1030 Hours-11 September 2001

Lynbrook, Long Island, New York

A Few Miles East of JFK Airport

We Have An Emergency Situation….Please Report To…..

 Those words from my Flotilla Commander were a call to action, breaking me out of the daze I had been in since the tragic news story broke earlier that morning.  Now I had a mission.  Leave the office, get home, put on a uniform, pack a few things, grab my PFD and report in ASAP.  The location that I was assigned to report to was unfamiliar, located right in the middle of our county, quite a distance in either direction to the water.  Surely they would then send me to either NYC, 20 miles to the west, or one of our Long Island Coast Guard Stations for assignment.  Instead I found myself 35 feet underground, helping to staff a communications bunker in the County Emergency Operations Center.  No need for my PFD there, but I was glad to be of service.   We had communications established by 1200 hours and a watchstanding schedule by 1300.  We were serving as a communications liaison between Group Moriches and various local, NYC, state and federal agencies.  Gold and Silver working together to get the job done, 35 feet underground, 15 miles from the water, One Team, Team Coast Guard.

                                           Michael Gromet FSO-13-08 PA

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NC Police Officer Frank Esposito and MK1 Kevin Wilkinson, Jones Beach Station