New chief at Coast Guard Station Depoe Bay

U.S. Coast Guard Officer in Charge Amber Archer began her responsibilities June 7 at Station Depoe Bay. It is the first time for her as a chief officer, but not for serving along the Oregon coast.

“It’s kind of coming home to me,” she said. “While I am not an Oregon native, I’ve served along the Oregon coast over the past 12 years, so it feels like home overall.”

Archer’s in-laws live close by Station Depoe Bay, and her parents live in Tillamook.

Background

Archer comes from Woodland, California, a farming community outside Sacramento, with an agricultural background. She joined the Coast Guard in 2009 and was assigned out of boot camp to a navigation unit at San Francisco. She also took a surfmen training course, a high qualification in the United States Coast Guard for small boat operations. That took her to the Coast Guard Station Tillamook Bay in 2012, where she spent six years. She certified as a surfman in 2015.

In 2018, Archer transferred to Station Coos Bay, where she worked for six years, advancing to operations petty officer and chief surfmen trainer, eventually taking over the executive petty officer position.

Responsibilities and challenges

Archer is responsible overall for the Station Depoe Bay crew.

“That includes our operations, the mission, making sure the crew is trained up to respond,” she said. “The crew is going to do what the crew is trained to do. We are really great at the mission, our training program, and our operations. Our boat crew are trained well. So I oversee the search and rescue side, the advocacy for the crew, and making sure we have what we need to meet the public’s need and to meet my crew’s needs as well.”

Archer said her main challenge at Station Depoe Bay is the Coast Guard’s aging platforms.

“Our 47-foot motor lifeboats have been in service since the early ’90s, and they are going through a life-overhaul,” she said. “So right now we are in the process of reconfiguring our power plants. They are coming out right now. It’s trying to make sure that hopefully we’ll get the new overhauled boats to keep us going.”

Archer’s husband was prior active duty at Coast Guard Station Depoe Bay, which gives her insight into the challenges of operating in a small bay.

“I have a little bit of working knowledge of Depoe,” she said. “It is one of those holes, you don’t really know until you are out there, so being involved there with my crew gives me the real appreciation of the uniqueness and the challenges of it, and the professionalism that is required, skilled-based wise, to operate in the bay. It definitely takes a different skill set.”

Archer and her husband have three boys, ages 15, 4, and 2.