USCG Protects our Ports Waterways Coastal Security

USCG Protects our Ports Waterways Coastal Security

USCG Protects our Ports Waterways Coastal Security

United States Coast Guard shirts and designs have been created for the Amazing Guardsmen of the USCG!

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Harbor Master Port Authority PWCS All American Detect Intercept Interdict

The Ports Waterways Coastal Security Harbor Master USCG Shirt design at Vision-Strike-Wear.com can be found at http://www.vision-strike-wear.com/Ports-Waterways-Coastal-Security-Harbor-Master-USCG-Shirt.html

The Ports Waterways Coastal Security Harbor Master USCG Shirt created for Coasties and one of the 11 major mission types the USCG focuses in when conducting operations all over the world PWCS. Even though the smallest of the United States military branches, the US Coast Guard no less has some of the finest men and women in uniform working extremely hard each and every day helping to protect our shorelines, harbors, sea lanes with their incredible skills and talents.  Detect Intercept Interdict!
PWCS, one of the many roles the USCG performs involves the employment of awareness activities including; counterterrorism, antiterrorism, preparedness and response operations; and the establishment and oversight of a maritime security regime.  PWCS also includes the national defense role of protecting military outload operations.
This USCG design was created specifically for those involved in PWCS activities both active duty, reserve, retirees and veterans alike.

Source: http://www.prlog.org/12186954-pwcs-ports-waterways-coastal-security-uscg-shirt-just-released.html

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Coast Guard Breaks the Ice for North Pole

Coast Guard Breaks the Ice for North Pole

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Break The Ice!

Ever thought what it might be like to serve aboard a USCG ship sitting on hundreds of miles of ice shelf with only a forward gear to propel you through the waters of the North Pole?

The Coast Guard and its guardsmen have done it.

On this 20th anniversary “The Coast Guard icebreaker CGC Polar Sea and the CCCS Louis S. Ste Laurent became the first “North American surface ships” to reach the North Pole.

An HH-65A from Aviation Training Center Mobile, detached to the Polar Sea, became the first U.S. (and also Coast Guard) helicopter to reach the pole as well.” This occurred in 1994!

What Is The Polar Sea?

Polar-class icebreakers USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10)USCGC Polar Sea (WAGB-11) are heavy icebreakers operated by the United States Coast Guard (USCG).

These cutters, specifically designed for open-water icebreaking, have reinforced hulls, special icebreaking bows, and a system that allows rapid shifting of ballast to increase the effectiveness of their icebreaking.

The vessels conduct Arctic and Antarctic research and are the primary icebreakers that clear the channel into McMurdo Station for supply ships. All are homeported out of Seattle, Washington.” (Source: Wikipedia)

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Here is the largest ice breaking party in the world!

Breaking ice 13 to 15 feet in depth.

How The USCG Saves Shark Week!

How The USCG Saves Shark Week!

You wouldn’t think that Shark Week and the United States Coast Guard could collide in the same sentence but interestingly enough, they can and do.

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Did you know that the USCG Saves Sharks from illegal fishing and poaching almost every day? Without the USCG, there would be a lot less sharks around, especially endangered sharks, like the Carcharodon Carcharias or Great White shark!

In its 26th season the most exciting tooth and fin programs to hit the airwaves come at us once again!

 

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Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water?!

SHARK WEEK!

 

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What Is Shark Week?

Shark Week is an annual week long programming block on Discovery Channel which features both factual and ficticious shark based programming. It originally premiered on July 17, 1988. Held annually, normally in July or August, Shark Week was originally developed to raise awareness and respect for sharks. It is the longest-running cable television programming event in history.”  (source: Wikipedia

 

Why Is Shark Week So Popular?

What has made Shark Week such a long awaited phenomenon year after year?

People are fascinated by sharks!

People watch show after show, bite after bite and with constant blood in the water there is a still and ever present a shark craze!

12 Foot Hammerheads, the rarely seen Thresher with a tail longer than its body, the Great White, Reef, or possibly a lemon shark is all that is needed to grasp your interest but there has to be more. They fly and they move about your television set breaking all manners of gravity as they engulf all prey in the ocean!

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They are jawsome! A weekly marathon of flying, non-vegetarian, teeth infested, hulks of fish and sea lion devouring predators. Yeah I can see why this so popular.

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“There is no exact formula for why some franchises grab the public consciousness and never let go, but with Shark Week it starts with great storytelling, cutting edge production values, and a fascinating character: the shark!” David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery Communications (source: Huffington Post)

[Tweet “The #USCG saves people from sharks & #SharkWeek almost every day!”]

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The USCG Saves People From Sharks

But how does the US Coast Guard factor into Shark week? It’s hard enough rescuing some topsy turvy ship hand from the deck of some future crab bake depository. Or off the Florida Keys where rescuing a few would-be surfers is the order of the day.

Try and do it in shark infested waters! Not quite the same thing now is it? But the US Coast Guard does this and is always present when the call is made to help these men and women who have experienced a shark bite.

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Where Are The Deadliest Spots For Shark Attacks?

Sharknado Goes Viral

(But Discovery Channel didn’t buy the rights when they had the chance! ouch!)

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And now with Shark Week beginning the talk of the town also turns to Sharknado and the recent release of Sharknado 2: The Second One because New York simply wouldn’t be the same without a Shark attack!

Sharknado is a 2013 made-for-television disaster B movie about a waterspout that lifts sharks out of the ocean and deposits them in Los Angeles.[3][4] It first aired on the Syfy Channel on July 11, 2013, and stars Ian Ziering, Cassie Scerbo, Tara Reid, and John Heard.

It was also given a one-night only special midnight theatrical screening via Regal Cinemas and NCM Fathom Events, where it took less than $200,000 in the box office across 200 screenings.” (Source: Wikipedia)

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So the Shark Week “Perfect Storm” has arrived! Thanks to Shark Week on Discovery Channel, the daily activities of the USCG and the Sharknado 2 arriving back in July… still on the cutting edge of becoming another B-Movie cult classic! Shark Week is pure TV awesomeness!

How The USCG Saves Shark Week

You can’t have shark week with no sharks! Thanks to the USCG and the World Wildlife Federation, something is being done about illegal poaching of sharks and other endangered species in our waters!

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — August 6th, 2014

The poachers intercepted Sunday had 153 separate sharks totaling more than 1,500 pounds.

At approximately 7:30 a.m., an aircrew aboard a Coast Guard HU-25 Falcon surveillance aircraft spotted a Mexican fishing vessel known as a lancha approximately three miles north of the border and 22 miles offshore. It was moving fast toward the border. The aircrew began chasing the lancha south and reported it to watch standers at the Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi Command Center.

The Command Center dispatched a 33-foot interceptor boat from Coast Guard Station South Padre Island. The interceptor crew caught the lancha four miles south of the border and 15 miles offshore. The boat and four crewmembers were towed to Station South Padre Island, where the vessel remained in custody while the crew was repatriated back to Mexico.

“These events are always time sensitive due to sighting the lancha in close proximity to the international boundary line,” said Lt. Austin Montanez, a pilot aboard the Falcon. “It takes incredible teamwork among the responding units and every second can mean the difference between an interdiction and one of the many that got away.” (source: Military.com)

[Tweet “The #USCG saves #SharkWeek every year!”]

United States Coast Guard Adopts Kodiak Bear

United States Coast Guard Adopts Kodiak Bear

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United States Coast Guard Adopts Kodiak Bear . Since the inception of the United States Coast Guard, and prior to that the Revenue Cutter Service, there has always been a connection between the United States Coast GuardUSCG and mascots often a variety of breeds of dogs manning lighthouses with their Guardsman or on board a US Coast Guard Cutter. Never really has there been a specific mascot or identity with a type of animal until more recently.

The United States Coast Guard Academy, located in New London is the hub of training for our men and women that wear the uniform of the United States Coast Guard and as the cornerstone of USCG training has already made a strong connection with the Kodiak Bear as evidenced by the USCG racing stripe displayed on the paw print of this amazing animal.

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Now that the Kodiak has begun to see more of a connection throughout the smallest branch of the US military it is becoming more widely accepted and not just in places like Air Station Kodiak!

(Source: uscg.mil) – “Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak is a Seventeenth Coast Guard District(D17) unit on beautiful Kodiak Island approximately 250 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. The Air Station was commissioned as an Air Detachment April 17, 1947, with one PBY Catalina aircraft, seven pilots, and 30 crewmen. It represented the first permanent Coast Guard aviation resource in Alaska. The Air Station is the major tenant of Coast Guard Base Kodiak. It is the largest Coast Guard command in D17 and the entire Pacific Area (PACAREA). The present complement of HC-130Hs, MH-60Ts, MH-65Ds aids in completing our mission and saving lives.”

Now that the USCG has begun the adoption of its very new mascot, the Kodiak Bear, it is becoming highly recognized as a force to be recognized with when it comes to its mission types and roles from drug interdiction to search and rescue.

Hard Charger Tshirt Design Honors USCG 224th Birthday!

Hard Charger Tshirt Design Honors USCG 224th Birthday!

Happy Birthday United States Coast Guard!

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224 Years of Service and Dedication: Semper Paratus!

The United States Coast Guard celebrates its Birthday today. With more geographical responsibility and the fewest number of personnel this branch of the United States is considered to have more responsibility than just about any other branch of the US military. From drug interdiction, fending off pirates and drug lords, watching for unannounced visitors coming from a foreign land, often a country under Communist rule, protecting our ports and waterways, lakes, watching for any sailors finding themselves in harms way off the East or West coasts and rescuing the sword boat fisherman or Deadliest Catch crabbers in the Bering Sea the USCG has stood the test of time protecting us, saving us and putting themselves into harm’s way to make sure we are taken care of!

The United States Coast Guard is celebrating its 224th birthday in August this year. America’s Coast Guard is one of the five armed forces, Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard, with its lineage tracing back to its inception on Aug. 4, 1790, when the 1st Congress authorized the building and construction of 10 vessels to create a force aiding in the enforcement of tariffs and trade laws, prevent smuggling, and the protect and collection of federal revenue. Responsibilities added over the years included humanitarian duties such as aiding mariners in distress which has become more commonly known as Search and Rescue.

The USCG received its current name in 1915 when the Revenue Cutter Service formed with the U.S. Life-Saving Service to create a unified maritime service with the dedication of safety of life at sea and enforcing America’s maritime laws.

[Tweet “Happy Birthday #USCG! 224 Years and Going Strong! #CoastGuard”]

The Coast Guard is a powerful branch with responsibilities spanning from multi-mission, maritime, military service and is the smallest of the five Armed Services. It has many missions and roles from the protection of the public, the environment and U.S. economic interests in the nation’s waterways, ports, along the coast, on international waters, or in any maritime region as required to support national security. It has the unique responsibility with is arresting authority over both civilians as well as military. No other branch has this.

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History of Coast Guard Flags

Found at Military.Com ~ “The origins of the Coast Guard standard are very obscure. It may have evolved from an early jack. At least one contemporary painting supports this theory. In an 1840 painting, the Revenue cutter Alexander Hamilton flies a flag very similar to today’s Coast Guard standard as a jack.” Additional information on USCG Flags click here.

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What is the USCG Auxiliary?

A great little know secret! The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary (USCG Aux) is the uniformed volunteer part of the United States Coast Guard (“USCG”). On JUne 23rd, 1939 the United State’s Congress created the USCG Aux as America’s Coast Guard Reserve. Just prior to two years later, on Feb 19, 1941, it was re-designated the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.

What does the auxiliary do? The USCG Auxiliary exists to provide support for all USCG missions except ones that require involved and “direct” law enforcement or military engagement. Atypical mission roles include those in which an active USCG Guarsdman can be replaced by an Auxiliarist. This allows the active member to focus in other areas and in one of the two roles that can’t be filled by an Auxiliarist.

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Did you know?

A few interesting facts about the USCG! As seen at Boating Safety Resource Center.

Each day, the men and women of the 35,000 plus active duty Coast Guard, 8,000 Reservists, and 32,000 Auxiliarists provide services over 3.4 million square miles of Exclusive Economic Zones.

On an average day, the Coast Guard:

Conducts 109 Search and Rescue Cases.
Saves 10 lives
Assists 192 people in distress.
Protects $2,791,841 in property.
Seizes 169 pounds of marijuana and 306 pounds of cocaine worth $9,589,000.00.
Processes 238 Seaman licenses and documents.
Investigates 6 vessel casualties involving collisions, allisions, or groundings.
What else happens during an average day?

Small boats are underway for 396 sorties/missions.
Aircraft fly 164 missions, logging 324 hours, of which 19 hours are flown off patrolling cutters.
Law enforcement teams board 144 vessels.
Cutter and small boat crews interdict and rescue 14 illegal immigrants.
Marine Safety personnel open 8 new cases for marine violation of federal statutes.
Marine Inspectors board 100 large vessels for port safety checks.
Vessel examiners conduct 20 commercial fishing vessel safety exams and issue 11 fishing vessel compliance decals.
Pollution investigators respond to 20 oil or hazardous chemical spills totaling 2,800 gallons.
Buoy tenders and Aids to Navigational Teams service 135 aids to navigation.
Vessel Traffic Service controllers assist 2,509 commercial ships entering & leaving U.S. ports.
Auxiliarists conduct 377 vessel safety checks and teach boating safety courses to 550 boaters.
Tell me more!

The U.S. Coast Guard seizes 1 drug smuggling vessel every five days.
Icebreakers and buoy tenders assist 196,938 tons of shipping daily during the Great Lakes ice season.
International Ice Patrol sorties provide ice safety information to facilitate the 163,238 tons of shipping during the North Atlantic ice season.
The Coast Guard is smaller than the New York City Police Department.
The number of Coast Guard personnel for 2001 is the same as it was in 1967.

 

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Missions!

There are 11 and they are identified and carried out by law.

Ports, waterways, and coastal security

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Drug interdiction

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Aids to navigation

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Search and rescue

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Living marine resources

USCG Veteran

USCG Veteran Design by Vision Strike Wear.

Marine safety

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Defense readiness

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Migrant interdiction

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Marine environmental protection
Ice operations

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USCG Videos!

Some insight into the missions, roles and a little perspective on the difficulty many of the activities of the United States Coast Guard gets involved with.

 

 

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