MSST Miami trains for counter drug, interdiction missions

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Erik Hofmeyer
  • 482nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
HOMESTEAD AIR RESERVE BASE, Fla. --  The U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) Miami, based out of Homestead Air Reserve Base, spent four days performing aggressive tactical maneuvers in the waters off of Homestead Bayfront Park.

Their mission: stop the "bad-guy boat."

Unit members accomplished four days of "non-compliant vessel use of force pursuit training" from June 23-26 to add a new close quarters pursuit capability to their tool kit. The MSST Miami is an active-duty Coast Guard unit capable of rapid, global deployment, providing specialized capabilities and tactics to deter, detect, and counter criminal, terrorist, and other threats to national security.

Expert instructors from the Coast Guard Special Missions Training Center at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., traveled to Homestead to coordinate various training exercises and scenarios preparing the team for future counter drug operations and migrant interdiction missions.

"The training gives us the capability and experience needed to intercept a vessel out at sea, and it's the first time this particular training has been performed by a Marine Safety and Security Team in District 7, which is a hotbed for migrant activity and counter drug operations," said Ensign Daniel Holmes, MSST water side team leader.

Team members operated a 25-foot vessel acting as a non-compliant vessel attempting to evade the pursuing MSST vessels using the appropriate actions necessary to gain compliance.

Ensign Holmes explains how gaining compliance involves a step-by-step method gradually increasing the use of force needed to stop the vessel. Coast Guard personnel first arrive on scene and establish a command presence and pass information up the chain of command. If the vessel refuses to stop, higher level tactics are carried out. As a final option, the non-compliant vessels outboard engines are disabled, Ensign Holmes explained.

"We're basically giving that vessel enough warning and telling them 'hey, we're stepping this up; we're increasing our use of force each time you're not complying," said Chief Petty Officer John Whelan, MSST member. "We're going to gain compliance whether it's at the stage where we're turning our lights on, or when we have to shoot your engine out. And ultimately the compliance is the vessel stops."

The four days of training will immediately bear fruit while supporting other Coast Guard units actively involved with counter-drug and migrant interdiction operations.

"It's great professional development and another capability to go out and be a force multiplier to other Coast Guard units who already have this training," Ensign Holmes said.