Former MCPOCG talks mentorship at USCG Training Center

Photo By Lt. John Edwards | Retired Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard, Vince W. Patton III, addresses members and employees of Coast Guard Training Center Cape May during a leadership brunch held Thursday, May 28, 2015. Patton spoke about the importance of mentorship and congratulated the training center on establishing a mentorship program that helps junior members assigned to the training center. (U.S. Coast Guard Photo by Chief Warrant Officer John Edwards)  

CAPE MAY, NJ, UNITED STATES

05.28.2015

Story by Chief Warrant Officer John Edwards 

U.S. Coast Guard Training Center Cape May

CAPE MAY, N.J. - With a personality as large as his list of accomplishments, Dr. Vince W. Patton III spoke enthusiastically about his life in the Coast Guard to members and employees of the Coast Guard’s Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey, during a leadership brunch hosted by the unit’s Leadership and Diversity Advisory Council.

Patton spent 30 years in the Coast Guard, finally retiring as the eighth master chief petty officer of the Coast Guard in 2002 and was a driving force that altered the service’s stance on continuing education while serving. Patton obtained his bachelor's, master's and, ultimately, doctorate degrees all while serving as an enlisted member. His dissertation was the creation and implementation of the Coast Guard’s Enlisted Evaluation Review, which is a system that is still in use today.

While Patton’s impacts on the Coast Guard are undeniable, his visit to the training center wasn’t about that. He was there to speak about mentorship and its value to not only the mentee, but also the mentor.

Calling it a “two-way street,” Patton explained what having mentors meant to him and how crucial they were to his success.

“Nearly 43 years ago, I asked Chief Boatswain Mate Harvey Birch what school do I go to too become the master chief petty officer of the Coast Guard,” said Patton during his speech. “He marched me out to the parade field to do push ups because he thought I was being smart.”

While that may be the typical type of response a recruit might receive for asking just about any question, it was a moment that Patton never forgot.

“Every time I come back here, I go to that spot,” he said. “That spot where Chief Birch told me the day I become master chief petty officer of the Coast Guard is the day he ‘walks on clouds,’ and I thank him. That was probably the foundation of mentoring, for me, in the Coast Guard.”

The brunch marked the official ending of the training center’s mentorship program pilot, which began in December of 2014. The program was the first formal mentorship program which goals included increasing effective communication between junior and senior levels of command, discovering resources available in the workplace and to promote unity of effort by developing awareness of the unit’s goals and purpose.

Data gathered from participants at the end of the pilot program will be used to create the final program based on lessons learned.

“Mentorship is important because it offers an opportunity to pass valuable advice and guidance on to another generation of Coast Guard,” said Chief Warrant Officer John Edwards, a volunteer mentor in the program. “You are not just passing on information or historical threads of knowledge, but rather opening the mental doors and possibly creating agents of positive change for our service through mentorship.”

As the brunch wrapped up, Patton congratulated the training center on implementing the program and encouraged those participating to continue to make a difference.

• Date Taken: 05.28.2015
• Date Posted: 05.28.2015 14:08
• Story ID: 164802
• Location: CAPE MAY, NJ, US