RDML Daniel R. May Director of Reserve and Training

Rear Admiral May was assigned as Director of Reserve and Training in January 2008.  He serves as the Director of the Coast Guard Reserve, serves as a member of the Reserve Forces Policy Board and is charged with developing policies to recruit, train, allocate and support over 10, 000 Coast Guard Reservists.  He is also responsible for the planning and technical control of the Coast Guard Training Centers, serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Coast Guard Academy and serves as the Chairman of the Commandant’s Leadership Advisory Council.  Rear Admiral May has served in a wide variety of operational, engineering and staff positions including Assistant Superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy from June of 2006 to January of 2008 where he was selected for flag rank. 

Rear Admiral May is a 1979 graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy majoring in Ocean Engineering. Following his initial tour aboard CGC INGHAM, he served as the Ocean Engineer for the Fifth District Civil Engineering Office before reporting to graduate school at the University of Rhode Island in 1982.  Upon earning a Master’s Degree in Ocean Engineering, Rear Admiral May reported to the National Data Buoy Center at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi overseeing the design of deep sea meteorological buoys and mooring systems.  During his four year tour, he was responsible for the expansion of the ocean and coastal weather data collection network from just over 35 sites to nearly 80 locations including coastal lighthouse sites, several Hawaiian Island buoys moored in over 18,000 ft. of water, and the first mooring of a year-round weather buoy in the Great Lakes.  In 1988 Rear Admiral May was assigned as the Commanding Officer of the Station and Base in St. Louis, Missouri providing the only dedicated SAR resource for the St. Louis River community and supply and logistics support for the entire 18 state region of the former Second Coast Guard District.  Rear Admiral May returned to the engineering field in 1991 as a plankowner at the newly formed Civil Engineering Unit Providence in Warwick , Rhode Island . During his tour he served as the project engineer for the design and construction of a 5000-ton revetment to protect Montauk Lighthouse and the relocation of Block Island Southeast Light, the first move of a major lighthouse structure within the United States .  Later, he completed the planning and design for the relocation of the Cape Cod Lighthouse, some 450 feet back from the eroding bluff of Cape Cod .  In 1995 Rear Admiral May was assigned as the Deputy Commander, Coast Guard Group Boston followed by a tour as the Industrial Manager for the Integrated Support Command (ISC) Boston from 1998 to 2001, providing a wide range of engineering and logistics support to all Coast Guard units located in the Northeast Region of the United States.  Rear Admiral May also served as the Chief of the Operations Division for the multi-agency search and recovery effort during the crash of JFK Jr’s plane in July of 1999.   Rear Admiral May served as the Commander, Coast Guard Group Boston from June of 2001 to June of 2004 overseeing all Coast Guard operations from Plymouth Bay , Massachusetts north to the border of Massachusetts and New Hampshire .  From 2004 to 2006, Rear Admiral May served as the Executive Assistant for the Assistant Commandant for Human Resources at Coast Guard Headquarters coordinating the efforts of the Directorate in all programmatic, policy and directed actions.

Rear Admiral May is the recipient of numerous personal and unit awards including the Legion of Merit, Two Meritorious Service Medals with Operational Distinguishing Device, four Coast Guard Commendation Medals, three Achievement Medals, three Special Operations awards, two Unit Commendation Awards and three Meritorious Unit Commendations. He is the 1992 RADM John B. Oren award recipient for the most significant contributions to the Coast Guard civil engineering program.