Category: Coast Guard

Visiting USCGC Douglas Munro/SLNS Vjayabahu

25 years ago this summer, I swore an oath of enlistment to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic. I swore this oath on the flight deck of the US Coast Guard Cutter Douglas Munro at Coast Guard island in Alameda, CA.

I finished my enlistment honorably in 2005. The Douglas Munro, named for the Coast Guard’s only Medal of Honor recipient, finished her term honorably in 2021. But neither of us was finished serving. For me, further service meant swearing another oath to defend the Constitution on May 26, 2020, while joining the U.S. Foreign Service as a diplomat. For the Douglas Munro, further service involved a transfer to the Sri Lankan Navy and a rechristening as the SLNS Vijayabahu. The new name is in honor of one of Sri Lanka’s ancient kings, and represents vision and service.

In June 2025, the current crew of the Vijayabahu welcomed our family aboard. They expressed deep thankfulness to the people of the United States for the ship, and are honored to keep serving in the tradition of the U.S. Coastguardmen who sailed before them. All over the ship, there are mementos and markers, signs of the former American crew. The Sri Lankan sailors even enjoy watching deployment videos from the previous crew. Incredibly, the officers told me these videos, meant to help remember good work and good times, are lessons in organizational culture and management practices.

The Munro/Vijayabahu is in good hands. The Coast Guardsmen who sailed her can be proud of her continuing legacy.

Week 10…

… is up on Fred’s Place. Click here (new window) to see it. Click here (new window) to see previous weeks. If you haven’t looked in a while, it’s fun to look back and see where we’ve been and what we’ve done. Also, I got a decent response on the “Where I do Stuff” series, so I’ll be working on that later today.

Comments on Week 10?

New Photo Series

Shinnfans,

I’m thinking about doing a new photo series here on the ‘blog. It’ll be called, “Where I do stuff.” Inspired by something Dad said before I left, it’ll be a series of photos of the places I carry out normal, everyday activities. Like what my rack looks like, where I eat, where I log onto the computer, etc. Are you interested? If so, please let me know in the comments below. If I get enough positive response, I’ll go ahead with the series and post a new picture every day.

Thanks,
Andrew

Transit

The wind in my hair, the salty spray of the sea roughly kisses my lips and face. I haven’t showered or shaved in two days, and I’m in a rigid-hull inflatable boat bouncing through the wind and surf off the coast of a small island nation. I’ve made this trip so many times in the last 24 hours that my skin’s starting to cake with salt. On the wind I can smell the burning of rice patties. It’s a scent that even here, in this faraway place, brings me back to the familiarity of childhood. I can feel the sun scorching the salt-coated skin around my eyes and neck. The boat drops off the face of a wave into a trough, and I tightly grab the rubber pontoon I’m sitting on and my camera bag. There’s a treacherous boarding ahead, and it’s one more thing to anticipate with barely-concealed glee. This is living…

Week 9

Well, Shinnfans, Week 9 of my deployment is over, and you know what that mean! Fred’s Place has the Week 9 photos up for YOUR enjoyment! You can see them here (new window). Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Enjoy,
Andrew

How long have I been in the Coast Guard, you ask?

All me bloomin’ life. Me father was Neptune, me mother a mermaid. I was born on the crest of a wave and rocked in the cradle of the deep. Me eyes is stars, me teeth is spars. Me hair is hemp and seaweed. And when I’s spits, I’s spits tar. I’s tough, I am, I is, I are.

Friday Fun

Ok, it’s been getting a bit heavy here at times recently. Here’s a picture I took today. Somehow I was able to capture the thoughts of my subjects with the camera. Hm.

Soccer gone bad

Equatorial Guinea

I realized that I forgot to tell y’all about Equatorial Guinea. Here goes:

E.G. is a split nation, with part of the nation on an island 25 miles off Cameroon and a discontiguous part south of Cameroon. Malabo, the capital, is on the island. As a former colony of Spain, it’s the only nation in Africa that speaks primarily Spanish. Because of the Spanish language and the island feel, Malabo seems like a fusion of Costa Rica and a Caribbean Island Nation. The island’s a bit run-down, but beautiful nonetheless. It’s the third-largest oil-producing nation in Sub-Saharan Africa. You can see oil rig platforms off the coast and I met a lot of American expatriates working for oil companies there. One of the oil companies invited us to relax at their compound, which came complete with golf course and pool.

Click here (new window) to see what the Wikipedia has to say about Equatorial Guinea.

Week 8 Photos are up!

Shinnfans,

Fred has posted the week 8 photos from the CGC Bear deployment! This has been my favorite week so far for pictures. Which photo is your favorite? Do any of the photos really jump out at you? Do you react strongly to any of them? Do you have any comments on individual photos? Click here (new window) to see them.

Enjoy,
Andrew

Some text for anonymous

Thanks, Tricia. That was a really fun soccer game. They actually brought us to the only stadium in Agadir and let us use the locker rooms and everything. We walked in wearing T-shirts and tennis shoes and saw our opponents wearing uniforms and cleats… we knew we were in trouble. I was glad they only beat us 3-0. Maybe they were going easy on us or something.

Cape Verde (pronounced Cap-u Verd) was pretty interesting, as well. The nation’s name means “Cape Green” in Portuguese. This is ironic, because this island nation is pretty brown, dry and dead. It was green once upon a time when it was discovered, but is so no longer. As a result, the nation can’t produce enough food to sustain its population without aid from the U.S. I had the chance to talk with an interesting gentleman who is working for US AID importing food and also promoting good farming practices like drip irrigation. Because of US AID’s work, Cape Verde has made significant progress toward re-Verde-ating the islands and creating a sustainable agricultural food-production system. It’s kind of neat to see these good things the U.S. is doing in other parts of the world. For all I hear about how we’re a bad global neighbor, it’s nice to see unheralded gallantry in such places as Cape Verde.

And no, anonymous, there’s not life after pictures, at least in the forseeable future. That’s what I love to do and who I am these days, and I’ll keep sharing it with those I love. For the rest of you, I’ve created a page at Shinnphoto.com with some recent work. It’s at www.shinnphoto.com/cg/cg.htm. (link no longer working) The images, when you click on them, are 1076×768 pixels, which means they’re perfect for a desktop background when your monitor is set to that resolution.

Enjoy,
Andrew