1. CITATION TO ACCOMPANY THE AWARD OF
THE COAST GUARD ACHIEVEMENT MEDAL
TO
MATTHEW ROBERT ZYTKOWICZ
ELECTRICIANS MATE SECOND CLASS
l UNITED STATES COAST GUARD
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Petty Officer Zytkowicz is cited for superior performance of duty while assigned to USCGC BRISTOL BAY (WTGB 102) from 14
March 1996 to 07 May 1999 while serving as an electricians mate, inport Officer of the Deck and underway Engineering Officer of
the Watch. Displaying exceptional professional competence, his actions helped BRISTOL BAY reduce the potential for groundings
and collisions in the Detroit River and surrounding Great Lakes. During this three year assignment, he played a key role as BRISTOL
BAY serviced over 900 floating aids to navigation and logged over a thousand nautical miles breaking ice, most often in adverse
weather conditions. In December 1998, the late arrival of winter delayed the decommissioning of BRISTOL BAY's seasonal
navigational aids. Overnight temperatures plummeted below freezing forcing BRISTOL BAY to recover its floating aids in
conditions that tested the operating limits of its equipment. Petty Officer Zytkowicz, leading a small team of engineers, used propane
torches and the ship's heaters to thaw deck tools and warm hydraulic lines enabling the successful completion of the buoy
decommissionings. As Engineering Property Custodian, he made significant improvements to the administration of the department's
property records by developing new procedures that simplified the process for tracking departmental equipment and eliminated the
mishandling of incoming and outgoing engineering parts. Displaying a commitment to leadership and teamwork, he served on the
command's morale committee, organized several command sports activities and spent countless hours of his personal time training
junior personnel on shipboard damage control. Petty Officer Zytkowicz's diligence, perseverance, and devotion to duty are most
heartily commended and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.