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Iraqi Freedom
The Coast Guard’s strength exceeded 1,250 personnel deployed to the U.S. Central Command and U.S. European Command theaters to conduct port security, maritime interception, environmental response and coastal sea control operations in direct support of operation Iraqi Freedom.
Coast Guard forces that have deployed overseas for Iraqi Freedom include:
- Two high endurance cutters – the cutter Boutwell from Alameda, Calif., and the cutter Dallas from Charleston, S.C.
- Eight patrol boats – the cutter Wrangell from South Portland, Maine; the cutter Adak from Highlands, N.J.; the cutter Aquidneck from Atlantic Beach, N.C.; the cutter Baranof from Miami; the cutter Bainbridge Island from Highlands, N.J.; the cutter Grand Isle from Gloucester, Mass.; the cutter Knight Island from St. Petersburg, Fla.; and the cutter Pea Island from St. Petersburg, Fla.
- One buoy tender – the cutter Walnut from Honolulu, Hawaii.
- Tactical Law Enforcement Detachments from Chesapeake, Va., Miami and San Diego.
- Six Port Security Units – PSU 305 from Portsmouth, Va.; PSU 307 from St. Petersburg, Fla.; PSU 308 from Gulfport, Miss.; PSU 309 from Port Clinton, Ohio; PSU 311 from San Pedro, Calif.; and PSU 313 from Tacoma, Wash.
- One Strike Team Detachment consisting of members from the Atlantic Strike Team from Fort Dix, N.J., the Gulf Strike Team from Mobile, Ala., and the Pacific Strike Team from Novato, Calif.
- Support and logistics personnel nationwide from 20 separate Coast Guard commands.
- Coast Guard members assigned to Navy Harbor Defense Command Units.
Approximately 350 Coast Guardsmen assigned to Port Security Units, Patrol Boats, Law Enforcement Detachments and a Redeployment Assistance and Inspection Detachment – a team of temporarily assigned Coast Guardsmen responsible for inspecting containers and advising the Army of proper cargo segregation and stowage procedures to ship military cargo back to the U.S. – continue to operate in the Arabian Gulf supporting national defense requirements in this vital theater of operations.
Specific Coast Guard accomplishments in Operation Iraqi Freedom include:
- Coast Guard high endurance cutters provided escort and force protection to Navy aircraft carrier and amphibious battle groups freeing up other naval combatants to conduct Tomahawk missile strikes in support of the war effort.
- Coast Guard Port Security Units and patrol boats protected naval combatants and Military Sealift Command shipping in strategic ports to ensure the uninterrupted flow of war fighting equipment and humanitarian supplies to the area of operations.
- Coast Guard cutters and Port Security Units provided security to Iraqi oil terminals located in the North Arabian Gulf vital to the economic recovery in post-Saddam Iraq. Coast Guardsmen also took custody of 70 enemy prisoners of war from Navy Special Forces following the capture of the platforms.
- Coast Guard patrol boats conducted search and rescue operations and recovered the first maritime enemy prisoners of war following the sinking of an Iraqi patrol boat by U.S. forces.
- Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachments located a large cache of Iraqi military equipment and weapons hidden in coastal caves in Southern Iraq.
- Cutter Walnut established a long neglected aid to navigation system to mark the waterway to the principal port of Um Qasr so that humanitarian relief supplies could be delivered to the Iraqi people.
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