When two of the Coast Guard’s newest surfmen were faced with getting a boat safely across a sand bar or attending their pinning ceremony earlier this month, there was only one possible decision for them to make.
Assist the boat and put off the pinning ceremony.
A pinning ceremony is a time-honored military tradition that signifies promotion, qualification and advancement. This particular ceremony only occurs a handful of times a year, according to a Coast Guard release.
Petty Officers Second Class Enrique Lemos and Aaron Hadden were coming on duty when Coast Guard Station Umpqua River received a call from the Brenna A.
The boat, a 107-foot 198 gross ton fishing vessel, was en route to Alaska and had never crossed the Umpqua River bar before. The call for help came in at around 7 a.m. Lemos and Haden were scheduled to be pinned at 8 a.m.
Lemos said the pinning ceremony didn’t even come up.
“It was a routine decision we made together,’ he said. “It was a normal decision process made throughout the winter season.”
The priority was to ensure that the crew of the Brenna A made it across the bar safety, Lemos stressed.
The pin and uniform patch of the surfman symbolizes the highest qualification that a Coast Guardsman can reach in the small-boat community.
“Lemos and myself had trained together for the past two-and-half years,” said Hadden. “We are the only two qualified coxswains in our duty section, and we are good friends. Throughout the qualification process, we divided up our time as evenly and fairly as possible. It was always friendly competition, always being there and always pursuing sign-offs and asking to go out and train.”
A few days later Senior Chief Petty Officer Scott Slade, the officer-in-charge at Station Umpqua River, called Lemos and Hadden into his office, read aloud their newly assigned surfman numbers and told them they were qualified as surfmen.
“I enjoyed the smaller in-house version of events and really felt like I achieved something and had the characteristics of surfmanship,” said Hadden.
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Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvetts.com.
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