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01/29/2003 Entry: "CG Deployments"
I don't have a link to this article yet...but I ask that prayers be lifted up to seal these forces with His protection...
PORTSMOUTH -- For the first time since the Vietnam War, the Coast Guard will send a large force of ships overseas as part of the U.S. military buildup for a possible war with Iraq.
The Coast Guard is expected to deploy eight of its 110-foot cutters and more than 600 personnel to the Persian Gulf region, where they are expected to conduct surveillance and provide force protection for U.S. ships and troops.
The patrol boats, the first of which were quietly brought to Hampton Roads just before Thanksgiving, are being loaded aboard a Military Sealift Command cargo ship in Norfolk to be ``piggy-backed'' to the Persian Gulf. Their crews, which have been undergoing training here, will be flown to the region.
Vice Adm. James Hull, who heads the Atlantic Area Command from his headquarters in Portsmouth, is expected to formally announce the deployments at a news conference today.
``This isn't an aircraft carrier battle group, but it is significant,'' Hull said. ``We can't send everything overseas, but we think this is a reasonable balance.''
Though they answer to the headquarters in Portsmouth, none of the eight cutters are based in Hampton Roads. Some of the personnel deploying are from the region.
The deploying patrol boats are the Aquidneck, from Atlantic Beach, N.C.; the Wrangell, from South Portland, Maine; the Adak and Bainbridge Island, both from Sandy Hook, N.J.; the Baranof, from Miami; the Grande Isle, from Boston; and the Knight Island and Pea Island, both from Fort Myers, Fla.
Approximately 400 Coast Guard men and women are assigned to the cutters. The crews, along with operations and support personnel from 20 other commands, have been training in Hampton Roads for the past several weeks to prepare for deployment. Some of the personnel are from Yorktown- and Miami-based Tactical Law Enforcement Teams.
Another 200 Coast Guard reservists from Port Security Unit 305, based in Yorktown, and PSU 309, based in Cleveland, Ohio, also have received orders to deploy. PSUs are a component of the Naval Warfare Command, which provides waterborne and land-based protection for shipping and port facilities in support of U.S. and allied naval forces throughout the world.
Coast Guard members assigned to the Navy's Harbor Defense Command Unit 206, based in Jacksonville, Fla., also received orders to deploy.
Specific dates of departure, duration and destination are not being disclosed.
Additional reserve forces are being activated to help with a variety of port security missions within the United States.
``We have been a part of every conflict America has had,'' Hull said. ``In some respects the jobs of the Coast Guard today are more akin to those of the Second World War than the last Persian Gulf War . . . due to the fact we were worried about infiltrators and saboteurs then.
``Today they are terrorists.''
The 110-foot cutters are larger than the patrol boats in Hampton Roads, where the Coast Guard uses 87-footers for the more shallow Chesapeake Bay. The Coast Guard operates 49 of the 110-footers nationwide, primarily to conduct search and rescue, port security, anti-terrorism, force protection, maritime boarding and interdiction duties.
``We bring maneuverability, speed and a shallow draft,'' said Lt. Chris Barrows, commanding officer of the Maine-based Wrangell. ``And we bring expertise in boardings that we've done on a daily basis, plus law enforcement experience they can count on.''
The regular 16-member crews on each ship are being expanded to 22 members to include additional tactical law enforcement team members, some of whom come from the Coast Guard Training Center in Yorktown.
The Coast Guard last sent several cutters overseas during the Vietnam War, when about 30 were used for coastal patrols, officials said. They were eventually turned over to the Vietnamese and stayed in Vietnam.
This is the first time the Coast Guard has sent its ships overseas in a cargo vessel. It saves wear and tear on the steel ships, all of which were built in the 1980s.
The crews have spent most of the past two months at the Coast Guard's Integrated Support Command in Portsmouth, adjacent to Craney Island on the Elizabeth River. There, the ships are emptied of fuels and are partially mothballed for their monthlong journey overseas. They will be set into steel cradles, towed to a cargo ship and moved aboard.
``We've had a pretty busy schedule the past couple of months, getting training, medical and getting shots,'' said Petty Officer 3rd Class Adam Hamilton.
Seaman Arin Whitemountain, 20, a member of the Wrangell's crew, said the Navy has been giving the crews refresher courses in damage control, firefighting and chemical, biological and radiological protection.
``The big new one for us was CBR training, which has been great,'' Whitemountain said. ``They can't stress enough how important it is for us to learn it.''
Lt. Sean MacKenzie of New York commands the Adak, which was among the first Coast Guard ships summoned into New York harbor in the moments after the terrorists attacks on Sept. 11. At the time, everyone wondered about how the war on terrorism would play out, MacKenzie said.
``Now that we have been called up, we're looking forward to going over, doing a good job, making our contribution to their effort, then coming home,'' he said.
The Coast Guard has sent small port security units to the Persian Gulf region and likely will do so again. Earlier this month, it sent over the Boutwell, a 378-foot high-endurance cutter, from its homeport in Alameda, Calif.
My dh is not involved personally in any of the latest deployments--but we do know several people who have been effected by this. My only concern at this point is having this information made so public seems to somehow advertise that alot of our "homeland" security forces are not near the "homeland"....eh...
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