In this episode of The Real ResQ, host Jason Quinn is joined by Martha LaGuardia-Kotite, a retired U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Captain.   Growing up in Destin, Florida, she loved being on the water. Around graduation, her dad mentioned the USCG, “because he wasn’t paying for college.” That was all the coercion she needed. With the idea of helping save lives, she was in!  The first rescue effort she remembers happened while she was still a cadet. LaGuardia-Kotite was assigned to a ship in Key West, Florida, for a patrol around the southeast area of U.S. waters. While out on patrol, her ship came upon a Haitian ship trying to immigrate to the U.S.   Later in the conversation, she tells about her experience as one of the first female officers to serve aboard two Coast Guard cutters with all male crews. On those deployments they patrolled the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. LaGuardia-Kotite also speaks about how she came to write five books, including the award-winning So Others May Live – Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers Saving Lives, Defying Death – which Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher used for their roles in the movie, The Guardian. Two of her other books are titled, My Name is Old Glory and Changing the Rules of Engagement.  The conversation concludes by talking about the “hobby” she has now. LaGuardia-Kotite is driving Zodiac MK6s for the Seabourn cruise ship company, bringing passengers right up to glaciers and around humpback whales and Orcas. For her, it's a great way to spend retirement. Enjoy!   This episode is powered by Vertical Helicasts Thank you for sponsoring this episode of The Real ResQ: Breeze-Eastern.Follow The Real ResQ on Facebook and Instagram and listen on Vertical Helicasts.

In this episode of The Real ResQ, Liz Booker joins the show.  Booker is a former U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) pilot. It wasn’t in the plan to join the USCG. After trying to join the other services with no success, one of the recruiters set Booker up with an appointment with the USCG, and the rest is history.  Her first rescue was while she was stationed on a USCG buoy tender. The ship was called to respond to a sailboat dead in the water and unable to sail. After a long and ‘sickening’ couple days to get to the scene, they were able to help the survivors on board and get them back to land safely. Booker spoke with host Jason Quinn about her tour on the USCG cutter Seneca, helping assist with Haitian and Cuban operations. One of the rescues  she remembers is coming upon a vessel that had over 400 people crammed onto it.   The conversation continues with stories from her time as an officer and a pilot in Port Angeles, Washington; San Francisco, California; Miami, Florida; Los Angeles, and in the country of Barbados.The conversation concludes by talking about what Booker is doing now with Literary Avatrix, and taking a book club to a whole new level!  Enjoy!   https://verticalhelicasts.com/the-real-resq-podcast/ https://www.facebook.com/therealresq https://www.instagram.com/therealresq   This episode is brought to you by Vertical Helicasts Thank you for sponsoring this episode of The Real ResQ; Breeze-Eastern, https://www.breeze-eastern.com/

In this episode of The Real ResQ, Jeremy Bersin joins the show.  Bersin previously worked in emergency medical services (EMS) and is currently with emergency disaster response. At a young age, Bersin started working in the hospital, seeing and experiencing the medical world. When he went through his emergency medical technician (EMT) course, he fell in love with the job.   Bersin tells us of a few memorable callouts while he was working in Hartford, Connecticut. His first call was for an elderly woman who went into a full cardiac arrest.  Next, we talk about a man who was more than just stabbed across his abdomen.  Bersin tells another great story of when the ambulance was stuck in the mud. We talk a little more about working in your hometown, and having to see and care for people you know.   From Hartford, our conversation transitions to his work in Boston. We talk a little bit about the Boston Marathon bombing and how he and his team assisted behind the scenes and for weeks after the incident. He is also reminded of and tells us about a drive-by shooting he was called to.  We finish our conversation with what he is doing now with emergency disaster response. From helping a few people that have been displaced due to a home fire to a full-on hurricane relief effort, the stories are incredible. Enjoy!    https://verticalhelicasts.com/the-real-resq-podcast/ https://www.facebook.com/therealresq https://www.instagram.com/therealresq   This episode is brought to you by Vertical Helicasts Thank you for sponsoring this episode of The Real ResQ; Breeze-Eastern, https://www.breeze-eastern.com/

In this episode of The Real ResQ, Charles Evans joins the show. Evans is author of Helicopter Heroine: Valérie André - Surgeon, Pioneer Rescue Pilot, and Her Courage Under Fire. He sits down with host Jason Quinn to provide a history lesson on Valerie André.   André is a surgeon and pioneer rescue helicopter pilot who flew 128 rescue missions from 1951 to 1953, primarily in Vietnam, during the French-Indochina War. She saved the lives of 168 wounded French soldiers. During the war, André volunteered to be an airdropped medic, parachuting into remote French outposts. On one mission she parachuted into Laos, where she not only treated French soldiers, but also native Lao people, and captured enemy Viet Minh soldiers. She became known as “the woman who came from the sky” by the Lao people who knew her. André also served as both a rescue helicopter pilot and chief medical officer during the French war in Algeria. She was also a major force in bringing gender equality to the French military medical corps in the 1960s and 1970s. She was promoted to the rank of brigadier general (U.S. equivalent) in 1975 and full general in 1981, the first woman in the French Army to attain that rank.  She also became a force for change in the French military by addressing the lack of women in the French Army’s medical corps (Service de Santé). She worked tirelessly within the French military system and through the French legislature to increase the number of females in the service. André celebrated her 100th birthday on April 21, 2022. The civilian heliport that serves the entire region of Paris was named in her honor on March 8, 2022, which was also International Women’s Day. She lives in Issy-les-Moulneaux, which has been her home for over 50 years. Enjoy!   https://verticalhelicasts.com/the-real-resq-podcast/ https://www.facebook.com/therealresq https://www.instagram.com/therealresq   This episode is brought to you by Vertical Helicasts Thank you for sponsoring this episode of The Real ResQ; Breeze-Eastern, https://www.breeze-eastern.com/