Enlisted members below the rank of chief petty officer recently got some new opportunities to lead. In August 2021, the Coast Guard opened five new stations and opted to allow boatswain’s mates to apply to be officer-in-charge (OinC), a role that traditionally requires the rank of chief petty officer.
Petty Officer 1st Class Christian DiPaolo says he was humbled to become the first OinC of the new Coast Guard Station Pittsburgh. “Entrusting enlisted personnel with this much leadership responsibility is almost unheard of,” said DiPaolo, a boatswain’s mate previously posted to Coast Guard Station Georgetown. “If you compare this with what you find [in other military services], it’s astonishing.”
The Office of Boat Forces has long been looking for an opportunity to reward high performing first class petty officers who are boatswain's mates, and who have already elected to go before the OinC review board and earn their certification, says Jeff Wheeler, deputy chief of the Office of Boat Forces. “These five new western river stations presented that opportunity,” he added. “We are proud to recognize the hard work and professionalism of the individuals selected to command these stations.”
In addition to DiPaolo, four other boatswain’s mates were chosen to run - and have since set up stations in – Louisville, Ky, Paducah, Ky, Memphis, Tenn., and St. Louis. Previously, operations in these cities had been largely limited to marine safety units – essentially, boathouses used to conduct prevention activities. Now they have full, multi-mission Coast Guard stations with two response boats, eight to 10 active duty members, and about twice as many reservists.
Petty Officer 1st Class Matthew Rollins, who became OinC at Coast Guard Station Memphis in August, also found the dual responsibilities intriguing. “It was a dream come true in a way,” he said. “I got to reach my goals quicker than expected.” Not only was this his first time in charge, Rollins notes, but the units had to be built from the ground up. “There’s a whole lot of autono-my,” he said. “It’s like having my own ship in a fleet of other ships.”
The Coast Guard has previously relied on E-6 OinCs in the aids to navigation (ATON) mission, but as DiPaolo points out, it’s a dimension beyond that to have an E-6 leader picking up the phone at two in the morning to respond to a law enforcement or search and rescue emergency. In addition, optimism is already spreading among junior leaders who see these openings as the solu-tion to a longstanding obstacle. In recent years, he says, it had become a struggle to get E-5 and E-6 members to sit for the review board when there were few OinC jobs available below E7. Many members simply concluded it made more sense for them to concentrate on making chief.
That’s certainly what Chief Petty Officer Tyler White was thinking before he was selected to take charge of Coast Guard Station Louisville. In fact, as a first class petty officer, filling the ex-ecutive petty officer position (second in command) at Coast Guard Station Sheboygan, last year, he applied to all five new stations. “I was lucky to get my first choice,” said White, who was ad-vanced shortly after he started at Louisville in September. “It’s definitely challenging, but worth it,” he added. “Especially, to commission a unit. To be the first at my rank to hold the position and command, it is a lot of work, but very rewarding.”
These three new OinCs emphasized how their previous operational experience both on the rivers and with pollution control activities, readied them for their new roles. It’s also been a plus in terms of peer support to have all five stations come online at the same time. “We’ve relied on each other,” DiPaolo said. “We have a saying – the decision is yours to make, but you are never alone.”
With this new crop of leaders being given the opportunity to set the standard, that support will likely carry on as another inspiring boat forces tradition.
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