DOLLAR BAY – United States Coast Guard Station Portage underwent an official Change of Command Thursday. A formal ceremony was conducted at Dollar Bay schools complete with a color guard, a personnel inspection, and a reading of orders. These elements are all conducted to a formally prescribed ritual to honor and maintain traditions of the service, and to publicly demonstrate that authority has passed without interruption.

The occasion also gives the members of the command, as well as guests and the public, a chance to recognize both the service and achievements of the outgoing commanding officer as well as welcoming the incoming replacement. During the ceremony, Chief Warrant Officer Maria Collett, in command of Station Portage since July 2022, was relieved by Chief Boatswain’s Mate Cory Gallagher.

Under the command of Collett, Station Portage was credited with saving 22 lives and $876,864 in property, conducting 78 Search and Rescue cases and 613 law enforcement boardings, and performing 269 ports/waterways and coastal security missions totaling 538 hours. “During my time here,” Collett said, “we didn’t just maintain the status quo, we raised the bar.”

This sentiment was echoed by Captain William Albright, Commander, Sector Northern Great Lakes, who presided over the change of command ceremony. Only a few weeks into his new command himself, Albright studied the record of Collett and Station Portage and concluded, “Station Portage has not just met the standard, they set it.”