DVIDS – News – 14th Coast Guard District Hosts Change of Command Ceremony

HONOLULU – The 14th Coast Guard District held a change of command ceremony at the Honolulu Coast Guard Base to bid farewell to Rear Admiral Matthew Sibley and welcome Rear Admiral Michael Day on Friday.

The ceremony was presided over by Vice Admiral Michael McAllister, Commander, U.S. Coast Guard, Pacific Region.

“It has been an honor to serve alongside the women and men of our service over the past few years,” Rear Admiral Sibley said. “Through our interagency partnerships and that of the State of Hawaii, we have found a way to continue frontline operations supporting maritime governance and a free and open Indo-Pacific region, while dealing with a pandemic. which only happens once a century.”

Day, a native of Brockton, Mass., comes to the 14th Coast Guard District after serving as a military advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security, where he provided advice to the secretary and undersecretary regarding policies, plans, and other business between the department. of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense.

A 1991 graduate of the Coast Guard Officer Candidate School at Yorktown, Day’s previous duty stations include service in the Strategy and Policy Branch (J5) for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , the commander of the Pacific Strike Team and the commander of Coast Guard Sector New York.

On September 11, 2001, while chief of waterway surveillance in New York Harbor and New Jersey, Day was immediately assigned as the Coast Guard’s on-scene commander for the evacuation of lower Manhattan, coordinating the evacuation of more than 500,000 people. aboard more than 100 civilian ships resulting in the largest maritime evacuation in history.

Day’s background includes master’s degrees in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College and in public administration from Bridgewater State University. He also completed a one-year fellowship at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government as a National Security Fellow and participated in a one-year industrial training program with the PortAuthority of New York and New Jersey.

“I look forward to reinvigorating our alliances with like-minded Pacific Island countries and territories across Oceania,” said Rear Admiral Day. “The Coast Guard will continue to exercise its unique powers through a persistent presence and cooperation in this region to enhance maritime security.”

Sibley, a native of West Islip, New York, continues his Coast Guard career as Deputy Commander, United States Coast Guard Pacific Area in Alameda, California.

Sibley had served as the Commander of the 14th Coast Guard District since June 2020. During that time, he was responsible for directing Coast Guard operations throughout Oceania, including Hawaii, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands North, American Samoa and operations in Singapore and Japan. .

Prior to assuming command of the 14th Coast Guard District, Sibley’s career included nearly 10 years of service afloat, with tours of command aboard the Coast Guard Cutters Forward, Thatcher and Point Monroe. Sibley has also served on the coast guards Gallatin, Morgenthau and Spencer and is a permanent Cutterman.

He has also served ashore as Coast Guard Eighth District Command Center Comptroller, Senior Duty Officer in the White House Situation Room, Duty Officer in Coast Guard Personnel Command, Fellow of the Coast Guard at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Military Assistant to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Commander Coast Guard
Lake Michigan Sector, Deputy Director Military Reserves and Personnel (CG-13D), Executive Assistant to the Deputy Commander Human Resources (CG-1A), and Deputy Commander Coast Guard Personnel Service Center at Headquarters the Coast Guard.

Sibley’s education includes a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Computer Science from the United States Coast Guard Academy and a Masters of Public Administration from George Mason University.

The 14th District covers more than 12.2 million square miles of land and sea, with units in Oahu, Maui, Kauai, the Big Island, and in American Samoa, Saipan, Guam, Singapore, and Japan. They maintain vital relationships with strategic partners around the Pacific. The district commander oversees operational units ashore and afloat throughout the Pacific, which routinely perform maritime security, natural resource protection, maritime security, homeland security, and national defense missions.