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Immediately following graduation and her commissioning as Ensign, she was assigned to a 210’ cutter, RESOLUTE, operating in the Pacific. During one of her first patrols, Martha served as the cutter’s Public Affairs Officer during the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. A year and a half later, she served as an Executive Officer and boarding officer aboard a 110' patrol boat, PADRE, patrolling the Caribbean and southern Atlantic Ocean. This assignment was followed by a tour as the Assistant Operations Officer for Coast Guard Group Key West where she helped coordinate a massive response of Coast Guard ships, aircraft and personnel to rescue thousands of Cubans and Haitians fleeing their countries on anything that could float. Later, Martha was selected to be the District 13 Public Affairs in Seattle. Here she dealt with a myriad of issues of public, media and congressional interest including the Coast Guard’s first loss of life aboard a 44-foot motor lifeboat, oil spills, tribal whaling, law enforcement and rescue cases of regional and international concern. It was during this assignment that she learned of and was inspired by a rescue swimmer who risked his life to save a stranger in an Oregon cave. The swimmer, Tristan Heaton, was a true American hero. Years later, Martha would contact Tristan and other rescue swimmers to ask if they would share their soulful stories with her to help inspire others, promote the extraordinary efforts of the pilots and aircrews and preserve their history.
Martha was awarded numerous medals for her leadership and performance. For her direction and production of the suicide prevention training video used by the Coast Guard and subsequently the Department of Defense she received her second Commendation Medal.
After hours, Martha interned as a reporter for NBC's KING-TV in Seattle and completed the University of Washington Film and Video Program. She provided edits for feature film scripts featuring the Coast Guard and acted as field producer and editor for many television segments and documentaries, which featured the Coast Guard including Dateline NBC and Discovery Channel.
In 1999, Martha LaGuardia took a reserve commission and became a Public Relations Director for a technology public relations firm in Manhattan. She was recognized for leading her IBM team to develop one of IBM’s "top five news stories in its history" and successfully landed client’s placements in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and numerous trade and business magazines.
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