The crew of Coast Guard Station Emerald Isle is scheduled to hold a change-of-command ceremony Friday at the station in Emerald Isle, N.C. During the ceremony, Chief Petty Officer Matthew Wolanzyk will relieve Chief Warrant Officer Robert Lepere, who served as the officer-in-charge of Station Emerald Isle since 2010.
Station Emerald Isle's missions include search and rescue, recreational boating safety, law enforcement and marine environmental protection. The station is home to 24 active-duty members and 11 reserve members.
The area of responsibility for the station includes Bogue Sound, Bogue Inlet, Stump Sound, New River, New River Inlet and the intracoastal waterway via Surf City, N.C.
Lepere's next assignment will be the commanding officer of Coast Guard Station Gloucester in Gloucester, Mass.
Wolanzyk's previous assignment was the Response Boat - Medium school chief at Training Center Yorktown, Va.
Change-of-command ceremonies are designed to strengthen respect for the continuity of command and are vital to any military organization, the Coast Guard said. The culmination of the ceremony is reached when both members read their orders, face one another, salute and transfer total responsibility for the command.
uscgnews.com