ALAMEDA, Calif. — A Coast Guardsman retired after 30 years of service as the chief of staff for the 11th Coast Guard District during a retirement ceremony on Coast Guard Island in Alameda Friday.
Capt. Kelly L. Hatfield served as the chief of staff for the 11th District since June 2013. His wife, the former Amber Ashenfelter, a native of North Bend, Oregon, and a graduate of Oregon State University, accompanied Hatfield at the ceremony with their daughters Kelsy, Brianna, Jenna and Ashley.
Most recently, Hatfield served as the chief of response for the 11th District from 2012 to 2013, where he was responsible for the missions of search and rescue, law enforcement, Ports, Waterways and Coastal Security, marine environmental response and intelligence operations across 3.3 million square miles of coastal and offshore waters extending 1,150 miles offshore from the northern California border south to the Colombian and Ecuador border in South America.
A career cutterman, Hatfield previously served as the commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Waesche, homeported in Alameda, and as the executive officer as part of the commissioning crew and plankowner of the Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf. Additional tours aboard cutters include the Coast Guard Cutters Alex Haley, Alert, Resolute and Midgett.
Hatfield's staff assignments while ashore include serving as the Chief, Pacific Area Response, and Chief, Pacific Area Maritime Patrol Forces Management and Allocation in Alameda; Coast Guard Liaison Officer to the Joint Intelligence Center Pacific in Honolulu; Assistant facilities manager at Support Center Kodiak, Alaska; and as the Law Enforcement Detachment Program Manager on the Operations, Law Enforcement and Intelligence staff for the 7th Coast Guard District in Miami.
Hatfield is a 1985 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, earning a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. He subsequently earned a master's degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the College of Naval Command and Staff, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, in 1999.
Hatfield received the Legion of Merit at the retirement ceremony, including during his 30-year career the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, five Coast Guard Meritorious Service Medals, two Coast Guard Commendation Medals, two Coast Guard Achievement Medals, a permanent Cutterman's Insignia and numerous other operational and unit awards.
He will reside in Novato, California, with his wife and four daughters.