Insure Domestic Tranquility

>> Cmdr K.R. Reinhold: My name is Cmdr K.R. Reinhold, with the United States Coast Guard, I've been on active duty for 21 years, and I'm currently a national security affairs fellow at the Hoover Institution. I never intended to join the military, but as my wife likes to say, people plan and God laughs.

I had graduated from college with an ecology degree, accepted a job at a prestigious Marine Research Center in the Bahamas, and fully expected to continue my career and studies as a marine scientist then 911 happened. Before that tragic day, a military career was something I respected but never seriously considered.

On 911, I remember feeling overwhelmed with emotions, fear, a deep sadness, empathy, pride, but more than anything, a desire to do something for others. I was ready to jump in and help defend the freedoms of my family, friends, and all Americans, freedoms that make the United States of America entirely unique.

I commissioned as an ensign in the Coast Guard in July 2003, from day 1, public service felt special. The Coast Guard saves lives, conducting search and rescue operations, it protects our economic vitality, protecting trade and transportation networks. It safeguards America's borders and ports, conducting patrols and inspections to prevent illegal smuggling, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and potential terror attacks.

I love being a part of these missions on a daily basis, and in 2006, I earned my wings of gold as a naval aviator and became a coast guard helicopter pilot. During my time in the Coast Guard, I came to realize what makes the United States so exceptional, the recognition of the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

But as the preamble to the constitution lays out, those rights are only secured through the active mission to ensure domestic tranquility. Without the assurance of domestic tranquility, reliable peace, and stability at home, our freedoms can only mean so much. As a nation, we thrive as a society from our rule-based liberal order that guarantees our domestic peace and protects our liberty, this is all part of the Coast Guard's ethos.

Every action we take is to not only protect our liberty here at home but to secure and ensure the domestic tranquility we've been able to take for granted for generations. Throughout my career, I have stopped drug runners pushing cocaine into the United States. I have arrested human traffickers with no regard for the lives of the victims they've attempted to smuggle, I have saved the lives of mariners in distress.

I've protected the airspace from intruding aircraft surrounding Washington, DC, and regions where the president of the United States has traveled, it has all been incredibly fulfilling. Service to country, can manifest in various forms, and it doesn't have to be preordained or perfect, what matters is a desire to help where and how one can.

I never planned on serving my country, let alone on becoming a helicopter pilot in the United States Coast Guard. But after the events of September 11, I realized that all the rights and values we hold dear as Americans are nothing unless peace, stability, domestic tranquility are insured here at home.

I wasn't sure how my life would turn out after joining the military, I was willing to give service a shot, and it paid off in spades. Everyone has something to offer, no matter how small or how temporary. As citizens, we can come together and help protect, defend, and ensure the beautiful experiment we call the United States of America.

All it requires is to ask yourself, what can I do to help? Where can I be of service?