There’s nothing strange about it: your United States Coast Guard is everywhere.

The Coast Guard are in Yemen, training and even getting shot at in anger on the ground. 

The Coast Guard has not one but two graduates from the elite BUD/S training normally limited to aspiring Navy SEALs. Under a program supported by Admirals Losey and McRaven, The Coast Guard sent worthy contenders to BUD/S and they passed.

There is an “Office of Counterterrorism & Defense Operations Policy” of the United States Coast Guard. Totally a thing.

At the onset of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, the Coasties sent “eight cutters, 600 people, to the Persian Gulf”, according to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time.  

There’s an entire Patrol Forces element dedicated to supporting USCG operations not on the periphery the continental United States:

USCG Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA) is the Coast Guard’s largest unit outside of the United States.  Established in 2002 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, PATFORSWA played a key role in maritime security and maritime infrastructure protection operations.  PATFORSWA is currently supporting Operation Enduring Freedom with continued maritime humanitarian presence on the seas, providing U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet with combat-ready assets, utilizing our unique access to foreign territorial seas and ports, formulating strong and independent relationships throughout the Arabian Gulf, and leveraging the full-spectrum, flexible vessel boarding capabilities and maritime country engagements on the shore.  PATFORSWA is comprised of six 110′ cutters, shore side support personnel, Redeployment Assistance and Inspection Detachment (RAID), Advanced Interdiction Teams (AIT), Middle East Training Team (METT), and other deployable specialized forces operating throughout the U.S. Central Command Area of Operation.

Coasties patrol the Persian Gulf–the world, really, but we’re talking about the Gulf at the moment–and regulate the flow of maritime traffic and perform visit, board, search, and seizure missions from their base in Bahrain. No, not the Navy’s base–their base, the Navy has their own base in Fifth Fleet.

The United States Coast Guard is mission focused and  forward deployed anywhere US Armed Forces are, and if they aren’t on station they’re already on the way.

Robert Caruso served in the United States Navy as a special security officer supporting the Strike Operations Officer and Operations Officer of a Carrier Strike Group, a Joint Task Force, and embarked National Mission Force elements. He also served with the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Department of Defense, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security at the Department of State, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, and as a contractor for the Department of the Army. Robert is a contributor to The Boston Globe, Business Insider, and The Guardian. He serves as the inaugural president of the Tampa Chapter and associate editor of the NextWar Blog here at CIMSEC.