COMMANDING OFFICER
CDR Edward Westfall
Commander Westfall was raised in San Francisco. After completing Basic Training in February 1985, he reported to USCGC RUSH in Alameda, California as a Seaman Apprentice and Departed RUSH in November 1988 as a Quartermaster First Class. His next assignment was as Operations Petty Officer in USCGC SAPELO in Eureka, California. Commander Westfall spent two months in late 1990 deployed as part of a Law Enforcement Team aboard naval units patrolling in the Eastern Pacific offshore Central America. Commander Westfall reported to Coast Guard Group San Francisco in February 1991 where he advanced to Quartermaster Chief.
Commander Westfall attended the June 1991 class of Officer Candidate School. Upon graduation in September 1991, he was assigned as Deck Watch Officer, USCGC IRONWOOD in Kodiak, Alaska. He was next assigned as Executive Officer, USCGC RED CEDAR in Portsmouth, Virginia in June 1993. He was assigned as Fifth Coast Guard District Lighthouse Manager and Assistant Chief of the Waterways Management Section in July 1995. He also served as a member of the deployable liaison team to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the Mid-Atlantic region from July 1996 to January 1998, responding to several hurricanes affecting the region as a key liaison element between federal agencies and their state and local counterparts. Commander Westfall assumed command of the USCGC RED CEDAR in June 1998 and oversaw RED CEDAR’sdecommissioning and transfer to the Argentine Navy in March 1999.
Commander Westfall next served as the first Commanding Officer of the USCGC WILLIAM TATE from September 1999 until August 2001, overseeing WILLIAM TATE’s delivery in Marinette, Wisconsin, transit to her homeport of Philadelphia and formal commissioning in June 2000. Commander Westfall next served as Surface Operations Officer, Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) West, located in Alameda, California from September 2001 to May 2003. Commander Westfall assumed command of USCGC ASPEN in San Francisco in June 2003.
Upon departure from USCGC ASPEN in July 2006, Commander Westfall began training in preparation for assignment as Assistant Coast Guard Attaché in Mexico City; Commander Westfall served in Mexico City from June 2007 to May 2009. While serving in Mexico City, Commander Westfall was a key contributor to the excellent strategic, operational and tactical working relationship between the Mexican Navy and U.S. maritime forces. Commander Westfall received his Bachelor's degree from the State University of New York in 1997 and his Master’s in Public Administration from Rutgers University in 2003. Commander Westfall also completed the Naval War College Command and Staff distance education program in July 2006.
Commander Westfall is a Permanent Cutterman with over fifteen years of Coast Guard sea duty. His awards include two Defense Meritorious Service Medals, three Coast Guard Commendation Medals, Coast Guard Achievement Medal, Commandant's Letter of Commendation, two Coast Guard Good Conduct Medals, and several Joint Meritorious Unit Awards, Unit Commendations, Meritorious Unit Commendations, Special Operations Service Ribbons, and the Basic Training Honor Graduate Award. He also received the Naval Distinction Award from the Secretary of the Mexican Navy.
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