07.18.2026
« Return to NewsThe Top 10 Is Back: CGMA Revives Coast Guard Video Tradition for Service’s 236th Birthday
By Donnie Brzuska, CGMA
At the bottom of the world, the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star cut a seven-mile path through Antarctic ice so fuel and cargo could reach McMurdo Station.
On the Rio Grande, Coast Guard crews pushed shallow-water boats through shifting currents and tight turns.
In the Eastern Pacific, Coast Guard Cutter Stone helped set a service record after 15 drug interdictions during a single patrol.
And 65 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, an Air Station Elizabeth City helicopter crew rescued two people, a frantic dog, and a cat that appeared almost insulted by the inconvenience.
Those moments, and others like them, will help mark the Coast Guard’s 236th birthday as Coast Guard Mutual Assistance brings back a familiar tradition: the Coast Guard Top 10 Video of the Year competition.
For nearly a decade, the Coast Guard’s Top 10 and Video of the Year campaign gave the public a front-row seat to the service’s work around the world. The videos showed rescues in breaking surf, drug interdictions far offshore, heavy-weather boat crews, aviation teams, cutter crews, and the split-second judgment that rarely fits neatly into a press release.
Now, after nearly 10 years away, the countdown returns.
The videos were selected from operations, rescues, patrols, and training missions captured between Coast Guard Day 2025 and Coast Guard Day 2026. Together, they form a year-in-review look at the service’s most compelling moments.
CGMA will release one video each weekday as the countdown moves from number 10 to number one. Voting begins with the release of the first video on July 20. Viewers can vote for their favorites by liking, commenting, and sharing the videos across CGMA’s social media channels. The video with the highest engagement will be named the People’s Choice winner after Coast Guard Day.
“The men and women of the Coast Guard write new chapters in our history every day,” said Capt. Timm Balunis, Chief of Coast Guard Public Affairs. “These videos are a powerful medium to tell those stories. This competition showcases the crews who launch in the storm, stand the watch, throttle up, go over the rail, work the hoist, and answer the call when others need help. We are grateful to CGMA for celebrating these missions, elevating the people behind them, and inviting the public to see what the Coast Guard does every day.”
Each video also gives viewers a way to help the Coast Guard families behind the missions. CGMA is the official relief society of the U.S. Coast Guard and provides grants, interest-free loans, and emergency assistance to Coast Guard members and families facing financial hardship.
A year in 10 Coast Guard moments
This year’s Top 10 stretches from Antarctica to the Eastern Pacific, from the Columbia River Bar to the Rio Grande, and from high-speed counter-drug missions to one very memorable pet rescue.
One entry follows the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star during Operation Deep Freeze 2026. The cutter spent 55 days below the Antarctic Circle, opened a seven-mile channel through fast ice, escorted the fuel tanker Stena Polaris toward McMurdo Station, and helped free the Australian-owned cruise ship Scenic Eclipse II after it became trapped in pack ice near Antarctica.
The rescue came during Polar Star’s 50th year of service. For one of the Coast Guard’s oldest cutters, it was another reminder that age has not made the ship any less essential.
Another entry highlights Cutter Stone and Operation Pacific Viper. The Eastern Pacific, one Stone crew member explained, is “a massive area that only a limited amount of assets can target.”
During the patrol, Cutter Stone conducted 15 interdictions and offloaded about 49,010 pounds of illicit narcotics worth more than $362 million. The patrol marked the most cocaine seized by a single cutter during one patrol in Coast Guard history.
“The men and women of the Coast Guard write new chapters in our history every day.”
Capt. Timm Balunis, Chief of Coast Guard Public Affairs
HITRON, the Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, brings another milestone to the countdown. Known by its motto, “Force From Above,” the Jacksonville-based unit completed its 1,000th interdiction in 2025.
Its video shows a side of the Coast Guard many Americans never see: rotor wash, flight-deck preparation, precision aircrew coordination, and airborne use-of-force capability far from shore.
Some entries are about speed. Others are about endurance. A few are about the hard-earned skill that only comes from training in places where mistakes are not easily forgiven.
At the National Motor Lifeboat School near Cape Disappointment, Washington, students train in waters known as the Graveyard of the Pacific. The 47-foot motor lifeboat can operate in 20-foot breaking surf and 50-knot winds. If it rolls, it is built to right itself, but the story is not really the boat.
It is the Surfmen who learn to read waves, square up, run for the shoulder, and keep a cool hand on the throttle when the ocean is trying to make every decision for them.
At Advanced Helicopter Rescue School in Astoria, Oregon, Coast Guard aircrews train in heavy surf, cliff faces, caves, urban rescue environments, and inland search-and-rescue scenarios. One line from the school’s video explains the point of it all: the first time crews see those conditions should not be on a real case.
The school gives aviators and rescue swimmers a place to learn, fail, adjust, and try again before someone’s life depends on getting it right.
On the Rio Grande, Operation River Wall shows another side of the service: high-speed boats, shallow water, night patrols, specialized forces, and a federal waterway mission far from the open ocean. The video follows crews adapting Coast Guard maritime law enforcement skills to a river where depth, current, and threat conditions can change quickly.
And then there is the cat.
The Cape Hatteras rescue has all the makings of a classic Coast Guard case: a disabled sailboat, worsening seas, an emergency beacon, an Air Station Elizabeth City helicopter crew, and a rescue swimmer entering the water.
But the passenger list made is what made it unforgettable.
Two people. A dog wearing flotation. And a cat placed in a dry bag before being hoisted to safety.
The dog was thrilled. The cat was not impressed. Everyone made it home dry and safe before New Year’s.
The people behind the videos
For CGMA, the countdown is about more than picking a winner.
It is a way to show the public what Coast Guard life asks of its people. Behind every rescue, interdiction, patrol, deployment, and late-night launch are service members and families carrying the strain of the mission long after the video ends.
“These videos show the Coast Guard at its best: brave, skilled, adaptable, and always ready,” said Brooke Millard, Chief Executive Officer of Coast Guard Mutual Assistance. “But they also give us a chance to talk about the people behind the mission. Coast Guard members respond in the hardest conditions, often far from home, while their families carry their own burdens in the background. CGMA exists to help make sure a short-term financial challenge does not become a long-term crisis for those who serve. Through this campaign, we hope Americans see not only what the Coast Guard does, but what Coast Guard families give every day.”
That is the thread running through the countdown.
The icebreaker in Antarctica is not just a ship in the ice. It is a crew spending weeks below the Antarctic Circle to keep a national mission moving.
The helicopter over Cape Hatteras is not just a dramatic rescue platform. It is a team trained to bring people, and occasionally their pets, home alive.
The Surfman in the Columbia River Bar is not just driving a boat. He or she is carrying forward a line of lifesavers that reaches back to the U.S. Life-Saving Service.
The boarding team in the Eastern Pacific is not just seizing contraband. It is helping keep dangerous drugs from reaching communities back home.
The Top 10 is back because these stories are worth seeing.
They are worth voting on, arguing over, sharing with shipmates, and sending to family members who may know the Coast Guard exists, but may not know how far its missions reach.
This year, the Coast Guard community gets to decide which moment rises to the top.
Voting begins with the release of the first video on July 21.
How to vote
Watch each video as it is released on CGMA’s social media channels. Vote for your favorite by liking, commenting, sharing, or donating. The video with the highest engagement will be named the People’s Choice winner.
Eligible videos were selected from publicly released Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security and Department of War footage captured between Coast Guard Day 2025 and Coast Guard Day 2026 in honor of the Coast Guard’s 236th birthday.
Support Coast Guard families
CGMA provides financial assistance to Coast Guard members and families through grants, interest-free loans, and emergency support. As you watch the countdown, consider making a gift to support the Coast Guard community. Every dollar donated to a video in the competition is worth five votes.
Vote. Share. Give. Help celebrate the Coast Guard’s 236th birthday and stand with the families behind the mission.
The Top 10 Is Back: CGMA Revives Coast Guard Video Tradition for Service’s 236th Birthday
By Donnie Brzuska, CGMA
At the bottom of the world, the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star cut a seven-mile path through Antarctic ice so fuel and cargo could reach McMurdo Station.
On the Rio Grande, Coast Guard crews pushed shallow-water boats through shifting currents and tight turns.
In the Eastern Pacific, Coast Guard Cutter Stone helped set a service record after 15 drug interdictions during a single patrol.
And 65 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, an Air Station Elizabeth City helicopter crew rescued two people, a frantic dog, and a cat that appeared almost insulted by the inconvenience.
Those moments, and others like them, will help mark the Coast Guard’s 236th birthday as Coast Guard Mutual Assistance brings back a familiar tradition: the Coast Guard Top 10 Video of the Year competition.
For nearly a decade, the Coast Guard’s Top 10 and Video of the Year campaign gave the public a front-row seat to the service’s work around the world. The videos showed rescues in breaking surf, drug interdictions far offshore, heavy-weather boat crews, aviation teams, cutter crews, and the split-second judgment that rarely fits neatly into a press release.
Now, after nearly 10 years away, the countdown returns.
The videos were selected from operations, rescues, patrols, and training missions captured between Coast Guard Day 2025 and Coast Guard Day 2026. Together, they form a year-in-review look at the service’s most compelling moments.
CGMA will release one video each weekday as the countdown moves from number 10 to number one. Voting begins with the release of the first video on July 20. Viewers can vote for their favorites by liking, commenting, and sharing the videos across CGMA’s social media channels. The video with the highest engagement will be named the People’s Choice winner after Coast Guard Day.
“The men and women of the Coast Guard write new chapters in our history every day,” said Capt. Timm Balunis, Chief of Coast Guard Public Affairs. “These videos are a powerful medium to tell those stories. This competition showcases the crews who launch in the storm, stand the watch, throttle up, go over the rail, work the hoist, and answer the call when others need help. We are grateful to CGMA for celebrating these missions, elevating the people behind them, and inviting the public to see what the Coast Guard does every day.”
Each video also gives viewers a way to help the Coast Guard families behind the missions. CGMA is the official relief society of the U.S. Coast Guard and provides grants, interest-free loans, and emergency assistance to Coast Guard members and families facing financial hardship.
A year in 10 Coast Guard moments
This year’s Top 10 stretches from Antarctica to the Eastern Pacific, from the Columbia River Bar to the Rio Grande, and from high-speed counter-drug missions to one very memorable pet rescue.
One entry follows the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star during Operation Deep Freeze 2026. The cutter spent 55 days below the Antarctic Circle, opened a seven-mile channel through fast ice, escorted the fuel tanker Stena Polaris toward McMurdo Station, and helped free the Australian-owned cruise ship Scenic Eclipse II after it became trapped in pack ice near Antarctica.
The rescue came during Polar Star’s 50th year of service. For one of the Coast Guard’s oldest cutters, it was another reminder that age has not made the ship any less essential.
Another entry highlights Cutter Stone and Operation Pacific Viper. The Eastern Pacific, one Stone crew member explained, is “a massive area that only a limited amount of assets can target.”
During the patrol, Cutter Stone conducted 15 interdictions and offloaded about 49,010 pounds of illicit narcotics worth more than $362 million. The patrol marked the most cocaine seized by a single cutter during one patrol in Coast Guard history.
HITRON, the Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, brings another milestone to the countdown. Known by its motto, “Force From Above,” the Jacksonville-based unit completed its 1,000th interdiction in 2025.
Its video shows a side of the Coast Guard many Americans never see: rotor wash, flight-deck preparation, precision aircrew coordination, and airborne use-of-force capability far from shore.
Some entries are about speed. Others are about endurance. A few are about the hard-earned skill that only comes from training in places where mistakes are not easily forgiven.
At the National Motor Lifeboat School near Cape Disappointment, Washington, students train in waters known as the Graveyard of the Pacific. The 47-foot motor lifeboat can operate in 20-foot breaking surf and 50-knot winds. If it rolls, it is built to right itself, but the story is not really the boat.
It is the Surfmen who learn to read waves, square up, run for the shoulder, and keep a cool hand on the throttle when the ocean is trying to make every decision for them.
At Advanced Helicopter Rescue School in Astoria, Oregon, Coast Guard aircrews train in heavy surf, cliff faces, caves, urban rescue environments, and inland search-and-rescue scenarios. One line from the school’s video explains the point of it all: the first time crews see those conditions should not be on a real case.
The school gives aviators and rescue swimmers a place to learn, fail, adjust, and try again before someone’s life depends on getting it right.
On the Rio Grande, Operation River Wall shows another side of the service: high-speed boats, shallow water, night patrols, specialized forces, and a federal waterway mission far from the open ocean. The video follows crews adapting Coast Guard maritime law enforcement skills to a river where depth, current, and threat conditions can change quickly.
And then there is the cat.
The Cape Hatteras rescue has all the makings of a classic Coast Guard case: a disabled sailboat, worsening seas, an emergency beacon, an Air Station Elizabeth City helicopter crew, and a rescue swimmer entering the water.
But the passenger list made is what made it unforgettable.
Two people. A dog wearing flotation. And a cat placed in a dry bag before being hoisted to safety.
The dog was thrilled. The cat was not impressed. Everyone made it home dry and safe before New Year’s.
The people behind the videos
For CGMA, the countdown is about more than picking a winner.
It is a way to show the public what Coast Guard life asks of its people. Behind every rescue, interdiction, patrol, deployment, and late-night launch are service members and families carrying the strain of the mission long after the video ends.
“These videos show the Coast Guard at its best: brave, skilled, adaptable, and always ready,” said Brooke Millard, Chief Executive Officer of Coast Guard Mutual Assistance. “But they also give us a chance to talk about the people behind the mission. Coast Guard members work in demanding conditions, often far from home, while their families carry their own burdens in the background. CGMA exists to help make sure short-term financial challenges do not become long-term hardships for those who serve. Through this campaign, we hope Americans see not only what the Coast Guard does, but what Coast Guard families sacrifice every day.”
That is the thread running through the countdown.
The icebreaker in Antarctica is not just a ship in the ice. It is a crew spending weeks below the Antarctic Circle to keep a national mission moving.
The helicopter over Cape Hatteras is not just a dramatic rescue platform. It is a team trained to bring people, and occasionally their pets, home alive.
The Surfman in the Columbia River Bar is not just driving a boat. He or she is carrying forward a line of lifesavers that reaches back to the U.S. Life-Saving Service.
The boarding team in the Eastern Pacific is not just seizing contraband. It is helping keep dangerous drugs from reaching communities back home.
The Top 10 is back because these stories are worth seeing.
They are worth voting on, arguing over, sharing with shipmates, and sending to family members who may know the Coast Guard exists, but may not know how far its missions reach.
Voting begins with the release of the first video on July 21.
This year, the Coast Guard community gets to decide which moment rises to the top.
How to vote
Watch each video as it is released on CGMA’s social media channels. Vote for your favorite by liking, commenting, sharing, or donating. The video with the highest engagement will be named the People’s Choice winner.
Eligible videos were selected from publicly released Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security and Department of War footage captured between Coast Guard Day 2025 and Coast Guard Day 2026 in honor of the Coast Guard’s 236th birthday.
Support Coast Guard families
CGMA provides financial assistance to Coast Guard members and families through grants, interest-free loans, and emergency support. As you watch the countdown, consider making a gift to support the Coast Guard community. Every dollar donated to a video in the competition is worth five votes.
Vote. Share. Give. Help celebrate the Coast Guard’s 236th birthday and stand with the families behind the mission.
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[BR1]@Donnie Brzuska the CGMA Top 10 Campaign Sizzle Real says video starts July 21 @ last frame