The Coast Guard. Our off the cuff motto is,u201d We have to go out, but we don't have to come back!u201d People know so little about us they don't have any idea how dangerous it is for us. Not being attached to DOD we don't follow their rules of, u201cyou don't go anywhere until you are called to move.u201d We go to the scene and work during the emergency while it is happening. Our helicopters fly in the worst weather, making rescues from boats or water while waves are higher than the choppers. We have lost choppers making rescues. Our Rescue swimmers are in the water making the rescues in 50 foot waves in 30u00b0 temps. If the chopper is filled the swimmer stays behind until they come back. If a smallboat goes out in the same weather the rescues become harrowing. We do boardings in this weather. If a ship comes in and is suspect for weapons or bombs, we have teams that board at sea by helicopter or small boat, usually 50 miles out. We have harbor protection teams, we have SRT teams, Sea Marshals and people sent to Camp LeJune to be trained by Marines. We have people that are SEAL qualified. We also have snipers that fly by helicopter to shoot out boat engines on fast boats, and submarines that drug dealers use. The Coast Guard has more Special Forces units than any other branch. They fall under our DOG team (Deployable Operations Group). This includes our MSRT Team, our MSST Team, PSO's, our NSF or National Strike Force, TAClet and HITRON, our mobilized Helicopter sniper units. All of these units require 12 hour deployment times. They work hand in hand with all of the military's Spec. Forces. They require Tier 1 physical fitness tests. Being that we can work with civilian law enforcement and we are Homeland Security, we can deploy with either military or civilian special teams. The physical fitness tests are mostly the equivalent to the FBI tests with much more swimming. These people are some of the best in the world at what they do and are very selective. As with the rest of the Coast Guard. These are some of the teams that nobody knows about. People forget that we are 24/7 even when there is no war.Yes, we are overseas any place foreign national ships that are headed to the US. If we feel that they have drugs, weapons, drugs or bombs and they have to be boarded, we have special boarding teams on board the Navy ship. We u201ctake over the ship,u201dtemporarily because anybody boarding the ship other than the Coast Guard can constitute an act of war. We run up the Coast Guard Ensign on the Coast Guard ensign. Then we take a smallboat filled with a CG Boarding Party and board. We also have CG inspectors in ports around the world that check items packed to come to the US. They do safety inspections on gear being sent back to the US on freighters. Military equipment, explosives, vehicles etc all have to be checked. This is only part of it. We send Coasties to other countries to train their Coast Guards. That includes Greece and other Mediterranean countries, even ports in Russia. We have people living on oil rigs in the middle east protecting them. We also have small boats that patrol those harbors to protect our Navy ships. We had a Coastie on board a smallboat that intercepted a smallboat that would not stop. He managed to get between it and the Navy boat before it exploded. He was killed with everybody on board the encroaching boat. This is part of what we do around the world and at home. I hope I have helped give you a partial idea of what we do. Few people have any idea. Semper Paratus!