CHRISTIE}
“I can base a lot of my stuff off ocean rescue. It really did help me train for the Coast Guard. I gained … there, has definitely gone into the {Native Pennsylvanian Christie
Schreckengost was faced with many
challenges when she applied her teen-age
experience as a pool and water-park
lifeguard to Wrightsville Beach
Ocean Rescue from 2003 to 2005.
Schreckengost, now a lieutenant in the
United States Coast Guard’s Deployable
Operations Group in Arlington,
Virginia, says, “I have lots of favorite
moments,” of her time in ocean rescue.
“That was the best time of my life and
just being a part of that … it set the
foundation and the groundwork for
where I am today.”
Schreckengost first learned of the
opportunity to join ocean rescue
during her undergraduate career at
the University of North Carolina
Wilmington where she was a javelin
thrower for the track team. Her deci-sion
to pursue the grueling ocean rescue
tryout and training process prepared her
for the role of the nation’s managing
dive officer for the USCG’s regional dive
lockers in San Diego, California and Portsmouth, Virginia. As
the managing dive officer, Schreckengost handles the allocation
of resources, budget and mission planning for the dive locker
units, which conduct missions for Ports, Waterways and Coastal
Security, Underwater Ship Husbandry, Aids to Navigation and
Cold Water Ice Diving.
“I can base a lot of my stuff off ocean rescue. It really did help
me train for the Coast Guard,” she says. “The leadership experi-ence
I gained … there, has definitely gone into the Coast Guard
with me.”
Schreckengost attributes much of her success to ocean rescue
director Dave Baker, a former Navy Seal.
“Dave really did teach me how to be humble, how to lead
people and not only leading people by doing, but by always
being there,” Schreckengost says.
Schreckengost remembers a time Baker was there for her in
what was the most dramatic experience of her three seasons as a
member of Wrightsville’s ocean rescue team.
Top, as a member of Wrightsville Beach Ocean Rescue, Christie
Schreckengost practices rescue techniques with her fellow
lifeguards and the United States Coast Guard during a training
exercise in Wrightsville Beach on June 30, 2005. Bottom, ice training
in Hidden Lake on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, February 2010.
WBM FILE PHOTO
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF CHRISTIE SCHRECKENGOST 26
WBM august 2012