Hurricane Ian and a major diesel fuel spill of 66,153 gallons within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Honorable mention goes to Sector New York.
Congratulations to Lt. Cmdr. Griffin and Sector Key West on your hard work in the Coast Guard Emergency Management community where your ongoing efforts drive to strengthen crisis leadership throughout the service and maximize contingency preparedness and response. While the landscape is changing, the work of the Emergency Management community will continue to be crucial to strengthening the Coast Guard’s capacity to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from all threats and all hazards.
To read more about their efforts, please see the 2022 Emergency Management Award Recipients ALCOAST 449/23.
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