heartcross

http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/r...7-DADF5F5F301B

Gulf Security Duty Keeps Cutter Crews On Toes


By ROBERT A. HAMILTON
Day Staff Writer, Navy/Defense/Electric Boat
Published on 10/16/2005

As the captain of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Monomoy, with the only mixed-gender Coast Guard crew in the Persian Gulf, Lt. Adam A. Chamie of Deep River has had to deal with a culture that isn't accustomed to women doing security work, but that often works to his advantage.

“Initially they're taken by surprise,” Chamie said. “But then they get curious and start asking questions, and before long the fishermen are in a trance because it's not something they see very often. They're so interested in talking to them, maybe we get a little more information than we normally would.”

Lt. Clayton R. Beal of North Stonington did two tours in the Gulf before the war, but as a boatswain's mate. He earned a commission in 1999 and was doing a teaching tour at the Officer Candidate School last spring when he was picked for command of the cutter Maui in the Gulf.

Because of his experience, he was picked to return to the states to advise the people who do predeployment training for the cutter crews.

“Even though I've been over here before, it's still a very new mission for us,” Beal said. “We talked a lot about where we'd be going and what we'd be doing, but it would be good to have more information on the day-to-day operations.”

The Maui and the Monomoy are doing security work in the Gulf, mostly protecting the al-Basrah and Khawr al-Amaya oil platforms, which together provide about 90 percent of all Iraqi income at this time.

It's the area where the Coast Guard lost its first sailor in combat since Vietnam — Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan B. Bruckenthal, 24, of Smithtown, N.Y., was killed in April 2004 when insurgents attacked the oil platforms with an explosives-filled fishing dhow.

At the height of operations related to Operation Iraqi Freedom, there were 1,250 Coast Guard personnel deployed to the Gulf, including about 500 reservists. The Coast Guard fleet there included two large cutters, a buoy tender, eight patrol boats, four port security units, law enforcement detachments and support staff to the Central and European commands.

Today there are six 110-foot, 154-ton Island-class cutters like the Maui and Monomoy in the Gulf, as well as four Navy patrol craft, which are slightly larger.

On a typical day, Beal rises at about 5 a.m., and doesn't get to bed until almost midnight. If there's any spare time, he tries to work in some training — within a six-week period around the time he arrived last May, the entire crew turned over, so everyone could use the experience — but the schedule is often too jammed to accommodate it.

“It's nice to finally get in port, because that's usually the only time I get any sleep,” Beal said.

Chamie said when he applied to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1992, a posting in the Persian Gulf was the last assignment he expected. It's also been a bit unnerving for his family, because his sister, Emily, spent last year in Baghdad as an Army captain.

“The time seems to go pretty fast out here, which is surprising, because we work pretty much around the clock,” Chamie said. He said during a typical night, he never gets more than about 45 minutes sleep before his crew will awaken him to report some development.

“Things can get a little routine, so you have to constantly fight complacency, but I think we're doing a pretty good job of making sure we don't fall into that trap,” Chamie said. “You never know which day it might be that some group tries to make an attack, and we have to be ready for it.”

So far, he said, the Monomoy has managed to keep fishing vessels outside of the security zone around the platforms and has escorted vessels through dangerous areas. They can signal vessels to steer clear with everything from a loudspeaker that can broadcast warnings in Farsi to a deck gun they can use to fire warning shots.

“We've used all of those on occasion, but we've never had to resort to destructive fire,” Chamie said. “And if we never have to, that's good. I'd like to do my whole tour here without resorting to destructive fire.”