USCG
Auxiliary Interpreter Corps in action.
USCG D-17 delegation
with LTGEN Lisitsky, Russian Border Service (NRD) commander,
and his staff. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (P-K), Russia.
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Importance:
High
"MAYDAY - MAYDAY - MAYDAY! MV Marazli to US Coast Guard! Not good English. Seaman injury. Need go hospital. MAYDAY - MAYDAY - MAYDAY" Coast Guard Group San Francisco determined that Russian linguistic support was immediately required and contacted George Barantseff, Flotilla 12-11NR, a member of the Auxiliary Interpreter Corps. Barantseff had previously been instrumental in two Russian language SAR cases and on both occasions the distress calls were due to injuries and there was a language barrier. In all three cases the injured parties were airlifted via USCG helicopters and despite very severe injuries (e.g.. brains visible through head tauma). The seamen survived, in part, due to the accuracy of the interpreter's ability to facilitate radio communications among the ship's doctor, the USCG Flight Surgeon, the helicopter pilot, and Group San Francisco. In the winter of 1999, Barantseff was deployed aboard USCGC BOUTWELL for a 35-day Alaskan Patrol (ALPAT). The cutter encountered 40 foot seas, 75 knot winds and minus 25 degree wind chill factors on the North Pacific and Bering Sea, but he enthusiastically maintained his post on the bridge, monitoring the Russian fishing fleet's radio traffic. In the summer of 2000, Barantseff was deployed aboard USCGC HAMILTON, again for 35 days to the Maritime Boundary Line (MBL) in the Bering Sea. This time the FV MING CHANG was boarded after a hot pursuit for illegally fishing 1 1/2 miles inside the US EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone). A joint Law Enforcement operation with a patrol vessel from the Russian Border Service was brought to a successful conclusion - the radio communication between the cutter and the Russian vessel was conducted in the Russian language and lasted for 12 hours because the MING CHANG inadvertently fled into the Russian prohibited zone. |
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International
fisheries conference in Vladivostok, Russia.
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Russian
Border Service officers receiving training at NPFAC, Kodiak,
Alaska.
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International
Sector at airport in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (P-K), Russia.
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USCG C-130
at P-K preparing for reconnaissance sortie.
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Aboard
C-130 with Russian Border Service Naval Captain.
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NRD officers
and D-17 delegation - preparing to depart for Alaska from
P-K.
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That winter saw Barantseff aboard USCGC ACUSHNET for four weeks on another ALPAT, again in severe storms, but he maintained his position at the radio on the bridge. His fourth deployment was aboard USCGC MUNRO for a 15-day ALPAT in Aug-Sept 2003 and despite gale force winds and 25 foot seas which threatened to prevent the training exercise, a successful joint SAR/LE simulated operation was conducted between the cutter and the Russian Border Service frigate VOROVSKY . Barantseff was again at his post on the radio of the cutter's bridge and was the voice and ears for both vessels' captains. He has flown several times to Russia via USCG C-130 and commercial airlines for duty both as a consultant and as a Russian linguist at diplomatic meetings. While in Russia he participated with Distict-17 officers in a first-ever flight by USCG officers aboard a Russian AN-72 patrol jet on a reconnaissance sortie out of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia. Barantseff received Boarding Officers' training at the USCG North Pacific Fisheries Training Center (NPFAC) in Kodiak, Alaska and was the lead Russian interpreter/translator of the instructional material which he co-presented with the NPFAC commanding officer to a delegation of Russian Border Service officers. He has often provided interpreter services at Distict-17 (Alaska), and was attached to District-9 (Great Lakes area) during a visit by Ukrainian Border Service officers. He was the personal Russian interpreter to the Commandant at HQ USCG in Washington DC during an unprecedented official visit by the admiral's Russian counterpart, General K.V. Totsky. |
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On the
bridge at the radio USCG MUNRO.
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On the
bridge USCG HAMILTON.
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A "378"
Heavy Endurance Cutter used on an ALPAT.
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a "378's" main
gun-shoot during deployment on North Pacific.
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Russian Border Service
frigate VOROVSKY.
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The seas can be heavy in
the North Pacific.
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As seen from C-130, the
Bering Sea beginning to close up with ice for the winter.
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Preparing to go aloft aboard
a HH-65A helicopter reconnaissance patrol from USCGC BOUTWELL.
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Aerial view from HH-65A
of ice forming on the Bering Sea.
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Altogether
he has volunteered almost 4,000 hours as an Auxiliary
interpreter/linguist, officers and crew of the cutters
inquire as to how they should refer to him: "Auxiliarist?
Sir? Mr. Barantseff? Colonel? (he is a retired O-6 reserve
colonel)" to which he responds:
"Please call me George". Ken Sommers N-ICW 
Images
courtesyGeorge Barantseff, N-IP |