FORCECOM Commander
Rear Admiral Stephen E. Mehling
Commander, Force Readiness Command
United States Coast Guard
Rear Admiral Steve Mehling assumed the duties of Commander, Force Readiness Command (FORCECOM) in April, 2011. The Force Readiness Command is a dynamic training and performance command responsible for preparing the total workforce and enabling the operational commander to achieve mission excellence. FORCECOM delivers operational and mission support training and assessment, and promotes force interoperability and standardization through published doctrine and exercise support.
His prior Flag assignments include Director of Operations, Coast Guard Atlantic Area and Commander of the Fourteenth District. As Director of Operations, he oversaw Coast Guard missions with a span of control that extended from the Rocky Mountains to the Arabian Gulf and reached across five Coast Guard Districts and 40 states. As Commander of the Fourteenth Coast Guard District, Rear Admiral Mehling was responsible for all Coast Guard operation throughout 12.2M sq. mile of the Pacific including Hawaii, Guam, and American Samoa.
Rear Admiral Mehling is a career aviator with 17 years of operational flying experience at air stations on the East Coast, West Coast, and Gulf Coast. He had air station command tours in Houston, TX and Miami, FL, where he directed fixed and rotary wing aircraft operations throughout the Southeast U.S. and the Caribbean, including oversight of the Coast Guard's support detachment in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Between aviation assignments, he served 9 years in program oversight and personnel management duties in Washington, DC, including service as the Chief of Officer Personnel Management, Deputy Chief of Aviation Forces, and Shipboard-Helicopter Platform Manager. During these assignments, he directed the shipboard testing of the HH-60J helicopter aboard Coast Guard cutters, participated in the Commission on Roles and Missions of the Armed Forces, and was presented the DOT Secretary's Team Award for his leadership of the Aviation Resource Modeling Team.
Rear Admiral Mehling received his commission in 1980. His first assignment was as a Deck Watch Officer and as the Operations Officer aboard CGC SWEETGUM. Following this tour afloat, he attended flight training in Pensacola, FL in 1982 and was designated a Coast Guard aviator in 1983. Rear Admiral Mehling holds a Bachelor of Science degree with high honors in Mathematics from the Coast Guard Academy and a Master of Science degree in Management from the University of Maryland. He has attended the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu and was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Pacific Islands Forum in Cairns, Australia.
Rear Admiral Mehling's personal awards include the Legion of Merit, four Meritorious Service Medals with Operational Device, two Air Medals, two Coast Guard Commendation Medals with Operational Device, the 9-11 Medal and numerous other team, unit, and individual awards.
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Last Modified 4/16/2012