Coast Guard News: Living the American Dream

Story by Petty Officer 3rd Class Sabrina Laberdesque, District Seven Public Affairs
Miami, Florida - She leaned her head out the window and saw her crewmembers standing by waiting for her orders. With a deep breath she slowly moved the throttle forward and kept one hand on steering wheel and felt the boat slowly begin to move. Shouting commands to her shipmates, she was ready to get the smallboat underway from the pier for the first time. She confidently turned around to make sure there were no hazards to navigations in the way and began to make way out of the Miami harbor.

Amongst her shipmates, she wears the same uniform, she is a crewmember on the same boats, and she serves the same country. She shares the same core values of Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty, but she was missing something that most of her shipmates were given at birth, U.S. citizenship.

Fireman Samantha Turin, an engineer from Coast Guard Station Miami Beach, Fla., who was originally born in Port Au Prince Haiti, came to the United States in 2004 with a dream to be an American citizen and work in law enforcement.

 “We waited five years for the permission to leave Haiti when I finally came over to the United Stated by airplane with my 19 year-old-twin sister and 15-year-old brother in 2004,” said Turin. “I didn’t speak a word of English but I felt like I was home when I arrived in the state of Georgia.”

Turin knew that to become an American Citizen, she would have to put in a lot of hard work and dedication. She learned English by taking classes on her own.

“I knew that I wanted a career in law enforcement so I went to school and got a degree in Criminal Justice,” said Turin. “I had the degree and now I wanted to put it to good use and that is how I found out about the Coast Guard.”

Turin visited a recruiter’s office where she learned all about the Coast Guard and what the sea-going service had to offer.

“I wanted to serve the country that gave me so many opportunities, but I also wanted to conduct law enforcement,” said Turin. “I knew the Coast Guard was going to be the best fit for me.”

To be able to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard, an applicant must be either a U.S. citizen or a foreign national legally residing in the United States with an Immigration and Naturalization Service Alien Registration Card. Applicants must speak, write and read English fluently in order to be cleared for basic training.

Turin was accepted into the Coast Guard and left for Basic Training Center Cape May, N.J. in 2013

“I learned a lot about myself while I was in basic training because there were no distractions,” said Turin. “I was able to reflect on my life and build the self confidence I was going to need to display at my new unit.”

After graduating from Basic Training, Turin received orders to Station Miami Beach. There she learned she needed to obtain a security clearance but because she was not a U.S. Citizen, she was unable to start the process to receive one.

“I obtained all of the right documentation and really focused on what I needed to do to get the process started to obtain my citizenship,” said Turin.

There are only two ways to become a U.S. citizen:  by law or by birth. If you are not born in the U.S., then you may seek to become one by naturalization. This administrative process requires an applicant to take part in a series of tests and interviews. The process is strictly governed by the Immigration and Nationality Act.

“It was a long process and a series of waiting to be told whether or not you got accepted,” she said. “But it was the only way I was going to be able to achieve my dream of being an American citizen so I had no choice but to go through the motions.”

On July 26, 2013 Samantha Turin finally became an American Citizen.

Now that she achieved this milestone in her life, she'll be able to apply for her security clearance. She is pursuing a career as a Maritime Enforcement Specialist and currently waiting to attend A school to fulfill her Coast Guard career aspirations and life long dream.

“I felt like I was flying first class when I found out that I was becoming an American citizen,” said Turin. “I am so proud to be an American and serve my country by doing what I love.”

Atlantic Beach-based Coast Guard cutter celebrates 50 years of service

ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. - Coast Guardsmen man the rails aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Hammer at Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville in Atlantic Beach, Fla., in celebration of the cutter's 50th year serving boaters and the public in the coastal waters of Florida and southern Georgia Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. The Hammer joined the Coast Guard's aids to navigation fleet Nov. 30, 1962, and was tasked primarily with marine construction of aids to navigation and piers, which its crew continues to do today. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Lauren Jorgensen)

ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. – The Atlantic Beach, Fla.,-based Coast Guard Cutter Hammer and its crew are celebrating 50 years of serving boaters and the public in the coastal waters of Florida and southern Georgia Thursday.

Thursday, the cutter's crew dressed the ship, a maritime tradition reserved for special occasions; donned more formal uniforms; and took a few minutes to reflect on the cutter's past in honor of the milestone anniversary.

The Hammer is an inland construction tender homeported at Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville in Atlantic Beach, is comprised of a 75-foot tug pushing a 68-foot barge and

Coast Guard participates in Wisconsin holiday festivities

Two Rivers, Wisconsin – The crew at Coast Guard Station/Aids-to-Navigation Team Two Rivers offloaded Christmas trees at the Roger’s Street Fishing Village and participated in the city’s annual Holiday Parade Saturday.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the original Christmas Ship, the schooner Rouse Simmons, a crew from STANT Two Rivers brought 15 evergreen trees on one of the unit's 26-foot Trailerable-Aids-to-Navigation-Boats as part of a re-enactment.

The schooner Rouse Simmons carried Christmas trees and wreaths from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Chicago for more than 30 years until Nov. 23, 1912, when it sank off the coast of Wisconsin between Kewaunee and Two Rivers.

For two days, the citizens of Two Rivers paid tribute to the sinking of the Christmas Ship. The community presented a musical, re-enacted the transiting of the Rouse Simmons, and honored George Sogge, captain of the Two Rivers Life-Saving Station.

PHOTOs: Crew of Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw prepares for Christmas Ship journey to Chicago

	CHEBOYGAN, Mich. – Members of the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw load more than 1,300 Christmas trees onto the ship in preparation for its journey to Chicago, Nov. 20, 2012. The Mackinaw is once again serving as the Christmas Ship, re-enacting an annual tradition which began in the late 1800s by Captain Herman Schuenemann until he and his crew perished aboard the Rouse Simmons in a storm in November of 1912. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Seaman Robert Butler

Coast Guard recruits get a home for the Holidays

Cape May, New Jersey - The Coast Guard and American Red Cross will place more than 190 Coast Guard recruits with approximately 45 South Jersey families for Thanksgiving as part of Operation Fireside Thursday at 8:45 a.m.

Coast Guard Training Center Cape May has approximately 200 recruits in training from more than 27 states and U.S. territories. Operation Fireside has placed recruits with South Jersey families during the holiday season since 1981. It allows recruits to celebrate the holiday with a host family while they’re separated from their loved ones during the rigorous basic training program.

“Our new Coast Guardsmen will be conducting dangerous frontline Coast Guard missions in the U.S. and abroad within days of graduation, and we make them Coast Guardsmen by pushing them to new levels of physical, mental and emotional toughness,” said Capt. Bill Kelly, the commanding officer of Training Center Cape May. “The volunteers of Operation Fireside make them feel at home, which is probably one of the greatest gifts for a service member separated from their family during the Holiday season.”

Coast Guard crew set to load 1,300 Christmas trees onto Mackinaw for historic transit to Chicago

Cheboygan, Michigan – The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw is scheduled to load 1,300 Christmas trees onto the ship at its homeport of Cheboygan, Michigan, on Tuesday in preparation for the 2012 Christmas Ship celebration.

The trees will then be transported aboard Mackinaw to Chicago, where they will be offloaded during a special two-day ceremony and then delivered to needy families.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the wreck of the schooner Rouse Simmons, the original Christmas Ship, which sank between Kewaunee and Two Rivers, Wisconsin, on Nov. 23, 1912 in a storm during its transit to Chicago.

To mark this anniversary, a special collection of 100 trees from an area outside of Two Rivers, where the Rouse Simmons launched, are set to be included.

During the transit to Chicago, the crew of Mackinaw will toss a wreath into Lake Michigan near the resting place of the Rouse Simmons.

"The crew and I are excited to participate in this year’s Christmas Ship activities, especially considering the significance of the 100th anniversary,” said Cmdr. Michael Davanzo, the ship’s commanding officer.

For further information, please contact Ensign Katie Braynard at 231-597-2030.