United States Coast Guard

The 2025 Windjammer Days will shine a spotlight on the dedicated individuals who have served, are serving, or are preparing to serve in one of the most respected branches of the U.S. military: the Coast Guard. From active-duty members and retired veterans to the bright future leaders currently enrolled at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, we’ll explore their personal stories, their contributions to the community, and the impact they've made on the nation's maritime security. 

If you would like to meet some of the Coast Guardsmen and Coast Guardswomen, make this date on your calendar, for an informal Meet & Greet on Monday, June 23th, 3:30-5:00 (location to be determined). 

Each of our schooner sponsors have chosen an inspirational Coast Guardsman or Guardswoman to celebrate during our Windjammer Days Festival. These Guardsmen and Guardswomen will be invited to a dinner to be held in their honor.

Chief Snyder was inspired to join the U.S. Coast Guard by his father who was also a member Coast Guard. As he moved throughout his childhood with new assignments for his dad, he met numerous “Coasties” who told adventurous stories of their travels and responsibilities. He particularly remembers a pivotal incident in Maryland in 1993. At that time, he was home with his father who was the ocer in charge at Coast Guard Station St. Ingos. His father received a call about a sinking shing boat called the El Toro II and took young Doug along with him to investigate. First they went to the station, where Doug quietly sat in the corner and listened to the chaos on the radio. Afterward he accompanied his father to the site where all the ambulances were staged and he watched his father provide medical attention to those in need. Chief Snyder recalls this as an amazing experience to see how the Coast Guard operated in such tragic circumstances.

After joining the Coast Guard following high school and completing boot camp, Chief Snyder’s primary goal was to to get on a ship and travel. His rst assignment was on a 270 foot Cutter, the Escanba which was based out of Boston. The ship would go on patrols for a month or two and then return to home port. There he worked in the deck department and became a Boatswain Mate, following in his father’s footsteps. As a Boatswain Mate he served as a boat driver, boarding ocer, and Ocer of the Day, among many other additional duties. After about two years on the boat, Chief Snyder realized that this lifestyle wasn’t for him and requested a transfer to a small boat station. He received orders to go to Boothbay Harbor and while there he became a Coxswain and a Law Enforcement ocer. Also around this time the Coast Guard was starting its Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT). Wanting to shift his focus from search and rescue to law enforcement duties, he left Boothbay Harbor and went to Chesapeake, VA to serve as a Canine Handler for the MSRT. Chief Snyder found being a canine handler to be incredibly fullling. Working with dogs taught him far more than he ever anticipated. Just the thought of watching a dog locate a bomb or track a person still gives him goosebumps!

One of Chief Snyder’s most memorable experiences was meeting President George H.W. Bush. While he was stationed in Boothbay Harbor he remembers the Chief calling him into his oce to inform him that President Bush was going to Friendship Harbor that weekend and needed an escort. It was also the same weekend as the Friendship Lobster Boat Races, so the races were paused to escort President Bush to the dock. President Bush graciously agreed to photos and gave the Coast Guard a tour of his boat. The President also posed for pictures with individuals and the whole crew. Before President Bush left, Chief Snyder asked if he would like to give the crowd a show by racing the Coast Guard ship against President Bush’s boat. The president agreed and they paused the Lobster Boat races one more time for their match. President Bush’s boat easily outran the Coast Guard boat and put on a fantastic display for the crowd. Another memorable experience was President Obama’s rst inauguration where a week prior to the inauguration the Coast Guard had the responsibility to search for bombs along the river and other assigned places. He was assisted by his Dutch Shepard, K9 Cuba. The day of the inauguration, they were tasked with crossing the river to search for a suspicious person at a marina. They relied on their GPS for directions, but due to many road closures, the GPS led them down a route lled with vendors, tents and pedestrians which turned out to be the parade route. They were just ve minutes ahead of the President’s arrival and could see the Marine Corps band playing in the rearview mirror. Other exciting times included being deployed to Jamestown, Virginia when the Queen of England was visiting and the prospect of going to Boston for the World Series, the latter of which unfortunately resulted in searching the airport rather than Fenway Park.

Chief Snyder credits the Coast Guard in giving him a huge amount of responsibility at a young age. Before he could legally have an alcoholic beverage, he was in charge of many signicant operations, such as refueling at sea. This maneuver involved bringing two large ships close enough to transfer fuel and goods between them. He learned essential lessons about leadership and ownership that stay with him until this day and he also learned to take ownership for his mistakes. He believes that the Coast Guard’s culture is unique, being one of the smaller branches of the military, but also having a broad range of jobs. He hopes that his legacy in Coast Guard will be that he left everything better than he found it. As to those considering a career in the Coast Guard, Chief Snyder says it was an honor to serve and that joining the military can be one of the most fulfilling jobs that you will ever have with the benefits of serving your country lasting a lifetime.

Now, I would like to say that my Coast Guard hitch of five years was nothing but day after day of exciting heroics. Wow, what a story. Jumping out of helicopters in the dark, driving surfboats through hurricanes, patrolling the North Atlantic for icebergs.

Well, no. That was what my still-adolescent mind envisioned in 1970 when I enlisted, having spent boyhood summers on the New Jersey barrier islands. Local Coast Guardsmen there were regarded as demigods, super heroes. Indeed, my big brother became one of those guys, coxswain of a surfboat out of Atlantic City.

My own experience was different. It is said that no Coast Guard career is the same as any other. It’s true. After doing the pushups and drills at Cape May, it was off to diesel mechanic school at Yorktown, where I was about to graduate at the top of my class, when I was summoned from class and told that I was late in reporting to Officer Candidate School, also at Yorktown. So, said I, maybe I’ll be going to sea after all, with better pay and creature comforts! Cool!

Well, no again. After six months of studying navigation, seamanship, vessel handling, gunnery, and more drilling, I was ordered to a base on the Delaware River. There I was on the staff of the Captain of the Port, primarily a law-enforcement job supervising the stowage of dangerous cargoes on merchant ships. This included ammunition headed for Vietnam. Initially I was disappointed in this assignment, but came to realize, that as seemingly invisible as the task was, it probably saved numerous lives of merchant seamen.

In addition, as Officer-of-the-day, a periodic duty shared with four other junior officers, I controlled search and rescue efforts on the river. For me, the capstone of my brief career was directing a multi-unit effort following the explosion of the tankship “Elias”, with multiple fatalities and crewmen overboard at night. There were several medals, well-deserved, awarded to the young Coast Guardsmen who fought that fire and spent many hours searching.

So, I will summarize by saying that my Coast Guard experience was a good one. I’m proud of it. I encourage any young person who wants to engage in service to the country to consider the Coast Guard. There will be long periods of perhaps dull watch-standing, and training, but it’s all part of the “Semper Paratus” (always ready) mission.

I currently live in Alna with my wife, Mary. My local maritime experience includes serving as Captain of a University of Maine research vessel, Captain of a "Boat US" towboat for many summers, and work in the mechanic departments of several local marinas. I briefly had a brush with the corporate banking world here in Boothbay Harbor years ago. For many years now my "day job" has been as a self-employed farrier. I am the owner of the small steel schooner "Sycamore" built in my Alna backyard. I feel privileged to be invited again to participate in Windjammer Days.