Coast Guard Master Chief Petty Officer Richard M. Freeman Coast Guard Master Chief Petty Officer Richard M. Freeman, a native of Columbia, S.C., retired from the Coast Guard May 7, 2010, at a ceremony in Jacksonville concluding 30 years of service.

Freeman has served as the command master chief at the Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Squadron in Jacksonville since 2003. In that capacity, Freeman served as the senior enlisted member to a specialized unit trained to forward deploy armed helicopters to high threat drug trafficking and high risk security areas.

Freeman enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1980. Throughout the majority of his career, Freeman has served as a helicopter air crewman. He has been assigned to Coast Guard Air Stations at Cape May, N.J.; Miami, Fla.; Savannah, Ga.; Kodiak, Alaska, Houston; Mobile, Ala.; and HITRON located in Jacksonville.