Montegut driver who avoided golf cart dies of injuries
May 14, 2013
‘One Team, One Vision Toward Zero Deaths’
May 14, 2013
It’s not anything life changing for people who work and play on local waterways, at least not in the day-to-day sense.
But a change of commanders for the Coast Guard District that serves the Tri-parish region, which extends way north through the Mississippi Valley, is an assurance that the agency’s traditions are very much alive, and that the command structure is intact.
“Not much rolls down to my level here,” said Chief Boatswain Nathan Beach of the Aids to Navigation team quartered at the southern end of Terrebonne Parish, in Dulac. “Our main goal here is to keep mariners safe and properly mark the channels.”
The 11-member Dulac team is responsible for maintenance and repair of day-markers, buoys, lights and other apparatus that mark the channels in U.S. and state waters from Barataria Bay to the extreme western end of Terrebonne.
Members working at the Dulac facility said they and their mission were served well by out-going Rear Adm. Roy A. Nash, who was given command of the 8th Coast Guard District in 2011. They look forward to working under his replacement, Rear Adm. Kevin S. Cook.
The official change-of-command ceremony, a time-honored Coast Guard exercise steeped in traditions of that agency as well as the Navy, was held Thursday at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.
Nash assumed command of the 8th District in June 2011, and has now retired. As district commander, Nash was in charge of more than 100 units with 4,045 active duty and reserve members and an area of responsibility covering all or part of 26 states.
Cook comes to the 8th District from Coast Guard Atlantic Area in Portsmouth, Va., where he was the deputy commander. At the time of his selection, Cook was serving as Chief of Staff for the Thirteenth Coast Guard District, Seattle. Between then and now he has served as Director of the Operations Command Implementation Team in Portsmouth and Director of Prevention Policy in Washington.
A native of Freehold, N.J., Cook graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in ocean engineering. Cook also earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University. He is a 1999 graduate of the U.S. Army War College. In 2003, he was appointed as the Coast Guard Fellow to Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group.
U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert J. Papp Jr. presided over the ceremony and presented Nash with a Certificate of Appreciation from President Barack Obama.
The change-of-command ceremony, Coast Guard officers said, signifies a total transfer of responsibility, authority and accountability for the command.
Rear Adm. Kevin S. Cook (left) relieves Rear Adm. Roy A. Nash (right) as commander of the 8th Coast Guard District during the district’s change-of-command ceremony at the National World War II ceremony, May 2, 2013. Nash retired from the U.S. Coast Guard after 34 years of active duty service.
