My first outdoors assignment

Bay City, Mich. — I come from you as the one and only editorial intern at The Bay City Times, where I’m experiencing the finest that northeastern Michigan has to offer.

(Note: I, too, find it weird that Bay City, Mich., is considered “Northeast Michigan,” but apparently that’s the region it responds to. Strange, but true.)

Anyway, in true intern fashion, I was assigned my first outdoor assignment — Coast Guard ice rescue missions.

In case you missed that: ICE RESCUE. In case you missed that again, ICE. Ice = cold. Cold = not my friend. Coast Guard ice rescue missions = not my friends.

Or so I thought.

I showed up at the Coast Guard Station Saginaw River in Essexville at about 7:45 a.m. There are flocks of men in blue walking around outside, and I followed a couple of them into the station itself.

The inside of the station is nice, with pictures of lighthouses and boats on the walls. (Kind of makes sense.) But I was greeted when I walked inside — by three dogs. The dogs were red — yes, red — and easily the nicest canines I’ve come in contact with on a military location. Named Charity, Tucker and Holly, the three pups entertained me while I waited for the officer-in-charge to arrive.

The officer-in-charge is essentially the head honcho of the station. He gets to wear his fancy ribboned uniform, while everyone else tromps around in the blue suit, which kind of resembles a mechanic’s uniform. After an interview with the officer-in-charge, I was escorted by a rather dapper gentleman, who warned me to put some warm accessories on and head outside.

The Bay City Times requires me to never wear open-toed shoes, never wear jeans, avoid too-short dresses — essentially to always look businessy. This includes being on location. Therefore, my clothes consisted of black pants, boots and a coat. Luckily, I was smart enough to bring earmuffs, a scarf and gloves, becausw without those vital things I would have frozen. I would have been the ice rescue mission.

After putting on my warm duds, my dashing escort wouldn’t allow my reporter-self onto the ice, since the Coast Guard already had four different holes in the ice, which, to an untrained bozo like myself, could be a great place to fall in.

What resulted was me standing on the banks of the Saginaw River for two hours, talking to my escort and watching Coast Guardsmen jump into freezing cold water, then pull themselves out. The holes in the ice are actually carved with chainsaws, and sometimes, the seamen even see fish swimming in the hole.

Also, taking notes is a serious struggle with gloves on. After about 30 seconds, I tore ‘em off, exposing my fingers to numbing cold. It wasn’t until about 5 p.m. that night that my fingers actually stopped stinging.

Gotta love 20-degree Michigan weather. Er, northeastern Michigan weather.

While my experience was a rather chilly one, it made me truly appreciate the Coast Guard. Often overlooked, these guys and gals are essentially professional swimmers with great values. Never have I had so many doors open for me, nor have I been so often referred to as a “young lady.”

Any group of people who willingly throw themselves into dangerous water to save people are good in my book. Braving the frigid weather was definitely worth watching them at work.

Read Thea’s news article .

• Sat 21st
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• Sun 22nd
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• Mon 23rd
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• Tue 24th
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