New Commander Takes Helm of 11th CG District

Vice Adm. Harvey Johnson, commander of the Coast Guard’s Pacific Area, presided over a change of command ceremony on March 31 at Coast Guard Island in Alameda during which Rear Adm. Kevin J. Eldridge, who retired after 32 years of service, was relieved by Rear Adm. Jody A. Breckenridge.

Eldridge has commanded the 11th District, which includes the states of California, Utah, Arizona, and Nevada — as well as thousands of square miles of coastal and offshore Pacific waters — since it was re-established in July 2003.

During that time the Coast Guard said that the men and women of the 11th District have responded to 9,366 search and rescue cases, saving more than 1,800 lives; inspected 15,148 commercial vessels, and are credited with two consecutive years of record-breaking drug operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean with more than 485,320 pounds of cocaine seized.

Breckenridge reports from the Maintenance & Logistics Command Pacific where she directed logistics and support business lines for the Pacific Theater.

Breckenridge graduated from the Coast Guard Officer Candidate School in 1976. She has a Bachelor of Science in biology from Virginia Tech, a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Maryland, and a Master of Science in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

"I’m very familiar with the accomplishments of the 11th District and with the challenges that lay ahead," Brackenridge said." Much of the difficult work of re-establishing the district command, while also serving as an operational commander, has been done by Rear Adm. Eldridge and his team. I look forward to carrying on the important work he has begun and wish him well as he completes a remarkable Coast Guard career."

The 11th District was disestablished as a separate command and its field operations merged with the Pacific Area command in 1996 during a service-wide reorganization.

It was re-established as a separate command in 2003 to better manage the increased homeland security, law enforcement, search and rescue, environmental protection and other missions within the district's boundaries.