CGAS Atlantic City New Jersey Patch

The winds of history swept across the Jersey Shore long before Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City became the guardian of the Eastern seaboard. Here, where the sand dunes meet the Atlantic's endless horizon, the newest and largest air station in the United States Coast Guard stands as a testament to modern maritime heroism. Born from the merger of two legendary predecessors in 1998, CGAS Atlantic City emerged as a fortress of vigilance and valor, its crews charged with protecting an entire coastline from Connecticut to Virginia.

When Operation Noble Eagle called for defenders of America's shores after September 11th, the men and women of Atlantic City answered with thunderous rotors and unwavering resolve. Their helicopters cut through storm-whipped skies and moonless nights, racing against time to snatch lives from the hungry sea. Since 2006, they have taken on the sacred duty of protecting the airspace over Washington DC, their Rotary Wing Air Intercept mission making them the only Coast Guard unit trusted with defending the nation's capital from aerial threats.

The station's crews have faced everything nature and humanity could unleash. During Hurricane Sandy, they defied nature's fury to pluck survivors from flooded communities. In over 7,000 search and rescue cases, they have dedicated more than 11,000 flight hours to aiding people in distress, saving over 600 lives and assisting hundreds more. When fishing vessels founder in nor'easters, when pleasure craft are overwhelmed by sudden squalls, when merchant ships face mechanical disasters far from shore, the call goes out to Atlantic City and heroes launch into the abyss with their fleet of twelve MH-65E Dolphin helicopters.

Their legacy stretches back through the bloodlines of Coast Guard Air Station Brooklyn and Air Station Cape May, where aviation pioneers like Chief Petty Officer Charles Thrun, the Coast Guard's first enlisted aviator, gave his life to forge the path these modern guardians follow. From Floyd Bennett Field where Amelia Earhart once walked, to Cape May where the first aerial security patrol in US history protected President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the heritage of courage flows through Atlantic City's hangars like an eternal flame.

Each mission carries the weight of sacred duty, whether conducting search and rescue operations that span hundreds of miles of ocean, enforcing maritime law in treacherous waters, or maintaining the vigilant watch over America's most protected airspace. The CGAS Atlantic City patch represents more than a unit, it symbolizes the shield between chaos and community, carried by those who stake their lives on a single promise that no cry for help will go unanswered along America's eastern waters.