From Fighting Narcotics to Finance: Meet Lt. Commander Hayley McElroy

CAPE MAY – Lt. Commander Hayley McElroy oversees the operational budget for Training Center Cape May, a mighty sum that finances everything from training to trash cans. At this stage in her career, she is deeply immersed in logistics and numbers, but she remembers a time when she was soaked in the high-stakes world of drug busting on the high seas.  
McElroy grew up far from the ocean in Arizona and joining the Coast Guard at one time seemed like a faraway dream. A good high school friend joined the Merchant Marine Academy, and a sense of adventure, and a lot of hard work, led her to similarly attend the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, right after high school ended.
Graduation from a military academy meant that McElroy joined the Coast Guard as an officer – those who join the service right after high school join the “enlisted” ranks instead – and she was very quickly thrust into intense responsibility at the young age of 21.  
Her first assignment was aboard the 378-foot Morgenthau, a high endurance cutter that was decommissioned in 2017 and is now used by the Vietnam Coast Guard.
 “I was given a lot of responsibility very quickly,” she said. “I came in as a 21-year-old officer who knew basically nothing, and I was overseeing 40-year-olds who have been in the service for decades. It was a lot of learning, a lot of memorization, but the good news was that most of it was fun.”  
Helicopters would land aboard the Morgenthau as part of the Coast Guard’s anti-narcotics mission. These helicopters would locate drug boats – often in the dead of night – and were equipped to shoot out their engines if need be. One of McElroy’s first tasks aboard the Morgenthau was as a Landing Signals Officer using hand signals to guide the helicopter while landing.
Her second ship assignment was aboard the Bertholf, an even larger 418-foot Legend-class maritime security cutter where she served as a weapons officer, an assistant operations officer, and a navigator.
 This mighty vessel was tasked with finding maritime narcotics smugglers. “That’s when I did the adventurous stuff, like counter-narcotics. We would chase boats in the middle of the night,” she said. But those days of high-stakes missions soon came to an end.  
“Very quickly in the Coast Guard you go from one of the people carrying out those missions, to the person who oversees them, to the person who plans them,” she said.  
McElroy spent several years aboard 87-foot patrol boats, first the Albacore and then the Heron. These vessels carried out the most intimate missions of McElroy’s career – they involved a scant 11-person crew who would set sail on week-long expeditions. “Those people become your family,” she said.  
One such family member was Charley, a mini schnauzer who called these vessels home. “My dog came underway with us for two whole years,” she explained. “He was so spoiled – Charley was even the sailor of the semi-annual year one time.” 
These small vessels are tasked with Maritime Law Enforcement – McElroy’s crew would board fishing vessels to inspect their equipment, verify that the fishing catches were within allowed yield and only included allowed species of fish, and to make sure that the boat’s crew was accounted for.  
“Sometimes, people aren’t who they say they are,” she said. “We would check the crew list, verify their IDs, and make sure that nobody aboard was a wanted criminal.”  
These days, most of McElroy’s work takes place in an office. “I won’t ever go back to a ship assignment. I miss it terribly. On one hand it’s sad, but on the other, the work I do now is exciting and interesting in its own way,” she told the Herald.  
She also told the Herald that Cape May County has been a “joy” to live in. She moved to Goshen during the housing market surge. “We bought a fixer-upper that didn’t even have working utilities, and we made it our own,” she said.  
“I love living in Goshen, it’s a wonderful place to raise two small kids. There are free activities and playgrounds everywhere,” she added. Her favorite place to eat is MudHen Brewing Co. in Wildwood. She said that she avoids the beaches due to the intense summer crowds, but vowed to try the spacious Wildwood Crest beaches this summer.