Manning helps public affairs unit respond after emergencies

BY JULIAN EURE Managing Editor

Halfway into what she hopes will be at least a 20-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard, Class Meredith Manning has already taken part in a number of missions she describes as both “interesting and rewarding.”

Two of the most memorable, Manning says, were deploying to the Arctic Circle aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Healy and then to Miami and Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurri

During her assignment aboard the Healy as part of the Coast Guard’s Operation Arctic Shield, Manning — a public affairs specialist currently attached to the Public Information Assist Team at the National Strike Force Coordination Center — got to see plenty of Alaska wildlife and both dive since 2006.

A few months later, after Hurricane Maria barreled across the Caribbean, she served as a media relations specialist in Miami and then as a joint specialist in hard-hit Puerto Rico.

est in emergency response because I saw what an incredible impact the Coast Guard can have to communities that are experiencing a natural disaster or emergency,” Manning said. Even though she grew up in a Coast Guard City — Wilmington became East Coast in 2003 — and was in a Navy ROTC program in high school, Manning said she spent a few years colleges” before realizing she “had path.”

Manning, 36, said she’s not sure if it was “familiarity or the proximity” decided to give the Coast Guard a try, noting it was the only service branch she considered. She said “it felt like

reer path for me,” she said, noting she plans to complete at least 20 years in the service.

Manning said she chose her public affairs rate while still in Coast Guard boot camp. She said Coast Guard to all of the service’s rates to “help us get an idea of which direction we may want to go.”

She initially was interested in maritime law enforcement “but immediately changed my mind” after learning about the Coast Guard’s public affairs rate, she said.

“I was drawn to the idea of being able to experience so many parts of the Coast Guard through one rate and being able to share those experiences through stories and imagery,” she said.

Meredith Manning, a public affairs specialist currently attached to the Public Information Assist Team at the National Strike Force Coordination Center, enjoys working as part of a team that provides crisis communication assistance and training during emergency response incidents and exercises. Submitted photo

a small boat station in Clearwater, Florida. While there, she got a chance to work with a nearby Coast Guard public affairs detachment. In 2015, she attended public affairs “A” school unit in Anchorage, Alaska. Four years later, she transferred to the Coast Guard social media team at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Manning was then selected to attend the Coast Guard’s Advanced Education program. She said she was degree in media and journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduating in May, she joined the Public Information Assist Team at the National Strike Force Coordination Center in Elizabeth City in June.

In her current job, Manning said she works as part of a team “providing crisis communication assistance and training during emergency response incidents and exercises.”

Like any other job, serving in the Coast Guard has its “pros and cons,” she said.

“But I can say without a shadow of a doubt that joining was the best decision I have made,” Manning said. “Being in the military has given me a sense of pride and accomplishment while also allowing me the opportunity to travel and live all over the country.”

Her biggest challenge is similar to that many other Coasties encounter: being away from family. Fortunately for her, her current and previous duty stations have allowed her to “be close to home.”

Manning thinks the NSFCC will be her favorite duty station.

“I am excited to spend a few more years in my home state and work with a great team,” she said. “I am also looking forward to traveling and doing more emergency response work.”

She said she recently moved to Elizabeth City’s downtown.

“I love that we can walk and ride our bikes to local restaurants and the waterfront,” she said.

Besides downtown bike rides with her family and spending time with her three dogs, Manning said she enjoys spending time taking photographs.

“I recently started my own photography business and really enjoy being able to get creative with my camera,” she said.

Asked what advice she’d give a young person considering a career in the Coast Guard, she’d tell them to “do it!.”

“I cannot express how much it changed my life for the better,” she said.

Manning has already earned a number of honors and awards during her Coast Guard service. They include two Coast Guard Achievement Medals, two Commandant Letters of Commendation, three Good Conduct Medals, the Meritorious Team Commendations Awards.

She also was named the Coast Guard District 17 Staff Enlisted Person of the Year and recognized as the distinguished honor graduate for Public Affairs “A” School and Intermediate Photojournalism.

MORRISETTE, DEBBIE