Our U.S. Coast Guard doesn’t get enough luv. Whether they’re saving individuals that went swimming in swirling water or rescuing groups of prople from sinking ships…they go out, do their job and save lives.
Think about this for a second. A human that you don’t know goes swimming into a rip-tide. They know the power of the ocean yet they sprint in and keep the news-lines from reading, “kid drowns off the coast”. Nope. They save ’em and receive the reward of no one knowing.
Chivers, I’m putting together a High-res tribute for our CG…I’ll launch it this afternoon. I did this post a few months ago; call it a “teaser” for the HQ post later today.
Until then,
here are 10 CG stories of these good-guys being un-sung heroes.
Oahu, Hawaii
On August 9th of 2015, a CG crew flies out in their MH-65 Dolphin helicopter to search for the sunken boat “Brandi Anne”.
They eventually located the boat about 41 miles from the island of Oahu.
They rescued not only all 3 people on board but even their dog.
New York City’s “Rockaway Beach”
On February 25th of 2016 the fishing boat “Carolina Queen III” hit rough waters and needed the Coast Guard.
After saving the crew’s lives, the CG team went back to begin work on moving the 76 foot boat.
On their way back to the Carolina Queen, a huge wave hit and flipped the CG’s small 25-foot vessel.
All five CG crew aboard were able to swim ashore while being pounded by 10 to 12 foot waves.
Bellingham, Washington
March 9th of 2016 a huge storm rolled a 57-foot fishing vessel carrying a crew of three.
The boat washed onto jagged rocks during the early morning darkness but that didn’t stop our Coast Guard.
Following the 5:30a.m. call for help, CG battled to save the crew over the next 2 hours.
How bad were the conditions? Look how close the fishing boat is to shore; two hours of pure “f-u will” against wind gusts measuring 50-knots (58mph) to save their lives.
At the hospital, the 3 fishing crew were treated for hypothermia. That means, if the CG didn’t get there fast enough, those guys would have froze to death.
Charleston, SC
June 28th of 2016 was meant to be a fun day on the Atlantic. The family got in a 27-foot “Sea Pro” which would soon find its self wrong-side-up.
All though the weather wasn’t that scary, the area has the reputation for a certain type of animal below the surface.
Ding, ding…mother-fn-sharks.
I’m guessing that the CG guy swimming to save their a**es was probably well aware of this threat.
Just part of the job.
Needless to say, the young boys got a good selfie with the CG rescue swimmer.
Molokai, HI
Your never too old to go scuba diving. That is until you actually “too old to go scuba diving”. That was the case with this 60 year old adventure seeker. Luckily for him, the CG was there for the rescue.
Kaiwi Channel near honolulu
8 people went for a kayaking and eight people are still alive.
10 people took out canoes in the Philippine Seas about 103 miles from the coast of Palau.
Yep, we’ve got Coast Guard guys all around the world.
The crew from CG Cutter ship “Washington” was there for them and able to extend that tropical get-away.
America’s CG and our Navy will save the lives of any humans in need. This was the case with a Liberian ship called the “MT Brilliante Virtuoso”.
After a fire broke out on the ship, its crew was forced to abandoned ship.
The guided-missile cruiser CG-58 was in their area to send out the sailors and give ’em a hand.
In addition to bring the life vessel crew to safety, they also found guys separated and swimming for their life.
Because that’s what American sailors do.
South Carolina coast
On July 13th of 2015, two fathers and their 11-year old sons went fishing. Their 23-foot boat would capsize shortly after they called in for help.
At this point, the CG sent out an HC-130 Hercules airplane to find them.
When the CG spotted the small vessel from above, they realized that they had a problem. The 2 Dads and their sons were not with the flipped boat.
After searching for 16 strait hours, all 4 were found and rescued.
Less than 2 days ago
Off the coast of Hawaii, CG stationed at Barbers Point flew out to the Bahamian-flagged oil tanker “Andromeda Voyager”.
While the huge tanker was making its transit, a 45-year old crew member had a heart attack.
The MH-65 Dolphin helicopter got to the sky and saved the man’s life.
Every year the city of Seattle has an event/parade called the “Seafair”. It’s the CG/Patrol Maritime Enforcement’s task to make sure that no bad things happen at this event.
This includes making sure that no one gets sh*t-cocked drunk and decides to drive a boat into anther boat.
But they have a much more serious task. Make sure that no one willing to harm Americans use Seattle’s surrounding water ways to bring a bomb into the city.
Just days ago, as the people started the “Seafair” fun…did you see the news about the horrible tragedy that took place?
You wouldn’t have because there was no attack on Seattle’s innocent humans…but you’ll never see that splashed across the news head-lines.
One last thought for our un-sung Coast Guard Heroes. How does a group of men and women keep bad things from happening during a soft target event such as this year’s “Seafair”?
Simple. These final photos come from the day before the event.
So I for one say, “thank you”.
Thank you to our un-sung good guys of the United States Coast Guard.
Again,
apologize if you guys have seen this one.
I’m rounding down about 150 HQ photos down to a more compact but kick-a** tribute to our USCG.
thanks
-Rick
