Where Are They Now?

A Letter From Coast Guard Officer Jeffrey Rubini (BS '01):

May 1, 2003

Life has surely changed since I studied geography at Penn State not too long ago. I need not enumerate all of those changes here; although, I would like to give everyone an "update" as to the changes I have experienced since graduating in May 2001.

I've entered military service in the United States Coast Guard, and graduated from Officer Candidate School on 25 September 2002, earning my commission. Coast Guard OCS was quite the challenge for it is the longest and most academically demanding OCS program in the country. The staff prides themselves on this fact, and did an outstanding job rubbing it in our faces the first few months.

The days were long with each minute of the day managed to the second, and there was no free time to speak of. We were flooded with Coast Guard history, maritime law, and nautical science, including celestial navigation to name only a few subjects of hastened study. All of the sweat, blistered feet, hurried meals, and weeks of "aye aye sir" began to pay off on a 21-day cruise underway on America's only fully operational tall ship, the CGC EAGLE. We sailed out of Boston harbor and set full sail to the port of Halifax. After 10 days of sailing north trending circles, and coming 38nm west of Cape Sable Island through storms and pods of whales, we arrived in Halifax. I would suggest everyone see Halifax at least once, perhaps twice. What a place indeed.

The ship itself was rather eerie when standing the mid-watch knowing the Nazi Navy commissioned her and stood those same watches. I've never been at the mercy of the sea before either.

Currently, I am stationed in Mobile, Alabama; a far cry from the mountains and forests I pictured myself living in not long ago. I am the Assistant Operations Officer, Response Officer, and Training Officer at the Gulf Strike Team, a Special Forces unit of the Coast Guard. As part of the National Strike Force, we are one of three teams mandated by the National Contingency Plan (40 CFR part 300; Protection of the Environment). The other two teams are on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Our primary specialty is pollution response, including oil spills, chemical spills, and releases of hazardous materials. Our latest role and one I am becoming more involved in is weapons of mass destruction emergency response. This includes the full gamut of WMD: chemical, biological, and radiological.

We are in an interesting position since we can cross boundaries with other government agencies. We are able to enforce civilian environmental and occupational health and safety laws as described in 29 CFR. In the past, we have worked with the EPA, FEMA, NOAA, FBI, and a slew of other federal, state, and local government agencies. We responded to the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001, the anthrax attacks in Boca Raton, Florida and in Washington D.C.; and provided assistance at last year's Super Bowl. Our most recent emergency response was to the STS-107, Shuttle COLUMBIA disaster. We were there to support the Federal On-scene Coordinator (FOSC), acting as Deputy Incident Commander. Our jobs were to enforce OSHA safety regulations pertaining to hazardous materials emergency response operations (29 CFR), and to lead recovery teams made up of EPA On-scene Coordinators (OSC), NASA shuttle engineers, FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams (USAR), and Texas environmental agencies. Shuttle material is inherently hazardous, so it was essential to have National Strike Force personnel on scene to assist in the recovery effort.

I enjoy the work, which truly never ends, and I am fortunate since I can apply the concepts I learned in geography to the issues we now face. I am still amazed at the many useful applications of geography. I oftentimes approach a problem using the wide angle and macro lens approach to understand certain issues on different scales and levels.

In a few years, I intend on completing a masters program in geography. The directions I'd like to take are endless, and I was hoping I might call on each of you sometime for advice and guidance. I hope everything is going well, and I'd like to hear what's new with everyone.

Respectfully,

Jeffrey H. Rubini, ENS
Assistant Operations Officer/Training Officer
United States Coast Guard
Gulf Strike Team