Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Nate Littlejohn | Coast Guard Auxiliarists Willem Loupatty and Hua Lin McCaffrey assist during a...... read more read more
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A 74-year-old man recently jumped from a U.S. Coast Guard small boat onto a China-flagged fishing boat off the coast of Fiji. His will to help his country and his ability to speak two languages put him alongside the active-duty Coast Guard Cutter Munro team who made sure he got on safely. He smiled and greeted his new friend, Lin, a 64-year-old woman who’d just made the same jump.
Willem Loupatty and Hua Lin McCaffrey joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary with visions to volunteer in support of boating safety in their local communities. Both had an idea of what the Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Auxiliary did. They’d seen their small orange boats at the marina, checking to make sure folks headed out had enough lifejackets.
“I thought I’d teach some basic navigation classes and maybe help out with next week’s boat parade,” Loupatty laughed.
“I joined to learn and help out where I could,” said McCaffrey.
What neither Auxiliarist foresaw, was getting a call asking for help on an active-duty Coast Guard mission because of their ability two speak two languages.
Loupatty is fluent in Indonesian, and McCaffrey in Mandarin Chinese.
Both soon found themselves next to Coast Guard Cutter Munro boarding officers, in the high seas of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles from the nearest U.S. port.
Volunteers with skills like Loupatty and McCaffrey are in high demand in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, to help the Coast Guard detect and deter illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
IUU fishing is a pervasive global maritime security threat. By undermining international agreements and fisheries conservation measures, IUU fishing jeopardizes food security and economic security, with pronounced destabilizing effects on vulnerable coastal states. The U.S. Coast Guard is responsible for patrolling the high seas of the Pacific Ocean, along with the territorial waters of many countries in the Indo-Pacific, to help combat IUU fishing.
The Coast Guard relies heavily upon the Coast Guard Auxiliary to tackle this daunting endeavor. The Auxiliary, made up of approximately 26,000 volunteers throughout the U.S., supports all active-duty Coast Guard missions.
During Operation Blue Pacific, Coast Guard Cutter Munro’s 2022 spring patrol to combat IUU fishing in the Indo-Pacific, these two temporarily-deployed Auxiliarists were critical for Munro’s mission success.
Auxiliarist Willem Loupatty, Vice Division Commander, Division 9, District 11 South, volunteered for a Coast Guard active-duty solicitation to get underway aboard Munro for seven weeks as an Indonesian interpreter. Though many fishing vessel masters Munro encountered on the patrol spoke Mandarin Chinese, fishermen on the boats sometimes spoke Indonesian. Loupatty was critical in communicating with crew members during several boardings. Not only did his communication abilities help put fishermen at ease while Munro boarding teams did their job, but his conversational skills also helped Munro’s crew gather information about the fishing boats’ onboard environments.
IUU fishing often happens in concert with other illicit activities, including the atrocities of human trafficking and forced labor, and the trafficking of illegal substances. Having Loupatty on boardings better prepared Munro’s crew to detect any illegal activity, in addition to fishing violations.
Loupatty was born in the city of Ballikpapan, on the Island of Borneo—one of the approximate 13,000 islands that make up the country of Indonesia.
“I came to the U.S. on a student visa in 1970,” said Loupatty. “I eventually joined the Marine Corps and through my service, I became an American citizen.”
After six years in the Marines, Loupatty joined the Army after he realized the service offered extensive maritime opportunities. He eventually made the rank of Warrant Officer and became commanding officer of several patrol boats, where he served at sea during the Persian Gulf War.
After retiring from the military, Loupatty began a new career with the Army Corps of Engineers. But he said his passion for teaching navigation to eager sailors, something he’d learned to love in the Army, drove him to join the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
“When I volunteered for this deployment, I was excited,” Loupatty chuckled. “But when I found myself on a Coast Guard small boat in 8-foot swells, taking sea spray in the face and timing my jump to get over the gunwale of a 50-meter commercial fishing boat that was actively long lining for yellow fin tuna, I thought to myself, ‘Okay, this is getting real, man.’”
Auxiliarist Hua Lin McCaffrey, District 7, Division 9, Flotilla 1, in Fort Myers Beach, is a retired civil engineer who lives in Fort Myers, Florida. She was born in Beijing, China. Like Loupatty, she came to the U.S. on a student visa, but to pursue a master’s degree in structural engineering at Cal State Polytechnic University at the Pomona Campus. Her student visa eventually led to a work visa. She became a U.S. citizen after getting married.
McCaffrey said she joined the auxiliary due to the options and learning opportunities she’d have as a volunteer. But she was very surprised to learn about the option to serve as a volunteer interpreter.
“I didn’t join to be an interpreter, but found out right away how valued and in demand my skills as a fluent Mandarin Chinese speaker were,” said McCaffrey.
“The Coast Guard Auxiliary needs more Mandarin Chinese speakers. I encourage anyone with this skill to reach out to their local Coast Guard Auxiliary flotilla to explore the options for volunteering. You don’t need to own a boat, or to have maritime experience to join. I’ve had so much fun with my local flotilla, and on my active-duty mission supporting Operation Blue Pacific aboard Munro.”
Her skills in both interpreting spoken and translating written Mandarin were essential for Munro’s crew to conduct boardings at sea. The majority of fishing vessels Munro encountered had Mandarin-speaking masters. McCaffrey’s expertise was required first in Munro’s pilot house before each boarding.
“There’s a checklist of inquires the Coast Guard must ask a vessel’s master over the radio before going aboard,” said McCaffrey. “Before boardings, I’d hail the vessel’s master over the radio and run through the required questions, with assistance from Munro’s crew members.”
During dozens of boardings over treacherous waters, in sweltering heat, McCaffrey’s endurance was every bit as paramount as her ability to interpret. But perhaps her interpersonal skills were what stood out to the fishing boat masters and crews she encountered.
That’s what stood out most to Munro’s crew.
“She’s spry as an auxiliarist can possibly be,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Trey Lee, a boarding team member on Munro. “But what shines most about Ms. McCaffrey, is her people skills. The captains and crew members smiled and sometimes laughed when she engaged with them. That goes a long way during these boardings, which can be very stressful for fishing boat masters and crews—even those who are operating legally. They’re out in the middle of the ocean and suddenly our ship shows up and we want to come aboard, sometimes while they’re in the middle of actively fishing, trying to earn a living. Having someone like her who can talk to them at all is an absolute necessity, but having someone with her personality makes our team that much stronger. We’re out there to keep everyone honest, and she’s able to explain that we’re helping them when we enforce laws. They understand we’re here to protect their way of life and the fish who make their living possible.”
Both Loupatty and McCaffrey, while only aboard a few weeks, became part of Munro’s crew in ways that transcended their assigned mission.
“It was a pleasure to have these two special Auxiliarists aboard for my last few weeks as commanding officer of this cutter, and to see them become part of team Munro,” said Capt. Blake Novak, Munro’s commanding officer until May 20, 2022. “The Coast Guard will continue to draw from the diverse backgrounds and skillsets of our members and the volunteers who support us. We’ll continue to work with our partners throughout Oceania to combat IUU fishing, to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Munro’s crew, made up of about 150 sailors out of Alameda, California, understands that mission success depends on how well they care for one another. Loupatty and McCaffrey couldn’t have volunteered on a better boat.
| Date Taken: | 05.19.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 05.19.2022 14:51 |
| Story ID: | 421033 |
| Location: | ALAMEDA, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 1,309 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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