Alert 11 — Fall 2026
Download the full issue (PDF)In this issue
- Northern Area Regional Training, November 6–7
Two days at Coast Guard Base Seattle, November 6 and 7, on how the Auxiliary can serve the active-duty Coast Guard in Puget Sound.
- New National Leadership Elected for 2026–2028
The Auxiliary elected its national leadership for 2026–2028 in August. COMO Curtis Han will represent the Pacific Area, which includes our Northwest District.
- New Ways to Serve: Paddles and Drones
Two Auxiliary programs the Northwest District is developing: AuxPad puts members in kayaks alongside paddlers, and drone pilots support Coast Guard units.
- Geospatial Damage Assessments
Auxiliarists help FEMA map disaster damage from satellite, aerial and open-source imagery, working from home. Here is the work and how to join the team.
- Service Records: Steve Bell and Hoyt Hatfield
A closer look at the Auxiliary careers of Steve Bell (24 years) and Hoyt Hatfield (25 years), who retired this summer: their qualifications, offices and awards.
- Mayday at Parker Reef
Dry suits, life jackets and a VHF radio saved a kayaker capsized near Parker Reef in the San Juans on September 25, rescued by a Station Bellingham crew.
- Five Roots, One Coast Guard
The Coast Guard grew from five older agencies, merged between 1915 and 1946. Their stories, their traces in the Salish Sea, and the Auxiliary's own root.
- The Coast Guard in the News
New Arctic piers and icebreakers, Operation Pacific Viper, a change of command at Air Station Port Angeles, and the Coast Guard at Bellingham SeaFeast.
- Member Training
New boat crew qualifications and recertifications, Coast Guard courses completed, and all of the flotilla’s scheduled training finished for 2026.
- Navigation Systems
Flotilla 11 has verified all five bridges in its area and 26 of its 44 private aids to navigation this year, with 18 private aids still to go.
- Communication Services
The flotilla website has been rebuilt: Alert 11 articles to read online, browsing by issue and topic, a Members Only area, and editing from the browser.
- Parting Shot
The sun sets over the Pacific as the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse stands vigil above the Columbia River Bar: the closing photo of Alert 11, Fall 2026.