Editor's Note: Click the first image below to view or download the helicopter "hoist cam" footage.  Click the others photos to obtain higher-resolution versions.

This release also serves to correct an earlier release that stated the two teenagers were rescued from an adrift ice floe.  They were, in fact, adrift on a raft that was covered with a duckblind.

RONDEAU BAY, Ontario — An aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Detroit medevacs two teenagers who were adrift in a raft in Rondeau Bay, Feb. 6, 2012. Click the above screen-capture to view or download the video. U.S. Coast Guard video courtesy Air Station Detroit

RONDEAU BAY, Ontario — A Coast Guard rescue helicopter crew conducts an overflight of a raft with a duckblind that is adrift in Rondeau Bay near Shrewsbury, Ontario, Feb. 6, 2012. The overflight was conducted after an earlier mission, in which an Air Station Detroit rescue helicopter crew airlifted two teenagers who were stuck in the raft as it drifted into the bay. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Bret Fogle

RONDEAU BAY, Ontario — A Coast Guard rescue helicopter crew conducts an overflight of a raft with a duckblind (lower left portion of image) that is adrift in Rondeau Bay near Shrewsbury, Ontario, Feb. 6, 2012. The overflight was conducted after an earlier mission, in which an Air Station Detroit rescue helicopter crew airlifted two teenagers who were stuck in the raft as it drifted into the bay. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Bret Fogle

CLEVELAND — The Coast Guard is releasing footage and photos of this morning's rescue of two teenagers who were adrift in Rondeau Bay.

Click here to read an initial news release about the case.

The names of the men are not being released.

"This case is just a perfect example of our bi-national collaboration and cooperation with our Canadian partners," said Capt. Stephen Torpey, chief of response for the 9th Coast Guard District.

"Working together, the Canadian Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard, and Ontario Provincial Police were able to put the right emergency response asset, complete with a crew with the right capabilities, at the scene, which allowed us to successfully reach these boys and get them home."

Although it was previously reported that the men were adrift on an ice floe, it is now understood that they were walking along the shore and climbed onto a raft, which was covered by a duckblind, when the raft suddenly broke free and drifted into the bay.  The raft has since drifted into the loose patch of ice pictured above.

Any questions regarding the incident and any follow-up investigation should be directed to the Chatham-Kent Ontario Provincial Police Detachment and Constable Aaron McPhail at 519-352-1122.

ST. IGNACE, Mich. ― Members of the U.S. Coast Guard, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, oil spill response organizations, Enbridge Energy Partners and several other agencies are scheduled to participate in a unique exercise out of St. Ignace, Mich., Monday through Wednesday, during which several techniques for recovering spilled oil and other hazardous materials from icy waterways will be tested and evaluated.

Click on the image above for a video of crewmembers aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Hollyhock deploying oil-skimming equipment in the Straits of Mackinac, Jan. 24, 2012.

Click here for the original press release regarding the project.

Click here for a photo release, depicting crews preparing the equipment.

Click here for a photo release, depicting crews deploying the equipment.

Media interested in covering similar training at local units are encouraged to contact the Ninth District Public Affairs Office by calling (216) 902-6020.

Photo releases from the training are available here and here.

Below is a blog about the training written by Petty Officer 1st Class John Masson.

For Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class William Phillips, it might have been tempting to simply turn up the thermostat inside Station Oswego, N.Y., and wait for winter to go away.

After all, this is the 28-year-old Tennessean’s first tour in the northern United States, and it’s a lot colder on the Great Lakes than at stations in Galveston, Texas, and Tybee Island, Ga., where he’d previously served.

“I didn’t have very much experience with ice and ice rescue before this,” he said. “I had only gotten out on the ice three or four times.”

Of course, waiting out the weather isn’t really the Coast Guard’s style. So the presence of Phillips and his Station Oswego shipmate, Petty Officer 2nd Class Shaun Wilson, on a frozen Lake Huron for a four-day “train the trainer” course at the Ice Capabilities Center of Excellence wasn’t a complete surprise.

“The school was great. It was fun,” Phillips said. “It actually challenged us, but it definitely challenged us in a positive way. My comfort level has just skyrocketed, as far as what I feel my capabilities are, but looking back to just a couple of years ago I never would have thought I’d be operating on an ice-covered lake with people depending on me.”

Phillips, in his eighth year of service in the Coast Guard, said he looked forward to the challenge of learning ice rescue techniques when he first learned he was heading to the Great Lakes. He added that the Center of Excellence didn’t disappoint him.

The course began with classroom training inside the station, in Essexville, Mich. First up was terminology, then drilling on some of the movements required of teams taking part in coordinated ice rescues. Then it was on to personal protective equipment and what that gear would and would not do to protect the people using it.

“Then it was time for hands-on experience – actually getting out on the ice and getting comfortable with it,” Phillips said.

The on-ice work included training in teams around a 40-by-20-foot gash carved into the ice of Saginaw Bay. The four-student teams spread out on the ice around the hole, with instructors evaluating their performance at each position. Later, participants would be evaluated in the trainer’s role, since the goal of the course is minting new trainers to take the latest information back to their stations.

In Phillips’ case, that means a station with an area of responsibility that includes the very different conditions on Lake Ontario, some of New York state’s Finger Lakes and the navigable waters of New York’s canal system.

It’s an area Phillips said he’s glad to be serving.

“Actually, it’s beautiful,” he said. “Upstate New York is nothing like I imagined. You hear the words ‘New York,’ and you picture something completely different.”

Now that he’s back at the station, Phillips is eager to organize some training for his fellow Coast Guardsmen at the station who share search-and-rescue responsibilities.

“Oh, absolutely, I want to get down to one of the lakes and run some good scenario-based stuff, work with the guys to tell them about the changes that have been made [to ice rescue techniques],” Phillips said. “They’ve all got to be ice qualified, and there’s only a handful of us who have actually been to the school. We’re the ones that went this year, so we’re the ones that are able to pass the information on.”

Emergency workers from other area agencies can benefit too.

“They do encourage us to work with other local agencies and teach them what we know,” Phillips said of the Coast Guard training staff at the Ice Capabilities Center of Excellence. “Some of the skills that we’ve learned, about being safe on the ice, can be passed on. It will help make others more aware of how to survive out there.”

CLEVELAND — The Coast Guard is releasing footage this evening from a response that resulted in the rescue of four duckhunters who were stranded on the east breakwall of Ashtabula Harbor near Ashtabula, Ohio, Saturday morning.

Click here to read the initial news release, which includes still photos.

The names of the four men are not being released.  However, it was learned that three, ages 35, 38 and 41, are from Montville, Ohio, and the fourth is a 34-year-old Rome, Ohio, man.

Editor's Note: The below thumbnail will open the movie in .MOV file format.  To see the video in .WMV format, click here.