I n the dynamic world of maritime security, the Coast Guard is continuously adapting to emerging mission challenges. It’s our reservists that often support those challenges across both active duty- and reserve-centric priorities, because so many of them come with hidden talents. Over the past few years, Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Kowalske has been the executive officer (XO) of Port Security Unit 309 in Port Clinton, Ohio. As part of the rapid-response expeditionary unit, he supports the PSU’s mission of national defense by running drills, planning and executing active duty exercises, and developing the future leaders of the Reserve. But Kowalske also maintains a set of blue operational dress uniforms, his deck watch officer letter, and a firm connection with the cutter community—spending four tours underway before joining the Reserve in 2013. It’s not a requirement, but for Kowalske, a permanent cutterman, the love of being underway is worth the extra effort. When the call came last October for an opportunity to support the Coast Guard’s Parental Leave Program on a cutter, Kowalske learned about it through his former commanding officer (CO), Cmdr. Brooke Millard, who, 15 years earlier, had been the CO of the Coast Guard Cutter Grand Isle while Kowalske was the XO. Millard, the current CO of the Coast Guard Cutter Bear, mentioned that personnel shifts were being made in order to afford her XO the chance to spend time with his new baby. However, Coast Guard Cutter Legare, a 270-foot medium endurance cutter, was leaving in a few days’ time for a Caribbean patrol, becoming the priority spot to fill. Legare’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Jeremy Greenwood, talked to Millard about a personnel swap. “She told me when they were at D1 about the innovative things he’d done, things well above his pay grade, so I knew that this was a guy I didn’t want to pass up. I talked to him on the phone, and within an hour, he was pulling CGBI reports and info off Direct Access, gathering data for the patrol and thinking of ways to improve our readiness.” Still, Kowalske had to scramble. Within two days of the call, he verified his short-term critical-fill orders with Coast Guard Atlantic Area, swapped his green Type-III uniform for his ODUs, packed his car, and drove to the Legare’s homeport in Portsmouth, Virginia. This assignment was unusual but not unheard of. There haven’t been underway billets for reservists in almost two decades, but the opportunity for reservists to get underway on Coast Guard cutters in support of the Parental Leave Program has become increasingly more common. In the distant past, there had been Reserve billets aboard cutters, but the supporting structures and evolution of the Reserve Component made way for more standardized shore-side assignments for reservists. Greenwood was still a little cautious; Kowalske came with a strong performance track record, but it had been ten years since he was at sea. “I knew the PSU program was challenging, and with running a unit that size, he’d come with the requisite XO skills, but for a major cutter like this, I really needed someone who would read the warning signs, the weather, crew fatigue, someone who would give me that operational gut check on the bridge,” said Greenwood. “It’s the XO’s job to but, sir the captain; they’re the only ones who can really push back, and I was initially worried he’d been out of the game too long to do that.” When Kowalske crossed the bridge onto Legare— trading one XO assignment for another—he was glad to look at the assignment through not just the lens of his command experience, but also with 10 years’ worth of Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Kowalske (left) quickly recertified Underway Deck Watch Officer on the Legare. Photo courtesy Lt. Lydia Renfrow — WINTER 2024 14
