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Dan McIntyre has been a Coast Guard Auxiliarist since 2008. He is a veteran who served in the Coast Guard Reserve for 42 years, retiring in 2000 with the rank of Chief Warrant Officer, CW04. Dan was recalled to active duty in 2002 and served for another 2 1/2 years as a Performance Excellence Consultant at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. He has had an exemplary record of service with the Auxiliary and has earned numerous awards and promotions as he has moved up the ranks. He was finally allowed to really retire in 2005.

In 2015 Dan found his calling when he became fully engaged in the area of Recreational Boating Safety Public Education. Motivated by the increasing number of drowning fatalities among children in Florida each year, he decided to seek a solution. He researched child water-related accidents and statistics and consulted with other Coast Guard Auxiliary and organizations. He finally adapted a syllabus that had been shared by Auxiliary Flotilla 14-1. Dan then envisioned teaching children how to be safe in the water, around boats and how to respond to water emergencies. His goal was to grow more responsible boating adults by developing a simple, yet impactful course that would instill basic water safety concepts in 9-year old students. That spring, Dan partnered with the Brevard County School Board to deliver a unique course to third grade elementary school students entitled "Boats N ' Kids”.'

Since that humble beginning, the Brevard Schools have asked Dan to return every year with class sizes averaging 15 to 30 students. From 2015 to 2018, he served over 2,300 volunteer hours as a Recreational Boating Safety instructor or facilitator. Dan's work has resulted in the delivery of 120 “Boats N ' Kids” classes at 31 Brevard County schools that have produced 1,959 third-grade graduates. Dan achieved this level of success while also delivering a full schedule of adult and youth “About Boating Safely” classes. During that same period, he taught or facilitated 52 adult classes at 14 schools resulting in the graduation of 619 adult, and 1,533 youth graduates under the age of 17.

As a result of Dan’s dedication and hard work, the “Boats' N Kids” class safety initiative has become a 7th Coast Guard Auxiliary District priority after the 2019 Nationa l Executive Board Meeting. Dan is planning for implementation of a new program with instructor activities designed for 6 to 11-year old in groups. The program will focus on life jackets, dockside safety, boating safety, environmental stewardship, and basic emergencies, designed to be taught with a team of two or more instructors. In his current position as Assistant District Staff Officer for Public Education, Dan has embarked on an ambitious plan to export this class beyond Brevard to encompass schools throughout the Auxiliary 7th District Area of Responsibility which includes Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.