Port Angeles Coast Guard first to arm helicopters

Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles, the first Dolphin HH-65 helicopter unit in the nation to arm its helicopters, has completed its final training tests, CG District 13 headquarters announced.

The enhanced use of deadly force stems from demands for increased security after 9/11 to protect potential terror targets like bridges, ports and waterways, with large groups of people, after 9/11, the Coast Guard said in a press release. The helicopter's guns will not be used in routine law enforcement missions, Coast Guard officials said.

The Port Angeles aircrews who completed their final training tests last Thursday are "hand-selected, highly trained indivicuals specifically chosen for their maturity, judgement and sound decision making skills," the Coast Guard said in a press release.

The Coast Guard adds its aviation wing to the armed boats, cutters and maritime security boarding teams it already has.

Local Coast Guard officials said the Port Angeles air station crews have been conducting extensive land-based and open-ocean firing range training and hostile-boat intercept maneuvering drills since the initial phase of training began in the spring of 2008.

That was when the air station received upgraded MH-65C helicopters outfitted with M-14T rifles and M-240 machine guns.

By the way, you can download and watch a Coast Guard video of these aircrews in action, as an Astoria, Ore. MH-60 crew medevacks a sailor off of an unnamed, moving Navy submarine off the Washington Coast last Wednesday.

DoD monitoring pandemic influenza

The Defense Department has an official "watchboard" for the flu pandemic.

According to a DoD statement:

"In an influenza pandemic, the DoD's mission is to preserve the U.S. combat capabilities and readiness and to support U.S. government efforts to save lives, reduce human suffering and slow the spread of infection. "

The Associated Press on Sunday reported that Spc. Christopher Hogg, 23, of Deltona, Fla., died Sept. 10 from “pneumonia due to H1N1 influenza,” according to Fort Jackson, S.C. commander Brig. Gen. Bradley May. Fort Jackson is the Army’s largest basic training camp.

In its public health guidelines regarding H1N1 swine flu, the DoD says one concern is of the flu spreading among the nations 1.3 men and women in uniform, and their families, affecting readiness:

"The Military Health System must be prepared to rapidly evaluate and effectively manage patients with suspected or confirmed pandemic influenza throughout the entire range of military operations and health care settings. In addition to providing health care, efforts must limit the spread of disease among Service members, their families, local communities, and the workplace."

Green Marines test their Mojo

I remember a line from a marching chant our drill instructor used to sound out:

"My Marine Corps color is green...."

Is it ever.

With the Defense Department alone accounting for 93 perecent of all government fuel consumed, the services have been looking for ways to reduce dependency on the grid and fossil fuels.

As usual, the Marines are in the lead.

Some years back, Marine Lt. Gen. James T. Mattis, who had commanded 1st Marine Division in Iraq where he saw fuel convoys become ripe targets for sabotage, and later Marine Corps Combat Development Command, issued a challenge:

"Unleash us from this tether of fuel," Mattis said, calling for a 50 percent reduction in Defense Department fuel use.

Just this August, Commandant of the Marines, Gen. James T. Conway, hosted a defense energy summit.

One of the interesting field innovations the Marines are looking at is a tower of power called Mojo. Back in April, the Corps' 8th Communications Battalion at Camp Lejeune, N.C., wanted to see the devices developed by Critical Power Solutions Internationl Inc. of Ashburn, Va.

Like the Army's caissons, Mojos, along with larger, double-axled Titans made by Critical Solutions, are wheeled, road-ready, rapidly deployable trailers. They include a 26-foot telescoping tower, battery box and complex set of electronics as well as four solar panels and a wind generator.

Mojos typically produce approximately 520 watts of sustained solar power, and the wind turbines generate 350 to 600 watts of sustained power, Critical Solutions says.

Why the interest? The Marines want another tool in the big toolbox the bring to the battlefield. Renewable power sources in remote environments, as in combat or border patrol situations, come with reduced heat and noise signatures. They could cut down on fuel convoys and save lives by reducing exposure to the risk of roadside and suicide bombers.

In short, they're a stealthier source of power. Marines with Mojos, for instance, could place a remote team at sites where refueling is dangerous or difficult, retaining communication capabilities without traditional power logistics.

In addition to the military, Critical Solutions alternative energy towers have been demonstrated for emergency preparedness agencies. They were at the center of critical response exercises last December at the Center for National Response in West Virginia.

Of the 93 percent of all government fuel that the Defense Department alone consumes, 52 percent is used by the Air Force, 33 percent by the Navy. The Army uses around seven percent, according to figures cited in a Brookings Institution study.

In an August 2007 study for the Brookings Institution, Col. Gregory Lengyel wrote:

The United States has a National Security problem, energy security, in which the Department of Defense has a unique interest. The United States imports 26% of its total energy supply and 56% of the oil it consumes. The DOD is the largest single consumer of energy in the United States and energy is the key enabler of US military combat power.

Huge energy consumption, increased competition for limited energy supplies, ever increasing energy costs, and no comprehensive Energy Strategy or oversight of energy issues in the DOD have created vulnerabilities. These include potential fuel and electricity supply disruptions as well as foreign policy and economic vulnerability. The DOD needs a comprehensive Energy Strategy and organizational structure to implement a strategy to improve National Security by decreasing US dependence on foreign oil, ensure access to critical energy requirements, maintain or improve combat capability, promote research for future energy security, be fiscally responsible to the American tax payer, and protect the environment.

This strategy can be implemented through leadership and culture change, innovation and process efficiencies, reduced demand, and increased/diversified energy sources.

Meanwhile, in his excellent "DoD Energy Blog," Andy Bochman last September mentioned a Marine general in Iraq who wanted solar panels in order to "outgreen al Qaeda." Instead of trucking fuel from Kuwait, creating targets for improvised bombers, the general wanted to "beat al Qaeda at its own game," Bochman wrote, taking away those targets by using solar power.