Boot Key Harbor
"Marathon- the Heart of the Florida Keys"

An On-Line Cruising Guide for the Florida Keys & Cuba
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Tactical Training by the U.S. Coast Guard

Gregory Absten AP

I had the opportunity recently to observe some of the tactical training of the Marathon Coast Guard by one of the special training units out of Miami. (Actually they used our boat to practice boardings in a variety of situations, and I got to watch the training). This special unit is one of the ones that works with the US Navy in the Caribbean and deals daily in the drug war. It was an interesting day and I was impressed with the level of restraint taught in these classes to our local coast guard. They had been training for an entire week and I was there only the last day. This type of training involves self defense, fighting, subduing aggressors, and assessing and handling a variety of situations which could lead to physical or even violent confrontations. My boat came into play with role playing of boarding officers confronting a variety of these situations. In the extreme they had to deal with people like drug dealers with armed crew hidden aboard. The USCG boarding party is particularly at risk in situations like these - not knowing necessarily beforehand that the situation might be this extreme, and having hidden crew members ambushing them with high powered weapons. We don’t often think of these kinds of scenarios, but the coasties have to keep this in their minds all the time if they’re to stay safe themselves - - and all the while avoiding being overly assertive with us “normal” recreational boater types (after all - when does the rec boater turn out to be an armed criminal or smuggling illegal immigrants?). Some of the training is TOUGH! Each trainee has to take pepper spray DIRECTLY into the face and eyes so they know what it’s really like. The very petit lady coastie I saw took 3 shots in the face - one directly in an open eye. She handled it MUCH better than I think I would. She was of course incapacitated and had to keep her head dunking in a bucket of fresh water for a while, but I’m told she took it much better than most of the guys had. I watched them deal with rabble rousing crowds - like incidents which might appear on a busy commercial fishing dock - and how to determine how much force is either necessary or appropriate at any given time. They were taught to use a variety of their weapons in an efficient manor to bring down an assailant or subdue an aggressor. An overriding theme throughout all of this training was a continuous assessment and evaluation of the APPROPRIATE level of force to use in any situation. I must admit that I was very impressed with the level of restraint that was taught. In fact, there were situations where I wouldn’t show as much restraint as they’re taught. After all, if someone had pulled a gun on me aboard my boat and I had to take it from him, there’s no way in the world that I’d holster my own weapon until this maniac was safely taken away. The drunks on the water, I’m told, are the most common confrontation - not necessarily bad guys, just loud and belligerent. Their role playing of handling belligerent drunks on the boat was hilarious!! I gained a new appreciation for what these guys (& girls) go through. They’re really between a rock and a hard place when boarding a boat or responding to a complaint. They mentally confront these decisions continuously, whether a problem materializes or not. My advice to any of you upon boarding is rather quite simple. Just be a pleasant “normal” person and cooperative with their reasonable requests. They’re just doing their job and want to be reasonably sure that they’re safe too while aboard your boat. If you feel inconvenienced or put out by an untimely boarding don’t go off the deep end and start insulting or harassing them. They have the “attitude” test when they first board. If you fail this test, your short boarding just turned into an hour or two affair. Aside from thinking you may have something to hide, people are just people and will react accordingly. If you’re pleasant and cooperative, and appear to be hiding nothing, your boarding will be courteous and brief. In fact, I’m pleased with the level of “educational warnings” that are given down here, rather than written citations. The better your attitude the more likely you’ll just receive some educational “advice” about inadvertent violations.