Lee Brittle

Lee Brittle (Col ’97) is the U.S. Coast Guard’s International Ice Patrol’s Enlisted Person of the Year for 2009. Marine Science Technician First Class Petty Officer Brittle was instrumental in the completion of IIP’s 2009 Ice Season. The Ice Patrol monitors the iceberg danger near the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and provides warnings to mariners to eliminate the risk of iceberg collision in the North Atlantic Ocean. He coordinated and executed two historic aerial deployments of World Ocean Circulation Experiment drifting buoys, including the first deployment from a USCG HC-130J airframe and the first deployment in the Arctic Ocean. Petty Officer Brittle ensured a successful deployment by personnel who were unfamiliar with the deployment procedures in a high profile environment with the Commandant of the Coast Guard and the Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on board the aircraft.