The United States Coast Guard Station South Padre Island hosted a Change of Command ceremony June 28. Lt. Cmdr. Michael Bell released command of the station to Lt. Kurtis Mees.
The ceremony included remarks from Captain Tony Hahn, Commander of the USCG Sector Corpus Christi, who oversees operations for all maritime ports from Port Lavaca to Port of Brownsville.
Lt. Mees is a native of Forsyth, MT, and enlisted in the USCG in 1998. Before being assigned to South Texas, Lt. Mess reported to the Fifth District Command Center in Portsmouth, VA, where he coordinated maritime response operations and later held programmatic oversight of all search and rescue stations and small boats within District AOR.
Lt. Cmdr. Bell assumed his duties as the commanding officer of Station South Padre Island in June 2014.
The Change of Command ceremony is a time-honored naval tradition. It is a formal custom designed to strengthen the respect for authority, which is vital to any military organization.
Lt. Kurtis Mees assumes command of Station South Padre Island.
