Living the Guardian Ethos

Shipmates,

I received the following email today and thought I should share it with you all. The author asked that I not use his name, but I thank him for his leadership and for being a Guardian

ADM A

Good morning Admiral:

Please allow me to communicate an important message about the rollout of the Guardian Ethos as elucidated in ALCOAST 366/08. I keep a copy of that message on my desk, and read it periodically, as it inspires and empowers. Thank you for providing this directive, and please communicate to your staff responsible for this rollout initiative what an empowering concept it is. Buttressed by the knowledge of and in commitment to this initiative, I wanted to apprise you of an event that occurred this past Monday, 29 June, 2009.

After delivering our first born son to the USCGA's Class of 2013 in New London, Connecticut, on a magnificent Report Day orchestrated and executed by RADM Burhoe and staff, my wife, daughter, and I were returning southbound via the New Jersey turnpike to Bethesda. The day was a significant emotional event for all involved, and RADM Burhoe's remarks in the morning to the parents and then in the afternoon during the swearing in ceremony were insightful, and especially inspiring, as he praised our sons and daughters for answering the call to serve.

While driving home on I95, and reliving the events of the day, we came upon a white utility truck swerving haphazardly and irregularly at speeds approaching 75 mph at approximately 2030 local time. I told my wife that the driver had to be intoxicated. I directed her and my daughter to each use their cellphones to call 911 and alert the New Jersey State Police. We pulled our 2001 Ford F-150 up behind the truck's 6 o'clock position, engaged our emergency flashers, and attempted to stay close enough behind the swerving truck to alert oncoming drivers from behind us that this indeed was a drunk driver, while keeping enough separation not to endanger my family. While executing this, another vehicle behind me also engaged emergency flashers, then pulled up alongside our vehicle. The lone motorist was a woman, who lowered her driver side window, and flashed her police badge, and yelled that she was an off duty police woman from Massachusetts. She formed up alongside my vehicle in the #3 lane, and with us in the #2 lane, we created a formation pair of emergency flashing light vehicles attempting to shield oncoming traffic from the jerking vagaries of the drunk driver. She also utilized her cellphone to call 911. Careening from one median to the other over a three lane superhighway, over a time span of at least 15 minutes and for a distance of approximately 13-15 miles, we witnessed one harrowing near mishap after another.

Just south of I95 exit 6, entering a highway construction zone, where the traffic was reduced from three lanes to two, a NJ Highway Patrol car with blaring lights and sirens finally appeared and pulled the guy over. Both the utility truck and the patrol car took out a number of orange traffic cones when pulling off the road. I was in the #1 lane at that point, and the off duty policewoman was in the #2 lane. She pulled off with the arresting vehicle. I had concrete jersey barriers on my left, and approaching traffic on my right, so I kept heading southbound. As soon as I cleared the construction zone, we attempted to call the NJ State police to provide our names and telephone numbers for eyewitness accounts if needed, but my wife's cellphone battery died while I was talking to the dispatcher.

Serendipitously, we came upon a State Highway Patrol sign, and station. I exited to the station, and provided my name, address, and telephone number to the dispatch Sergeant if they needed an eyewitness account. While there, the arresting Patrolman entered, and when the Sergeant informed him that we were the ones that called, he thanked us and informed us that the driver "was drunk out of his mind."
Admiral, we saved at least one life on Monday, that of the drunk driver, and God only knows what else could have happened, and who else could have been harmed or killed. I am proud of my wife and daughter, because they acted with me when they could have insisted I just accelerate ahead and avoid the situation, and I am also proud of the off duty policewoman who acted in tandem with us.

But this message is not about me, it's about us, Coast Guardsmen, and our Guardian Ethos. This is an empowering directive, and again, I appreciate and thank those responsible for it. It is a conceptual foundation which compels us to bring words to life through our actions whenever we see others in harms way.

I have attached RADM Tedesco's timely message below because of sentence #1: "We are Guardians. All members of Team Coast Guard are to take a proactive stance against drinking and driving." We get it Admiral, and I think it is great that we have the commission to act whenever we can. Thank you sir.