So Others May Live: Coast Guard's Rescue Swimmers: Saving Lives, Defying Death
So Others May Live is the untold story of the history of the U.S. Coast Guard helicopter rescue swimmer. There are twelve heroic stories which chronicle a representation of the greatest maritime rescues attempted since the inception of the program in 1985. These feats, told through the eyes of the hero, reveal an understanding of how and why the rescuer, with flight crew assistance, risks his or her life to reach out to save a stranger. The events unfold in diverse geographic areas and environments: oceans, hurricanes, oil rigs, caves, sinking vessels, floods, Niagara Falls and in the aftermath of one of our countries worst natural disasters, Hurricane Katrina.
Working in conjunction with the Coast Guard Foundation, the former Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Governor Tom Ridge has penned a foreword for this book.
These events are true and classified as legitimate by the top rescue swimmers in the business. They support these accounts as being illustrative of the best of the best. This collection includes the story of the first woman rescue swimmer (in all the military services), the first Distinguished Flying Cross awarded to a swimmer and real cases that became catalysts for equipment changes and mandatory training scenarios implemented later in the Advanced Rescue Swimmer School. These stories reveal for the first time how swimmers deal with their own, raw feelings and emotional distress following difficult or tragic cases. Now, instead of leaving the service, they are assisted through their recovery by Critical Incident Stress Management counselors and return to work.
Mandated by Congress after the significant loss of life from the sinking of the vessel Marine Electric and coupled with findings of fact from the NTSB investigation of the Air Florida 737 crash into the District of Columbia's 14th Street bridge one year before, this book details, for the first time, the history of the program’s development and the need for hypothermic survivors to be rescued with new techniques. The accounts are supported by interviews from the "first five" swimmers and officers, founding fathers and men who were integral for the creation of this profession. Working from official documents, survivor and rescue swimmer interviews and period photographs, their courageous stories are told. So Others May Live also describes the program’s internal and external challenges, lessons learned, training, skills and the motivation required of a swimmer to risk his or her life and come back alive. The program, its men and women, are models for military services worldwide.
A portion of the author’s proceeds from the sale of this book were donated to the Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer School for the development of a new aquatic facility in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The new facility opened in October of 2012.
So Others May Live is available in paperback and e-book from your local bookstore, The Lyons Press or on the Internet.
Hardcover & Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Lyons Press (September 2, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1599211599
ISBN-13: 978-1599211596
Innovators: Rock Stars Of STEM
Meet an engineer who built bomb-defusing robots!
Learn about a boy whose paper airplane design earned a place in the Guinness World Records and led to his career as an aeronautical engineer.
Meet a woman who works in a secret world. Discover what technology everyday items like cars and cellphones have in common with the military.
Together with Engineers for America and the Air Force Armament Museum Foundation, I'm proud to introduce young adults to some of the most important innovators - men and women working in the fields of sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics - at the Air Force Research Lab in northwest Florida.
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Air Force Armament Museum Foundation
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0692497978
ISBN-13: 978-0692497975
Changing the Rules of Engagement Inspiring Stories of Courage and Leadership (Forewords by DNC Chair and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Congressman Jeff Miller)
Changing the Rules of Engagement
Changing the Rules of Engagement brings to life the authentic, vivid stories of leadership from inspiring and adventurous women who achieved the extraordinary by serving their country in the U.S. military. These women shattered the glass ceiling and performed extraordinary feats by refusing to take “no” for an answer and learning how to lead in traditionally male-dominated environments. Martha LaGuardia-Kotite skillfully captures their leadership lessons, struggles, and successes—showing how courageous and tenacious women can achieve their goals and help change policy, insights also applicable to today’s leaders in corporate and business boardrooms.
Whether soaring into outer space with the second woman to command a space shuttle or plunging to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean with a combat veteran special operations diver, these profiles in leadership highlight a range of powerful examples: from Vivien Crea, a vice commandant of the Coast Guard, who rose to the highest position of any woman in the history of the U.S. military, to Tammy Duckworth, who demonstrated her resilience after being shot down while piloting a helicopter in Iraq and went on to serve as a U.S. senator. Also included are the inspirational stories of women Marines and the first women members of the military service academies’ gender-integrated classes, who recall the highs and lows of their trailblazing journey.
Representative of a widely diverse group of enlisted women and officers of different races and cultures, these women have succeeded since the mid-1970s at combating prejudices and aiding change in the military culture with grit, intelligence, leadership, and honor.
Martha LaGuardia-Kotite’s bold leadership style empowered her to become one of the first women officers to serve aboard two Coast Guard cutters with all-male crews. Rising to the senior rank of captain in the U.S. Coast Guard, she served with distinction for twenty-nine years at sea and ashore. A TEDx and keynote speaker, empowerment enthusiast, and journalist with an MA from Harvard University, LaGuardia-Kotite is the author of the award-winning So Others May Live: Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers Saving Lives, Defying Death and has written for numerous publications and newspapers, including the Boston Globe.
Hardcover: 204 pages
Publisher: Potomac Books Inc. (May 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 159797689X
ISBN-13: 978-1597976893
Paperback: 210 pages
Publisher: Potomac Books Inc. (May 1, 2021; U.K. July 1, 2021)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1640124268
ISBN-13: 978-1-64012-426-4
Co-author Trish Marx (Foreword Admiral Thad Allen, USCG ret)
My Name Is Old Glory: A Celebration of the Star-Spangled Banner
For decades now, the poem “My Name Is Old Glory” has been read at military retirements and patriotic ceremonies. Composed by an unsung Marine who served during WWII named Howard Schnauber, it expresses his feelings about the Star-Spangled Banner.
In this book, Schnauber’s simple but powerful lines blend with timeless images--from a civil rights march to the Moon landing, from Iwo Jima to September 11, 2001--that capture the courage, strength, and glory embodied in our national treasure. With sidebars about significant flag-raising events, the flag acts of 1777, 1794, 1812, and 1912, flag etiquette, personal reflections about what the flag means to Americans of all ages, and much more, this is sure to be the flag book of the year.
Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: Lyons Press (May 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0762779063
ISBN-13: 978-0762779062
Co-author Trish Marx (Foreword Admiral Thad Allen, USCG ret)
Legacy: A History of the Coast Guard Foundation
Founded in 1969, the Coast Guard Foundation was initially created to provide margin of excellence support for academic, athletic and morale programs at the Coast Guard Academy.
The organization's founding directors were Coast Guard veterans who served together during World War II. The founders, who enjoyed successful careers after their military service, believed the Academy had needs that private funds could fulfill that weren't being met by the Coast Guard's operating budget.
In addition to Arnold I. Sobel, Samuel "Bud" Silberman, and George Holtzman, early Foundation directors included such luminaries as G. William Miller, the nation's 65th Secretary of the Treasury and 11th Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Fairleigh Dickinson, Jr., a New Jersey state senator, and chairman of the university named after his father.
In 1986, the Foundation expanded its charter to support projects that enhance the education, welfare and morale of all Coast Guard members and their families. Since the expansion of the Foundation's mission, hundreds of dependents of Coast Guard personnel have received college scholarships, and numerous cutters, bases and units across the country have benefited from exercise equipment, learning materials, distance learning centers and other support initiatives.
Hardcover: 87 pages
Publisher: Coast Guard Foundation, Inc.; 1st edition (2010)
Language: English
ASIN: B008IL3XLQ