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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 6, 2002

Nomination
President Bush Nominates Collins to be the 22nd Commandant of the United States Coast Guard

President George W. Bush today announced the nomination of Admiral Thomas H. Collins to be the 22nd Commandant of the United States Coast Guard.

Admiral Collins has served as Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard since June 2000.  Before being named Vice Commandant, he served for two years as the Commander of the Pacific Area and Commander of the Eleventh Coast Guard District in Alameda, California.  From 1996 to 1998, Collins was Commander of the Fourteenth Coast Guard District in Honolulu, Hawaii, and from 1994 to 1996, he served as Chief of the Office of Acquisition at Coast Guard Headquarters.

Admiral Collins has completed a variety of other operations and staff assignments since he began his Coast Guard career in 1968.  During his first assignment, he was a deck watch officer and first lieutenant aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant.  He went on to complete a two-year tour as Commanding Officer of the patrol boat, Cape Morgan, in Charleston, South Carolina.  From 1980 to 1983, he served as Deputy Group Commander in St. Petersburg, Florida, and he was Captain of the Port, Long Island Sound from 1987 to 1990.  During his service, Admiral Collins has  received the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Coast Guard Commendation Medal.

A native of Stoughton, Massachusetts, Admiral Collins graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut and served as a faculty member within the Humanities Department from 1972 to 1976.  He earned a Master of Arts degree from Wesleyan University and a M. B. A. from the University of New Haven.

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