Officer wins Coast Guard’s top award for reservists
Published: August 24, 2006
Vancouver Police Officer John Key, a U.S. Coast Guard petty officer 1st class, has won the top national award the U.S. Coast Guard gives to a reservist.
Key, 41, will be honored at a ceremony Sept. 13 in Washington, D.C. He will be promoted to chief petty officer and will receive a $2,500 savings bond. He will meet President George Bush and also has been invited to attend the launch of the U.S. Space Shuttle Atlantis in Florida set for Aug. 27.
“Petty Officer Key is Station Portland’s go-to reservist,” said Capt. Patrick G. Gerrity, commander of the Coast Guard’s Portland station.
A native of Texas, Key has been a Vancouver policeman since 1994. He was honored due in part to his work linking the Coast Guard with the regional SWAT team in Vancouver, a tactics-sharing program that allows sailors to ride along with police to learn ground operations while police can ride along on tugs and ships to learn river operations.
Working as a boatswain’s mate 1st class and as a veteran of seven years in the Coast Guard Reserve, Key pilots a 25-foot response boat and is a boarding officer, checking ship cargoes.
He organized 14 ride-alongs and two joint training exercises for members of the Coast Guard and the SWAT team, said Casey McDonald, executive petty officer for the Coast Guard’s Swan Island station.
“The training was invaluable,” said McDonald, “and John was the key person who set that up.”
“This is a big honor,” said McDonald. “There are only two ways you can be meritoriously advanced. One is in wartime, and the other is by this honor.”
Right after the 9/11 attacks, Key was called to active duty and did port security in Tacoma. He served in Tacoma from 1999 to 2002, then transferred to Portland.
He also is a qualified coxswain, able to run boats on 127 nautical miles of rivers in Station Portland’s area, and is a boarding officer who tutors junior personnel. He has led instruction in navigation, law enforcement and search and rescue.
Key has consistently worked more hours than required and on many occasions without pay, McDonald said. He drove a boat during the Rose Festival for no pay, even though he had finished his required hours of Reserve training.
“It’s fun,” Key said. “I enjoy doing it.” He said this honor reflects the quality of the entire Portland unit, whose members made his work possible.
He’s also active in the community. He has coached Vancouver youth hockey and soccer teams and participated in “Shop with a Cop,” “Crop a Cop,” and “Tip a Cop” programs for underprivileged and disabled children. That work includes children in Special Olympics and those at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland. He has run high school presentations on SWAT team activities at Vancouver high schools.
Key and his wife, Wendy, have three children: Ashley, 17; Hollie, 15, and Cody, 13.
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