Jeffrey Dorwart



LCDR Jeffrey Dorwart

Jeff joined the Coast Guard in St. Petersburg Fl in the spring of ‘83 (1983 not 1883). Intending to complete school, go to OCS, attend Flight School and be an HC-130 pilot,  But fate had other plans. During the later part of boot camp, he was advised that the guaranteed school he had been granted by the recruiter was no longer available and he would be competing for a billet that would last until his name popped up on the AT-A School list, which at the time was running about six months.  Unfortunately the slowdown that caused the guaranteed schools to be cancelled also caused “some delay” in the school list as well.

But he persevered and after  surviving 8 weeks in picturesque (outside the fence) Cape May NJ, he reported to WMEC - 616, the cutter Diligence in Cape Canaveral FL.  On the Diligence they immediately recognized his potential and he was assigned to a very high tech job as the Wardroom mess cook.  Fortunately there is likely no one on active duty that recalls his performance there.  Mr. Dorwart unfortunately can’t forget.  Not that there is anything per se wrong with the Diligence, the wardroom mess or the crew, but although he is not prone to motion sickness, when he heard the words “throw over line 1” he would throw up just out of principal.  After a week or two into a four to six week cruise (they call it that but it is different than what most of you are thinking!) the ship would magically start to shrink.  Jeff took every opportunity to climb about the HH-52 helicopters whenever they were embarked and took many flights just to get off the ship for a couple of hours.  Most of the crew thought that was nuts, but I digress.  Inport he had many important jobs (being the non drinker of the crew) like collecting the BM2 and whoever he had dragged along on his adventures, from the local gendarme.

Finally in the fall of ‘84 orders came to report to lovely Elizabeth City NC.  Jeff bounded off in his bright yellow Karmann Ghia… whose fate will be disclosed a little later in the saga, for NC.  Elizabeth City, for those who have not had the pleasure, was and still is a remnant of the Old South.  “Folks” say hey to you on the street, wave at you in your car (truck) and will bend over backwards to help you do whatever you find yourself needing help with.  Even if you don’t ask for help.  The Coast Guard is an enormous part of Elizabeth City so everyone knows you are either part of the Coast Guard or you are retired from the Coast Guard and can’t find your way out of the swamp. AT-A school was possibly the most technical school the Coast Guard had at the time.  There are few graduates who can say they were not threatened with dismissal because they misplaced a decimal in the 12th or 13th decimal place after doing long division of imaginary numbers.  Like most Jeff was threatened the morning after an exam by a drawing on the chalkboard (yes we still used chalkboards!!)  in the morning of the Coast Guard Cutter NeverDock.  In May of ‘85 50% of Jeff and his classmates departed Elizabeth City.  He and his late classmate Dan Glaven were the newest members of the crew of Air Station Borinquen what was the old Ramey SAC base outside of Aguadilla Puerto Rico.

Jeff’s sponsor to Air Station Borinquen, Steve Fecker, and Steve’s roommate Kenny Wert arrived at San Juan international to pick him up.  Puerto Rico in 1985 was NOT the Puerto Rico of today.  The island is 110 miles long and about 35 miles wide.  There were no highways from San Juan to Aguadilla.   There was instead the original PR-2, a winding road that insisted that you immediately adopt the Puerto Rican mantra of “Manana”, which is exactly when Steve and Kenny planned to get back to the Air Station.  The group stopped for “cultural visits” in Vega Alta, Vega Baja, Arecibo, Quebradillas, Isabela and finally Jobos beach.  The indigenous beverages were significantly cheaper than soda so Jeff eventually (later than he should have) took over the driving and navigating duties.  Finally assigned to an Air Station where he would crew all manner of aircraft during the transition from HH-3F to HH-65, HU-25 to HC-130H. …………………….

When he was not working or babysitting the tenants on 6th street,  Jeff was able to fly his glider that was transported to BQN via Red Tail airlines (Can’t do that today). In 1985 He was introduced to Aridia who he married in 1986…. And who still puts up with his shenanigans today.

In 1988 the opportunity of  a lifetime came by way of (then) CDR Mont Smith, who recommended him for an assignment testing the RG-8A with the infamous Roger “Ramjet” Bowers and five other intrepid opportunists (the Ghost Riders), most of whom were trying to get  fixed wing transition and were willing to risk life and limb to get it.  This assignment stretched from four to five months before the evaluation was complete and Jeff and co (Aridia, daughter Jessica and son Benjamin) continued on to Air Station Clearwater where he took the reins of the Avionics Training department and Special Projects.  Getting time off for good behavior, and to the vocal dismay of CWO Charlie Young, Jeff received mid season orders to Kodiak, AK, arriving in January of 1988.

In Kodiak he was assigned again to Avionics Training in an attempt to reduce the timeline from Aircrewman to HC-130H Navigator.  Jeff used innovative methods to accomplish this reduction but also taught the finer points of navigation to those willing to learn.  From this many Kodiak Navigators know what is supposed to fit through that port on the overhead and can maybe where Betelgeuse is… not Michael Douglas.  He was also assigned to Special Avionics Projects while in Kodiak and by the direction of SCPO Bobby Stott Jeff designed ACCBs for the first GPS systems on the HC-130H, HH-60J and HH-65A.  With the assistance and guidance of Tom Engbring they were able to develop TCTOs for each platform and CG Aviation was on the road to more accurate Navigation.  Jeff was recognized as the resident computer nerd and then Master Chief Stott gave him the nickname of Mr. Pentium, having been the first to own a Pentium based computer system in Kodiak.  He operated Kodiak’s first BBS system, which allowed users to dial into his basement and be connected to the University of Alaska’s nascent Internet connection.  After four years at Air Station Kodiak this experience led to an opportunity to remain in Kodiak as the Information Resource Manager.  Jeff led the effort of upgrading from the legacy Standard Workstation II to Workstation III, recabling the Air Station and deployment of fiber optic cabling between the five Air Station buildings.

In 1999 Jeff was selected for CWO and was slated for orders to either CAMSPAC or some forsaken rock in view of the end of the earth.  After some negotiation between G-SEA and the ELC CWO detailer he received orders to AR&SC  (ALC).  1999 was the transition period for aviation Warrant officers.  As he belonged to the ELC detailer he was promoted to ELC2 initially.  After his orders were issued to AR&SC he was converted to AVI2.

The AR&SC assignment was short lived due to the unexpected retirement of CWO Brady Pierce at Air Station Miami.  Brady was the Gulfstream 1(G1) maintenance officer and Avionics officer and experience in civil aviation maintenance practices and documentation was desired.  Jeff holds an A&P with IA from the FAA and was offered the position after only three months in Elizabeth City.  He accepted and reported to Air Station Miami in the summer of 2000.

The Coast Guard’s Gulfstream 1 was built in 1961 and while she was still flyable time was taking it’s toll.  CG-02 had aged well but her wing planks were beginning to corrode and were likely to render her unairworthy in the not too distant future.  While attending a Gulfstream maintenance conference CWO Dorwart discovered that NASA was planning to eliminate their fleet of G1 aircraft.  He initiated discussions with NASA and briefed the Air Station command on the status of their  aircraft and the availability and condition of NASA’s. Negotiation by G-SEA (CG-711), Air Station Miami and NASA resulted in the Coast Guard receiving the aircraft at no cost.  In 2003 CWO Dorwart was selected for transition from CWO to LT and was ordered to the Coast Guard Research and Development center (RDC) as the Aviation Engineer and Projects manager.

The RDC was situated in Groton CT on Avery Point.  Originally a WWII Coast Guard training center the Coast Guard had donated the majority of the property to the University of Connecticut but still occupied two wings of the building.  This is an idyllic university setting and the RDC is populated by mostly intellectuals with a few blue suiters to bring some real world Coast Guard operational experience to the table.  As one of only only two “aviators” (Sean Lester)  assigned (prior to the arrival of Capt. Matt Sisson), Jeff was the project lead and test director on UAV testing for Predator A, Predator B, Aerosonde and Neptune aircraft as well airborne non lethal weapons and communications, some of which ended up on our NCR defense aircraft.  While at RDC he was selected for Advanced Computer and Electronics Training and spent 2007 and 2008 at a little school in New Haven CT.

Since 2009 he has been assigned as the Aviation C4ISR TTP Platform manager in CG-7113.  The first two years of this were detached to Clearwater but in 2011 he moved his office from Clearwater to CG Headquarters.

Jeff has performed missions in, on, or thrown from; the HH-52, HH-3F, HH-65A, HU-25A/C/D, HC-130H/J, RG-8A, Gulfstream 1, Gulfstream 3.