Liberty Feature
Guard’s role in Search and Rescue, Law Enforcement and Maritime Safety as well as your role as a military commander, but what is the “Captain of the Port”? There are a multitude of hats I wear, but Captain of the Port is probably the broadest and the strongest of all the authorities we have to ensure the safety, security and environmental protection of the port and water waste system. It affects the offshore environment, the port itself, river systems, harbors and facilities, as well as vessel traffic. It is a set of tools that allow us to do things like apply limited access areas, safety and security zones, and establish a regulated navigation area. These are legal terms that allow me to control, slow down, or redirect vessel traffic, or to control facilities so if we have a situation we can put a safety bubble around that incident to allow responders to get in there and do what they need to do and also keep other vessels out. Captain of the Port authorities all fundamentally tie back to safety, security and environmental protection. LL: Sounds like you are a jack of all maritime assets and trades as well as the master of the area’s waterways. That is a very diverse hat collection. Which role(s) are the most prominent, given Sector Jacksonville’s make-up?
Captain Mark R. Vlaun delivers his change of command remarks as Sector Jacksonville Command Master Chief Joseph Orlando looks on.
CUTTING EDGE WARRIORS: Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville by Joe Snowberger U.S. Navy Mustang (Retired) Photos courtesy of Coast Guard
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Leader and Partner. In addition to the Captain of the Port hat, there is the role as the Officer in Charge of Marine Inspection, Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator, Area Maritime Security Coordinator and Sector Jacksonville Commander, which is the senior commander of Coast Guard forces in the region. My job is far more about leadership than subject matter expertise. As a leader with a strategic and big picture view, I rely on hundreds of people to do their jobs effectively every single day. My job is to make sure they have the right tools to do it.
hile The Liberty Coast SM is often considered to be a Navy region, six of the seven military branches of service are represented here. One of Liberty Life’s missions is to share the diversity of the military assets and operations in our broad backyard.
We do everything with our partners. This is a very busy port and a large AOR. Importantly and within that, almost my entire AOR is overlapping, providing us with concurrent jurisdiction with state, local and municipal divisions. That’s a huge force multiplier.
Liberty Life SM is pleased to introduce you to Captain Mark R. Vlaun, Coast Guard (USCG) Sector Commander and Captain of the Port of Jacksonville. He is a designated Cutterman, Judge Advocate (a military attorney) and diving officer. His turf (a.k.a. Area of Responsibility (AOR)) ranges from the Port of Canaveral to St. Marys, Georgia, with Jacksonville and Fernandina Beach in between.
We rely heavily on JAXPORT, on our state and local and city partners, almost hourly. I can’t even tell you how reliant I am everyday on Chief Powers and Jacksonville Fire and Rescue (JFRD), and Sheriff Williams and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO). We work with the St. Johns Sheriff’s Office (SJSO) almost every single day for search and rescue, law enforcement and waterways management.
As you will discover, he and his 11 subordinate units with their 700 Coast Guardsmen provide very diverse services in defense of our nation, providing maritime safety, security, environmental protection and much more. We wager that many of you will experience the thought, “I didn’t know they did that.”
Ninety-nine times out of a hundred the first eyes on scene are going to be local. That helps us, through our command center, to determine what we need to bring, whether it turns into a federal case or a pollution incident. In some cases, we may have a lot going on and if I know that the JSO or JFRD is responding to an incident that happened over here, and there’s something we’re on over there, we can have a quick communication and we can go this way and they can go that way.
LL: Thank you for sharing your time and perspectives with Liberty Life. Most of our readers understand the basics of the Coast 10 | LIBERTYLIFEMEDIA.COM | DECEMBER 30, 2020 VOL. 1 / ISSUE 11
