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Andrada part of USCG honor guard at Trump inauguration
from US Coast Guard 2020
by Cooke NC
18
U.S. COAST GUARD EDITION, The Daily Advance , Frida y, July 31, 2020
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ANDRADA part of USCG honor guard at Trump inauguration
BY PAUL NIELSEN Staff Writer
Martin Andrada’s decision to give up a career as a firefighter has brought the California native within feet of two U.S. presidents, to a winter funeral in Montana, and to taking part in the rescue of two people from a sinking boat in Albemarle Sound. It’s a decision Andrada hasn’t regretted for one second. Andrada joined the U.S. Coast Guard in February 2015. Now 32, he works as an aviation maintenance technician at Coast Guard Base Elizabeth City, where he’s been assigned since 2018. Andrada was a firefighter for seven years when he said he hit a “crossroads” in his life and decided it was time for a change. The military seemed like a perfect fit. “The Coast Guard’s mission of searchand-rescue and lifesaving was something that appealed to me based on my career experience,” Andrada said. Andrada’s first posting was in Washington, D.C. where he was part of the Coast Guard’s Ceremonial Honor Guard. While there, Andrada participated in official ceremonies at the White House and at other locations in the District of Columbia. “We represented the Coast Guard in providing support to the Military District of Washington,” Andrada said. Andrada came within feet of President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump while stationed in the nation’s capital. One of those assignments saw the Coast Guard Ceremonial Honor Guard participate in Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017. “I thought, ‘I probably shouldn’t mess this up because every camera is probably pointed at where I am standing,” Andrada said of being close to the president. Another of the Coast Guard’s Ceremonial Honor Guard’s duties is taking part in Coast Guard funerals across the country. That is something that Andrada will never forget. “That was a very humbling experience to go out and honor those people who gave their life in service to their country,” Andrada said. Andrada has always had a passion for helping people and being in the Coast Guard fuels that passion because he gets to serve the country. “The people benefit from the work we do,” he said. “Our work is directed at helping people and serving people, especially in their most dire times of need, like if their vessel is in trouble or if there is a hurricane. Our goal and mission is to go out there and help people.” As an aviation maintenance technician, Andrada works as part of a team performing maintenance on helicopters at the base. “We keep them flying and have them be ready to go out and perform missions,” Andrada said. He has also qualified to become a flight mechanic and that allows him to be part of a four-person flight crew for various kinds of missions aboard the base’s helicopters. Coast Guard operations at Base Elizabeth City vary from search-andrescue missions to law enforcement activities and that is something Andrada enjoys. “It’s a dynamic place because we provide a lot of different missions here,” Andrada said. “We are very active with the large commercial fishing fleets and large number of public boaters that are out here in the region. You never really know what you are going to be doing or what the call is going to be.” Andrada and his wife, Tiffany, and their two sons live in Elizabeth City.
Aviation Maintenance Technician Martin Andrada (second from left) and rescue swimmer Mario Estevanne (left) and Lt. Karisa Kealy (middle) pose with Robert and Mimi Reiheld, following the Coast Guard’s rescue of the couple from the Scuppernong River in June.
Photo courtesy US Coast Guard
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