[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13852]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO CAPTAIN R. ANDREW MURRAY

  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the military 
service of CAPT R. Andrew Murray on the occasion of his retirement from 
the U.S. Coast Guard. I commend Captain Murray's Coast Guard career and 
offer my thanks for his 35 years of faithful service to our country. 
Although he has gone ashore for the last time as a coastguardsman, his 
commitment to public service continues in North Carolina. As a 
civilian, Captain Murray has acted as the elected district attorney of 
Mecklenburg County since 2011.
  Captain Murray enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1980, serving 6 years 
of Active Duty as an aviation electronic technician and helicopter 
flight crewman. He then became a Reservist and received a commission as 
an officer through the Reserve Officer Candidate Indoctrination School, 
ROCI.
  Meanwhile, Captain Murray graduated from the University of North 
Carolina at Charlotte in 1992 with a bachelor of arts in political 
science. He received a juris doctorate from the University of North 
Carolina School of Law, and he is a member of the North Carolina Bar.
  Throughout his career as an attorney and eventually as district 
attorney of Mecklenburg County, Captain Murray also served in a number 
of roles as a Reserve officer. He acted as the senior Reserve officer 
of Group Charleston, SC; a senior analyst for the Coast Guard Counter 
Terrorism and Defense Operations Unit; and the senior Reserve officer 
of Sector Charleston, SC.
  As a Reservist, Captain Murray has also been called to Active Duty. 
In 2013, he received the call to serve as the legal adviser for the 
Gulf Coast Incident Management Team in New Orleans, LA, where he 
contributed to Operation Deepwater Horizon, the Federal cleanup effort 
for the massive oil spill of 2010.
  Captain Murray most recently served as the Western Rivers and Coastal 
Region senior Reserve officer for the Eighth Coast Guard District. He 
was responsible for monitoring the readiness of 870 Reservists assigned 
to the Coast Guard's Eighth District, which comprises of seven sectors, 
spans 26 States, and covers more than 12,000 miles of river and 
coastline. His outstanding leadership assured the availability of a 
robust reserve capacity to respond to all subsequent contingencies, 
including a 30,000-gallon fuel spill and extreme Midwest regional 
flooding. At his recent retirement ceremony, Captain Murray was honored 
with the Coast Guard Meritorious Service Medal for his leadership in 
this post.
  Captain Murray's other decorations include three Coast Guard 
Commendation Medals, the Coast Guard Achievement Medal, and the Coast 
Guard 9/11 Service Medal.
  I offer Captain Murray my warmest congratulations and appreciation 
for the many years he has spent protecting this Nation, saving lives, 
and performing his faithful duty as a U.S. Coastguardsman. I ask my 
fellow Senators to join me in saluting Captain Murray for his service.

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