[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 112 (Thursday, July 23, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1905-E1906]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF COMMANDER MARK 
               MESERVEY OF THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. RICK LARSEN

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 23, 2009

  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize 
and honor the accomplishments and contributions of Commander Mark 
Meservey of the United States Coast Guard for his professional and 
credible service to the United States Congress.
  A native of Chatham, Massachusetts, Commander Meservey has served as 
Director of the Coast Guard's House of Representatives Liaison Office 
with distinction since July 2006. In this capacity, he worked directly 
with Member offices resolving hundreds of constituent issues as well as 
with the Coast Guard's appropriations and authorizing committees to 
ensure the Service received the necessary resources and legislative 
authorities to effectively execute its eleven congressionally-mandated 
missions. CDR Meservey's precise attention to detail, tested 
operational experience as a military aviator, and selfless dedication 
to the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. House of Representatives made him an 
invaluable asset to both Members and Staff. I personally came to

[[Page E1906]]

rely on his professionalism and responsiveness.
  Upon graduation from Chatham High School in Massachusetts, Commander 
Meservey attended Norwich University as an Army Reserve Officer 
Training Corps scholar, graduating magna cum laude and with a 
commission as an Army Aviation officer in 1985. He completed flight 
training at Fort Rucker, AL in 1986 and served as a Black Hawk 
helicopter pilot through the last days of the Cold War in Cyprus and 
Germany. Assignments included serving as a Flight Platoon Leader, 
aviation Company Executive Officer, and United States Embassy Liaison 
Officer to a classified State Department mission. While in Europe, he 
deployed to Ethiopia to participate in an internationally sensitive 
search and rescue operation for the late Congressman Mickey Leland and 
planned Return of Forces to Germany 1990 for an aviation battalion. For 
his efforts working with the U.S. Air Force in Ethiopia, he was 
personally decorated by the Army's Chief of Staff, General Carl Vuono. 
Upon his return to the United States, he graduated from the U.S. Army's 
Aviation Officer Advanced Course as an Honor Graduate.
  In 1990, Commander Meservey accepted a direct commission in the U.S. 
Coast Guard as a Lieutenant Junior Grade and initially served at Air 
Station Clearwater, FL as an HH-3F and HH-60J search and rescue pilot 
and flew in support of Operation Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, working 
closely with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of 
Defense, and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas Drug Enforcement Unit to 
stem the flow of illegal drugs entering the United States through the 
Caribbean.
  In 1994, he transferred to Air Station Cape Cod and served as an HH-
60J Instructor Pilot and Flight Examiner. While serving as the unit's 
Public Affairs officer, he earned back-to-back CDR Jim Simpson awards 
for excellence in media relations. He participated in numerous 
hazardous weather search and rescue operations and planned and provided 
air security for Constitution Sail 200, the USS CONSTITUTION's first 
sail alone in over 116 years.
  In 1998, he attended Syracuse University's Maxwell School of 
Citizenship and Public Affairs as a full graduate scholar, earning a 
Master of Public Administration degree. Following graduate school, 
Commander Meservey completed a two-year assignment with the U.S. 
Department of Transportation in Washington, DC in the Office of the 
Secretary of Transportation as the lead budget analyst for the Federal 
Transit Administration (FTA) responsible for developing and justifying 
FTA's multi-billion dollar budgets to the President's Office of 
Management and Budget and the United States Congress.
  Commander Meservey returned to Coast Guard aviation in 2001, serving 
as Deputy Executive Officer and Gulfstream I fixed wing VIP and 
logistics pilot at Air Station Miami, one of the Coast Guard's largest 
aviation units. In 2004, he transferred to Air Station Washington where 
he served as Executive Officer flying the C-37A Gulfstream V executive 
jet across the globe for Department of Homeland Security Secretaries 
Ridge and Chertoff and Coast Guard Commandants Collins and Allen. In 
this assignment, he gained additional international experience working 
closely with the State Department and foreign militaries and 
governments ranging from Malaysia to the United Kingdom.
  He's recently completed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's 
prestigious Seminar XXI, a year-long Washington, DC-based program in 
foreign politics and international relations.
  Commander Meservey has earned numerous military decorations thus far 
in his twenty-four years of active duty service, including Naval and 
Army Aviator Wings, the two Meritorious Service Medals, three Coast 
Guard Commendation Medals, two Army Commendation Medals, two Coast 
Guard Achievement Medals, the Army Achievement Medal, the Commandant's 
Letter of Commendation, and a variety of other personal, team and unit 
commendations.
  This week, Commander Meservey will leave his post on the Hill to 
assume a newly created position as liaison to the Federal Aviation 
Administration's Unmanned Aircraft Program Office where he will serve 
as the Coast Guard's voice on all matters relating to unmanned aerial 
systems in particular and aviation in general.
  I am honored to pay tribute to Commander Meservey in the United 
States Congress, and on behalf of the Representatives and staff who 
have been fortunate enough to work with him over the past three years. 
I wish him, his wife Kathleen, and his three children, Nicole, Maura 
and Seth, the best in their future endeavors.

                          ____________________