U.S. COAST GUARD PREPS JOINT MARITIME FORCE IN BOARDING PROCEDURES

by JO2 Matt Grills

PANAMA CITY, Panama -- The U.S. Coast Guard is helping ready its counterparts from nine nations in preparation for FUERZAS ALIADAS PANAMAX 2005, the largest multinational exercise in defense of the Panama Canal, running Aug. 4-18 in Panama.

The scenario: a noncompliant vessel threatens the safety and stability of the canal - the Western Hemisphere's most important waterway and vital to free trade - necessitating a boarding party and possibly the ship's seizure. But what's the safest way to do it?

            Instructors from the Coast Guard's international training division explored the question in a series of demonstrations involving participating nations. Sailors from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama and Peru tutored one another in their own techniques, with Coast Guard personnel acting as facilitators.

            "It's a good exchange of information. Everyone's learning something new every day to take back to their countries," said Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Jaime Simko, one of six Coast Guard instructors at PANAMAX. Fluent in Spanish,

Simko helped conduct classes in U.S. boarding preps and procedures before students put them into practice aboard Panama's SMN Lina Maria, pierside.

The Coast Guard's ITD staff provides training worldwide in maritime law enforcement, marine safety and environmental protection, small-boat operation and maintenance, search and rescue, port security and infrastructure development for countries with waterway law-enforcement programs. In 2004, ITD conducted 133 deployments in 61 countries, giving instruction to nearly 1,600 students.

At PANAMAX, Simko and his colleagues cover pre-boarding procedures, observation, boarding tools, hidden compartments and occupational hazards. The emphasis is on safety and awareness.

"We want to make the boarding team and the operation as safe as possible," he said. "It's important to determine risk. We also cover the use of force when appropriate, when you can and can't use deadly force. Every country's policy is different. We don't try to change the way they operate. We demonstrate and hope they learn something new. They tell us if they think we're doing something off the wall. It's good for us and for them."

On the final morning of training, Chileans staged a boarding demonstration aboard the Lina Maria using their own nation's method of search and seizure, with Panamanians role-playing as ship's crew. A special-forces team performed a rapid attack and gained control of the boat by securing the bridge, engine room and steering boat. A second team, comprised of Chile's maritime police and armed with legal boarding authority, then conducted a full sweep of the vessel.

Boatswain's Mate Chief Scott Partington looked on, impressed by the teams' proficiency. "The Chileans are advanced," he said. "Actually, their boarding resembles the way we do it. The difference is that they have two teams. We have one team that pretty much does it all."

Lt. Cmdr. Rodolfo Gárate Bernal of the Chilean coast guard, who oversaw the demonstration, seemed pleased with the results. "I think there's always something to improve," he said, "but at this moment, we are good."

Working with the coastal forces of other countries at PANAMAX 05 has been a highlight for Bernal, who said such joint training and exercises lay the groundwork for a partnership of layered defense that will prove crucial if the Panama Canal is ever threatened.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Argel Alveo of Panama's National Maritime Service has worked 12 years as a boarding officer, on many occasions alongside the U.S. Coast Guard. This time he brought the crew of his patrol boat to help them acquire and develop new skills. In particular, said Alveo, they found the Chileans' apprehension methods helpful.

Last year, Alveo saw firsthand this kind of training's value. While aboard a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, he and the crew encountered a go-fast vessel on a drug run. They weren't able to intercept it, convincing Alveo that increased capabilities and multinational cooperation will make the next time different.

            Hector Ordinola, a petty officer 2nd class with the Peruvian Special Forces, also praises PANAMAX's opportunity for joint training. "I foresee us working with other nations more and more in the future."

            And has he learned from them as well? "Absolutely. I now have a wide view of different techniques they use, of how well prepared they are."

            Lt. Jose Diaz of the ITD said people are often surprised when they hear the U.S. Coast Guard "takes its show on the road" by educating other nations' coast guards. In fact, said Diaz, maritime interdiction operations are the Coast Guard's "bread and butter" both in the United States and South America.

With its twofold objective of supporting free navigation through the

Panama Canal and building better cooperation between nations with critical interest in the canal, PANAMAX is fertile ground for the Coast Guard's globe-encompassing training programs.            

"The main goal here is to shake hands and get to know each other, so that when we work together in the future a relationship already exists," Diaz said.