United States Coast Guard Following graduation from the academy, Roland reported aboard
USCGC Shaw to serve as
gunnery officer from 1929 to 1930 and as gunnery officer aboard
USCGC Wilkes in 1930–1931.
Shaw and
Wilkes were a part of the destroyer force home-ported out of
New London, Connecticut, and assigned the
Rum Patrol. Roland was promoted 15 May 1931 to
lieutenant (junior grade) and under his leadership, both cutters won gunnery trophies and he won a commendation for his contribution to the awards. While in this capacity Roland was promoted to
commander. For his meritorious service while commanding
Mackinaw, he was awarded a
Coast Guard Commendation Letter that cited him for icebreaking on an unprecedented scale while keeping shipping lanes open for both military and merchant vessels carrying urgently needed war supplies.
Post-war service In April 1946, Roland moved to
Cleveland, Ohio, as the Chief of Staff and Chief of the Operations Division of the
Ninth Coast Guard District. He served in that capacity until June 1949 when he was named as commanding officer of home-ported in
San Francisco, California. While assigned to
Taney, Roland was promoted to
captain on 5 August 1949. In August 1950 he was transferred to the Coast Guard Academy as commandant of cadets where he served for the next four years. After a year of study at the
National War College, Roland was assigned to Coast Guard Headquarters in the office of Chief of Staff in June 1955.
Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard Dillon Report One of the first responsibilities that Roland undertook as commandant was to implement the recommendations of a staff report on U.S. Coast Guard roles and missions that was ordered by Secretary of the Treasury
C. Douglas Dillon. The U.S. Coast Guard acquired additional responsibilities in March 1963 with an agreement with the Navy relating to icebreaking duties in Arctic and Antarctic research missions. In May 1965 the U.S. Coast Guard acquired the Navy's five icebreakers, but the requirements for additional personnel recruiting to man the icebreakers delayed the actual transfer of the ships. The first icebreaker could not be crewed until July and the last was not transferred until November 1966. On 9 July 1963, Roland received the
Legion of Merit from Secretary Dillon in recognition of his outstanding record in maintaining a military readiness posture "unparalleled in the peacetime history of the Coast Guard".
Vietnam War Roland served as commandant during the time that the
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) requested greater U.S. Navy involvement in interdiction of North Vietnamese troops and equipment into South Vietnam under
Operation Market Time. The Navy did not have the patrol craft that would serve MACV's purposes and they requested assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard. Roland agreed to supply
Point-class cutters and their crews to the operation, fearing that if the U.S. Coast Guard were left out of the
Vietnam War that its standing as an
armed service would be jeopardized. An additional nine Point-class cutters were assigned to Squadron One on 29 October at the request of MACV. The increased operations in Vietnam during Roland's time as commandant included buoy tenders to service Vietnamese aids to navigation. U.S. Coast Guard port security personnel were assigned at MACV's request after a visit to Vietnam by Roland in July 1965. There were additional manning requirements for new
Loran-C radio stations for radio navigation of ships and aircraft. During the time of the Vietnam preparations he also managed the U.S. Coast Guard's response to the
Camarioca boatlift operations in the
Straits of Florida.
Department of Transportation transfer During Roland's tenure as commandant, U.S. President
Lyndon B. Johnson announced the formation of the Department of Transportation and its new role as overseer of all federal transportation related activities. Roland was informed that the U.S. Coast Guard would be one of the agencies transferred to the new department. Although Roland initially opposed the move, Johnson made it clear that he had the executive power to split the U.S. Coast Guard into two separate agencies and move all transportation responsibilities to the Department of Transportation and leave a much smaller U.S. Coast Guard within the Department of the Treasury. Roland withdrew his opposition to the proposed move and asked only that the U.S. Coast Guard not be stripped of its identity as an armed service.
International conferences and civilian honors On 15 January 1965, Roland received Italy's highest award, the Commendatore (Knight Commander) of the
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, for the U.S. Coast Guard's many years of assistance to Centro-Internazionale Radio-Medico, a humanitarian organization which arranges medical first-aid at sea for injured and sick seamen. In March 1966, Roland represented the United States to the Load Line Conference on merchant ships held at London, England. In May he served as a delegate to the Maritime Safety Committee of
International Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO). The committee meeting reviewed merchant ship standards to prevent fires as occurred on board
SS Yarmouth Castle. On 6 November 1965, he received the American Legion Distinguished Service Medal in which he was cited for outstanding contributions in chairing the
Safety of Life at Sea subcommittee of the American Merchant Marine at the
International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), as well as his contributions to IMCO and the establishment and expansion of AMVER to both Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. ==Awards and decorations==