CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Coast Guard Capt. Samuel Creech relieved Capt. John Pasch as commanding officer of Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi during a change of command ceremony, Friday.

Creech was previously stationed at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. with the United States Northern Command, J3 Directorate, Domestic Operations, where he coordinated security and disaster response operations throughout Northern Command’s area of responsibility.

A change of command ceremony is a time honored tradition, which formally restates to the officers and crew of a unit, the continuity and authority of command and is unique in the world today. It involves the total transfer of responsibility, authority and accountability from one individual to another.

Upon relief, Pasch will retire from the Coast Guard and plans to reside in Corpus Christi.

Rear Adm. Roy Nash, commander of the Eighth Coast Guard District, presided over the ceremony.

Coast Guard Air Detachment Corpus Christi was established Nov. 20, 1950, and was later re-designated Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi. Following extensive personnel and equipment changes in the operations department, Group Corpus Christi became fully operational on October 15, 1980.

Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi was commissioned in May of 2005 by joining all the units within the area of Port Lavaca to Brownsville under one unified command. The purpose of combining all the Coast Guard units into one Sector/Air Station was to better manage the sweeping changes affecting the Coast Guard since September 11, 2001

Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi personnel annually conduct more than 450 search and rescue cases; assist 591 people in distress; save 83 lives; save $3 million in property; seize over 5,500 pounds of drugs and 22 small craft conducting smuggling and illegal fishing; interdict and detain over 130 illegal immigrants; maintain 1,300 aids to navigation; manage the safe arrival of 2,700 commercial vessels; conduct 900 facility visits; investigate 230 marinerelated incidents; perform 375 vessel inspections; and provide support for 37 Coast Guard cutters and boats in the Atlantic Area fleet.