And, if you are wondering why the picture of Petty Officer Gill (below post) looks as if he’s a SWAT team member, well, welcome to the new Coast Guard.

As a CG website notes

Maritime Safety and Security Teams (MSSTs) are a new Coast Guard rapid response force assigned to vital ports and capable of nationwide deployment via air, ground or sea transportation to meet emerging threats. MSSTs were created in direct response to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 and are a part of the Department of Homeland Security’s layered strategy directed at protecting our seaports and waterways.

MSST personnel receive training in advanced boat tactics and antiterrorism force protection at the Special Missions Training Center located at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Read the entire background sheet here.

Also of note, if Petty Officer Gill has been at the MSST since August 2004, he’s a plankowner and was part of the commissioning crew.

Interesting that he was a reservist… which means the Service didn’t have enough active duty personnel to fill the billets and filled some of the MSST billets with Reserve personnel. If it was just our DOD brethren who think they alone are burning it at both ends, they’re wrong.

In previous posts, I’ve mentioned that the Coast Guard is currently going through a reorganization. I learned today that from 1789 through 1999, the Coast Guard (and her predecessor agencies) conducted major reorganizations 26 times. This current reorg, then, makes 27 and is right about on time.

If we can’t do anything else right, we can certainly reorganize.

Photo with this post is an official USCG photograph