WEBVTT

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- We are freshly back
from a 16 day deployment

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to the panhandle of Florida in response

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to Hurricane Michael.

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Aids to navigation is the
roadsigns for the water.

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Basically we put the lines
on either side of the road,

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we say where the safe water is

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and where you can safely
navigate your boat

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without grounding it basically.

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Hurricanes, big storms,
pulls those markers

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either off station or
completely destroys them.

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We went up there to reset those markers

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and properly mark that water highway.

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Well the Vise and a few other
ships in the Coast Guard

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like it build and maintain
fixed aquatic structures.

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Those structures mark
the edge of the channel,

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the edge of the highway,

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millions of tons of
materials move across the U.S

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waterways everyday and
without safe navigation

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and knowing where those
vessels can safely transit,

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none of that stuff can make it,

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and if there was a mishap
or some kind of grounding,

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that could be catastrophic
to the environment,

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the economy, so on and so forth.

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- I joined the Coast Guard
15 years ago in Panama City,

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so definitely I was eager to get up there,

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I was eager to help.

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What we do on the Coast
Guard cutter Vise aligns

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with the Commandant's
new maritime commerce

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strategic outlook,

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so with that coming out
and hurricanes coming,

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in the wake of Hurricane Michael,

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it's definitely we were very willing,

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very eager to get up there and
help and show what we can do.

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Having a family up there
definitely pushed me

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a little bit harder to get up there,

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and I let the crew know hey,

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you're not only doing
this for the Coast Guard,

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you're doing it for yourself,

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you're doing it for my family,

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so I think it obviously
motivated them a little bit more

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too I hope so.

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So station Panama City up there,

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they were everyday out
in the towns helping out,

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cleaning up, helping out people
that just needed assistance.

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We had the opportunity for
a logistics day up there,

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to some of the crew to go
out there and help them,

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so they were out there
helping put tarps on roofs,

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to moving rubble, to
anything that they could do.

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And I think that being underway,

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building the ace navigation
it was kind of a nice break

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for the guys to go out there
and do some community service

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and really help out.