[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 80 (Wednesday, May 16, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H3986]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          RECOGNIZING THE CAREER OF CAPTAIN TIMOTHY A. TOBIASZ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Keating) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KEATING. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the retirement 
and many distinguished accomplishments of Captain Timothy A. Tobiasz, 
Commanding Officer of the United States Coast Guard Air Station Cape 
Cod, Massachusetts.
  Captain Tobiasz has honorably served our country with over 32 years 
of Active-Duty military service. His career began in the U.S. Army as a 
Black Hawk assault pilot, where he served in the 9th Cavalry Brigade, 
9th Infantry Division ``Old Reliables'' at Fort Lewis, Washington.
  In 1991, he was accepted to the United States Coast Guard's Officer 
Candidate School, commissioning as an ensign in 1992.
  From there, he quickly rose to the rank of captain, and during his 
32-year military career, Captain Tobiasz amassed over 7,000 flight 
hours and qualified in nine different aircraft, to include the MH-60 
Jayhawk, MH-90 Hornet, HC-130 Hercules, MH-65 Dolphin, and the HC-144 
Ocean Sentry.
  He served at Coast Guard Air Stations Clearwater, Florida; San Diego, 
California; HITRON-10 Kodiak, Alaska; New Orleans, Louisiana; Savannah, 
Georgia; and Cape Cod, Massachusetts; and as the commanding officer of 
two bases.
  In addition to his remarkable aviation career, Captain Tobiasz served 
in the U.S. Senate as a military liaison officer, as a budget and 
program reviewer at U.S. Coast Guard headquarters, a senior military 
adviser to the U.S. Northern Command/NORAD combatant commander, and a 
National Security Fellow at the Harvard University's John F. Kennedy 
School of Government.
  Of his many outstanding achievements during his storied career, I 
would like to highlight three.
  In 1999, then-Lieutenant Tobiasz was one of only six pilots selected 
to pioneer Helicopter Interdiction Squadron 10. This successful concept 
led to one of the most significant policy changes in Coast Guard 
aviation history through the development of the aviation use of force 
policy and establishment of a permanent command in Jacksonville, 
Florida, now responsible for armed counterdrug operations around the 
entire globe.
  In 2005, while serving as the operations officer at Coast Guard Air 
Station New Orleans, Lieutenant Commander Tobiasz led rescue operations 
during and immediately after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, 
and in a 10-day period, aircrews under his leadership saved over 1,400 
lives.
  Most recently and just last year, Captain Tobiasz was called upon 
again to lead air rescue operations following landfall of Hurricane 
Harvey over Texas and Louisiana. Thanks in great part to his 
extraordinary coordination and unflappable judgment, he strategically 
directed 53 aircraft and 415 aviation personnel for 21 different units, 
saving lives of over 1,700 civilians.
  Mr. Speaker, I join a very grateful Nation in thanking Captain 
Timothy Tobiasz and his family for their service and sacrifice, and 
wish them the absolute very best in their next careers.

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