https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQVKmqqk-TQ The national security cutter Stratton made history last month when it intercepted a South American narco-submarine packed with more than 12,000 pounds of cocaine, the service’s biggest bust to date. On Monday the crew stopped in San Diego to offload that haul — and another 28 tons of cocaine nabbed in over 23 seizures on its latest patrol — totaling a $1 billion street value, according to the service. Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft greeted the crew on the pier for the drop, part of a San Diego layover before the crew returns home to Alameda, California. Stratton’s patrol was part of…
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpMJeUAUfkE (Skip to 5:10. Wall Street Journal video via YouTube) Mixed martial arts superstar Ronda Rousey took down her opponent in 34 seconds in a fight heard ’round the world Aug. 1. The Wall Street Journal re-posted its May interview with Rousey this week in honor of her victory, and in it, she gives some insight into what might have become of her if she’d taken another path: WSJ sports columnist Jason Gay: So if, Beijing [summer 2008 Olympics], you had won gold — you would be doing what now? Rousey: I’d probably be a rescue swimmer for the Coast Guard.…
Assateague Island, Virginia, is known for its population of wild horses, which every year are rounded up and brought across the channel to Chincoteague Island, where some are auctioned off to keep the numbers under control. But in order to get there, they have to swim, so the Chincoteague Wild Pony Swim enlists the help of the Coast Guard to keep the horses safe. Several 24-foot Special Purpose Craft-Shallow Water boat crews from Station Chincoteague maintained a safety perimeter from other boats and people as they swam the channel, with thousands of spectators looking on Wednesday. The tradition dates back…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQmllwTKtqU In the Coast Guard, they say, ‘You gotta go out.’ But they don’t say you gotta come back in. Fifty years ago, two oil tankers were ripped apart by an terrifying blizzard off the coast of Massachusetts, but most of the men on board survived thanks to the crew of a 36″ Coast Guard life boat. This winter Disney will release “The Finest Hours,” based on the 1952 rescue of the SS Fort Mercer and SS Pendleton by Coasties from Lifeboat Station Chatham on the south coast of Cape Cod. The movie stars Chris Pine as Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class…
The Coast Guard turned the big 2-2-4 on Monday, celebrating with some guest appearances and other festivities all around the country. Pop quiz: Did you know that the Coast Guard is actually older than the Navy? The CG came together in 1790 as the Revenue Cutter Service, a customs enforcement agency. That same year, the United States disbanded the Continental navy, the Revolutionary War fleet, and didn’t officially form the U.S. Navy until 1798. (Although the U.S. Navy cites theirs to the founding of the Continental navy in 1775.) In 1915 the RCS merged with the United States Lifesaving Service to…
It was just another day with Operation Martillo for the frigate Rentz on Jan. 14, when a patrol for drug-smuggling boats turned into a rescue mission to save three trapped sea turtles. Pilot Lt. j.g. Chris Gokey and co-pilot Chief Warrant Officer 3 Rob Antonucci were up in an SH-60B anti-submarine patrol helicopter about 80 nautical miles off the coast of Guatemala when they spotted an island of floating garbage alongside a group of fishing buoys, according to a Navy release. It seemed that three unusual objects were connected to the buoy line, so they called for the ship to…
The Navy Memorial’s trio of 2013 Lone Sailor awardees have worn the uniforms of the Navy, the Marines, the Coast Guard … and even the Atlanta Braves. General Motors CEO Dan Akerson (Naval Academy Class of 1970), retired Marine Corps Gen. P.X. Kelley and Ted Turner, who served in the Coast Guard briefly before creating a media empire, will be honored by the organization at a Sept. 18 dinner in Washington, D.C. The award goes to “sea service veterans who have excelled with distinction in their respective civilian careers while exemplifying the Navy’s core values of honor, courage and commitment,” according…
Not many people can say that they were born at 12,000 feet, but that’s how it happened for Michigan’s Andy Howay on New Year’s Day 1986. His mother, JoAnn Howay, went into premature labor that day, and when she arrived at the local hospital in Alpena, Mich., the doctors thought she’d be better cared for at a hospital with a neonatal intensive care unit. It would take a three-hour drive to get there, if the baby could wait that long. The other option was a 20-minute flight by Coast Guard HU-25 Falcon jet, one of which just happened to be…
The Coast Guard is enforcing a safety zone around a drilling rig that is on fire after a natural gas well blowout Tuesday morning about 55 miles off the coast of Louisiana. A good Samaritan vessel rescued 44 people from the rig when the blowout occurred, a Coast Guard spokesman said. No injuries were reported. Gas escaping from the well at the Hercules 265 rig caught on fire Tuesday night after the initial morning incident, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement reported in its website. “No one was on board at the time of the ignition and no one…
Kelly Rowland can thank the Coast Guard for being a survivor after the service helped locate a boat carrying the Destiny’s Child singer Friday when it became lost at sea off Cape Cod. The captain of the vessel carrying Rowland and some friends got disoriented while following a whale-watching vessel about 30 nautical miles from Provincetown, Mass., said a Coast Guard spokeswoman from District 1, which overseas the Northeast region. Watchstanders at Sector Boston received a call around 4 p.m. Friday reporting the situation. “Using our Rescue 21 system, we were able to triangulate their position,” said Public Affairs Specialist…
