Feb. 11, 2007 — A St. Thomas man in the U.S. Coast Guard has completed school for a navigation system used by military aircraft, according to a Coast Guard news release.
Electronics Technician Third Class Verdel Edmead completed U.S. Navy Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN) Maintenance school in Norfolk, Va. TACAN provides the user with a distance and bearing from a ground station. It is a more accurate version of the VHF omni-directional range-distance measuring equipment (VOR/DME) system that provides range and bearing information for civil aviation.
Edmead received his GED from Charlotte Amalie High School in 1999. In 2005, he received an associate degree in electronics engineering technology from Queensboro Community College in New York.
Then Edmead joined the Coast Guard and completed Electronics "A" school in Petaluma, Calif. While in "A" School, some of the courses he completed were radar systems, various communication and navigation systems and AC circuits, including AC theory, AC test equipment, inductance, capacitance, RC time constants, RCL circuits, and transformers. Students also need to know how to use mathematical equations such as the Pythagorean Theorem, algebra, geometry and trigonometry.
Following the adage, "The older you get the wiser you get," Edmead said, "I am much more mature now and could have had better priorities, goals and alternatives at an earlier age." Realizing things had to turn around, he said, "It became clear education would be the most powerful tool I could have as a goal." His message to younger Virgin Islanders facing similar choices is, "Put education as the number-one priority and do what you have to do now for your own educational goals. Education is power!"
Most recently, Edmead found out there are many more Virgin Islanders serving in the Coast Guard. "There is a network of Virgin Islands women and men, as well as other Caribbean countries, serving proudly in the coast Guard," said Coast Guard Lieutenant Alvin Dalmida Jr. "No pun intended: Edmead was an electron just outside the network, and now adds more dynamics to the group."
Edmead is assigned as an electronic technician aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Seneca out of Boston, Mass. He is the son of Marietta Fleming and Mervin Edmead.
