Mr. KAPLAN is cited for exceptional achievement and operational skill in his performance of duties as U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Aircraft Commander, Assistant District Flight Safety Officer (ADFSO) and Branch Assistant of Flight Safety (BA-RAS) from October 2020 to September 2022. Demonstrating superior professional competence and commitment, Mr. KAPLAN consistently performed above and beyond expectations to ensure his assigned aviation missions and projects were achieved with excellence, and has made exceptional contributions to Coast Guard Aviation. Demonstrating his commitment to the Auxiliary’s mission, Mr. KAPLAN completed 100 sorties, totaling almost 500 mission hours of flight time in service to the U. S. Coast Guard. He has flown migrant interdiction missions for Air Stations Miami and Key West, located several migrant vessels, many of which were inadequately constructed and at sea in conditions so extreme that Coast Guard boats were unable to make the rescue. After locating vessels with migrants that were in many cases dehydrated and malnourished in severe sea conditions, Mr. KAPLAN remained on station time and time again, and directed Coast Guard boats, cutters and merchant vessels to provide rescue. Working closely with Air Station Miami, Mr. KAPLAN served as the ADFSO for the Auxiliary Squadron and performed with excellence, delivering flight safety training through a monthly virtual meeting and reinforcing the District Seven Flight Safety Program. Additionally, serving as BA-RAS, Mr. KAPLAN has continued to disseminate relevant Flight Safety information to Auxiliary Aviators in other Districts, tirelessly working to enhance the Auxiliary Flight Safety Program. Mr. Kaplan’s dedication, judgment, perseverance and devotion to duty are most heartedly commended and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United Stated Coast Guard and the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.