The First Coast Guard District held a change of command ceremony at Faneuil Hall, in Boston, Friday.
During the ceremony, Rear Adm. John Mauger relieved Rear Adm. Thomas Allan as the commander of the First Coast Guard District. Vice Adm. Steven Poulin, commander, Coast Guard Atlantic Area, presided over the ceremony.
Mauger arrived from Coast Guard Headquarters, in Washington, D.C., where he served as assistant commandant for prevention policy, and was responsible for the development of national policy, standards, and programs promoting marine safety, security, and environmental stewardship.
During previous assignments, Mauger served as assistant commandant for capability, responsible for identifying and providing capabilities, competencies, and capacity along with developing standards for the staffing, training, equipping, sustaining, maintaining and employing Coast Guard forces to meet mission requirements. He also served as the director of training and exercises at U.S. Cyber Command where he developed joint training and assessment standards.
Mauger is a native of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, and has earned a Bachelor of Science, with honors, from the Coast Guard Academy in 1991; a Master of Science, with honors, from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1997; and a Master of Science, with distinction, from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at National Defense University in 2011.
Allan departed to Miami, where he will assume the duties of the United States Southern Command’s director of operations.
The First Coast Guard District includes more than 12,000 active duty, reserve, civil servant and auxiliary personnel. In an average year, the First Coast Guard District saves 427 lives, conducts 2,392 search and rescue cases, assists 4,536 people, and safeguards approximately $115,000,000 in property at sea.
The change-of-command ceremony is a time-honored military tradition that marks a transfer of total responsibility and authority from one individual to another. The ceremony is conducted in order to formally demonstrate the continuity of authority within a U.S. military command.