Joe Kimball, commanding officer of Air Station Miami. Active-Duty Careers. Reserve Careers. Family and Friends. Mobile Menu Main Menu: Explore your options Chat Now Still have Questions? Apply Now Get Started. Here are just a few who make Coasties look awesome. The difficulty of the training and the duty are legendary -- and badass. People such as Kevin Costner make movies about rescue swimmers.
Faulkner was a champion swimmer who rescued 48 people during Hurricane Katrina. But her biggest challenges were not rough seas or possible death; they were the constant sexual harassment she endured at each of her commands. After she filed sexual-harassment charges, her command referred her against her will for a psychiatric evaluation and then offered her a transfer to another command with no rescue swimmers.
Discouraged, she was on the cusp of leaving the service when a command master chief told her how important she was and that she was a role model for other women. She stayed in, eventually retiring from the Coast Guard, but not before cementing her status as one of the baddest-ass Coasties ever. Colleen Cain did not serve in the Coast Guard for very long, but she made an impression that many will never forget. Cain was the first female Coast Guard pilot, earning her wings in She flew many important, lifesaving missions as a helicopter pilot, including the rescue of a three-year-old boy who had fallen into the water while fishing with his family.
It was that dedication to saving lives that put her on a mission in to assist a crew whose craft was in danger of sinking. Despite dangerous weather, Cain flew to their rescue. Sadly, she and her crew never made it, crashing in Molokai, Hawaii's Wailua Valley. Not only was Cain a barrier breaker, she was also a role model for other Coast Guard women. Rest in peace, Lt.
Last December, the U. Now Faulkner is calling on members of Congress to investigate systemic sexual harassment and abuse within the Coast Guard ranks. And I found out about the Coast Guard and rescue swimmers actually by going on a trip on a naval aircraft carrier and talking to the Navy rescue swimmers. And they told me, "Don't join the Navy if you want to be a rescue swimmer, join the Coast Guard. I was sold. But also one of the younger rescue swimmers, who was kind of cocky, made a point to tell me that there were no females who had ever made it through the rescue swimmers school.
And that none probably ever would. And right then and there, I said, "Well, you just told that to the wrong person. What do you think about when you look back on your rescues after Hurricane Katrina? You saved 48 people in one night. I know it's part of the training, but at the same time, it's almost superhuman, the stamina that you need physically and emotionally to handle that.
What do you think about when you look back on that? It really does come down to the type of person that makes it through rescue swimmers school. It's not all just about your swimming ability or how physically strong you are. You can be a great swimmer and, you know, be this big muscle-bound guy and quit. It comes down to your mental strength or your intestinal fortitude or whatever you want to call it, combined with our excellent training.
So the two of those together are what make U. Coast Guard rescue swimmers the best when everything does go wrong or could go wrong. That rescue swimmer can still stay calm, if that makes sense. They have policies, but whether or not they're used the right way, that's a whole different story.
But basically, I reported it after a year and this was a year of basically choosing between the two evils.
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