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Home / About / Hall Of Heroes / Sean O’Brien

Sean O’Brien was awarded two Air Medals in 2005 for meritorious achievement in aerial flight while serving as a helicopter pilot at Coast Guard Air Station Houston.

He received the first award for his actions during the rescue of the master of a fishing vessel whose arm was caught and crushed in a winch while fishing off the coast of Galveston, Texas in February.

According to an award citation, after flying in near zero-visibility and avoiding the fishing vessel’s 60-foot mast and scaffolding, the helicopter suddenly experienced a hoist mechanism failure. O’Brien guided his crew to quickly regain use of the critical system, enabling the rescue swimmer to safely deploy to the vessel.

Once the master was freed from the winch, O’Brien then coached his crew through a difficult hoist and delivered the injured man to emergency medical care, with his aircraft dangerously low on fuel.

Six months later, he was part of the massive Coast Guard response to Hurricane Katrina. According to a citation that accompanied his second Air Medal that same year, during one particularly dramatic flight, O’Brien used night vision goggles to fly in near total darkness. Hovering his aircraft above the unlit roof of a semi-submerged house he and his crew rescued an elderly couple as smoke and fumes from nearby fires filled the helicopter’s cockpit.

Over the course of more than 30 hours of flight time during the Katrina response, O’Brien was instrumental in the rescue of more than 200 victims according to the Coast Guard.

Sponsor Family Application

Thank you for submitting your application to be part of the Sponsor Family Program. Your application will be processed in the upcoming week. Coast Guard Academy’s policy on background screening now requires all adults (everyone 18 and older living in the home) who volunteer to mentor, teach, coach or sponsor cadets, whether on or off Coast Guard Academy grounds, to be screened every 5 years. They are required to provide personal information (name, birth date and social security number) for the purpose of conducting a criminal background check.

The Security Officer at the Coast Guard Academy, CWO2 Gina Polkowski, is overseeing this process. Her email is: Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.

Sponsor Family designations fall into several different categories. Below are the guidelines to help you determine how best to meet the background screening requirement:

  1. If you are Coast Guard active duty you do not need to apply for an additional Background Check. You will be vetted through the Coast Guard system by CWO2 Polkowski.
  2. If you are a Civilian working for the Coast Guard you do not need to apply for an additional Background Check. You will be vetted through the Coast Guard system by CWO2 Polkowski.
  3. If you are non-Coast Guard Active Duty, you are required to provide proof of your current security clearance or National Agency Check that is to be emailed by your Command Security Officer (CSO)/ Security Office to CWO2 Polkowski at  Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.
  4. If you are non-Coast Guard civilian who has a current security clearance or National Agency check, you are required to provide proof of your current security clearance or National Agency Check that is to be emailed by your Command Security Officer (CSO)/ Security Office to CWO2 Polkowski at  Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.
  5. All civilians in the families who are 18 years or older and do not have a security clearance or a National Agency Check are required to be vetted through Mind Your Business, the third party vendor hired by the Coast Guard Academy for the vetting process.

After you complete your application, please e-mail the Sponsor Family Program Coordinator at CadetFamilySponsorProgram@uscga.edu. In your e-mail, you must include the e-mail address and phone number of every adult living in the home. The Sponsor Family Coordinator will then initiate the background check process and you will receive an email with further instructions.

Important things to note:

There is a Sponsor Family Training that is a one-hour training which we ask sponsors to attend once every four years. This training is designed to give you an overview of the program, what is expected of you as a sponsor, and what you can expect from your cadets. This training will also help familiarize you with the cadet regulations onboard CGA. You will be notified via e-mail once the training is scheduled.

The matching process of swabs to families will occur during July and August. Please bear with us and remain flexible through this process. There will be a meet and greet scheduled on Campus, typically in late August. This will give families an opportunity to formally meet their cadet if they have not already done so. Details on this will also be via email.

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