The Coast Guard Is Not a Business
By Boatswain’s Mate Second Class Richard S. Thomas, U.S. Coast Guard
Since 1790, the U.S. Coast Guard has been boarding vessels, detaining crews, and seizing property from law offenders. To carry out its counter-drug, alien-migrant-interdiction mission, the service selects crews trained in tactics, techniques, and procedures to pursue smugglers. As a designated high-risk training instructor of these methods, I believe our current training quality and overall effectiveness to be inadequate. Coast Guard pursuit training does not prepare teams for the threats they face on the water today. This program, its training, and the curriculum must be enhanced.
