| Call from the President
Gulf Coast Guard officer to get a call from boss
Published December 24, 2005
Chicago Tribune
AURORA -- When the phone rings aboard the Coast Guard cutter Monomoy in the Persian Gulf on Christmas Eve, someone had better pick up: it'll be the commander in chief calling, and he'll ask to speak with Petty Officer Rebecca Shipley, 30, of Aurora.
The president traditionally makes a holiday phone call to a member of each branch of the military service to wish them well, a Coast Guard announcement said.
President Bush's call to the Coast Guard will be on Christmas Eve, and he'll speak with Shipley, cook for the 21-person crew. She also operates an MK19 grenade launcher and a 50-caliber machine gun, serves as a crew member of the cutter's inflatable boat, as a lookout while under way and as officer of the deck while in port.
Shipley is a 10-year veteran and has been in the Persian Gulf aboard the 110-foot Monomoy for six months, a Coast Guard spokesman said. The Monomoy is one of six Coast Guard cutters deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of the war effort in Iraq, the Coast Guard said. The cutter's crew duties including boarding, searching and escorting ships.
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