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.

Local Coast Guard hosts a convention of humanitarians in Port Angeles/Seattle

The Coast Guard will host an international, humanitarian service training exercise from in the Port Angeles and Seattle areas from Aug. 24 to 27.

The exercise is being conducted in support of the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum (NPCGF), an international partnership of Coast Guard-like agencies from Japan, Russian, China, South Korea, Canada and the U.S., a press release from Seattle-based Coast Guard District 13 said.

Ships from Japan, Canada, China and Russia as well as security personnel from South Korea are scheduled to participate in the various events. They are slated to visit and operate out of Port Angeles next Monday, Aug. 24, and to travel to Seattle Wed., Aug. 26.

The training, named Pacific Unity, brings humanitarian professionals from the forum nations to train on aids-to-navigation, search and rescue, and maritime security operations, the Coast Guard said.

Coast Guard honors Des Moines men for valor

When a vehicle with two people went through a parking lot barrier at Des Moines Marina and plunged into Puget Sound on June 28, Coast Guard members Bruce Johnson and Steve Kokita saw it.

Without hesitation, the two dove into the water and rescued the driver but could not save the passenger.

Tuesday at a Des Moines city council meeting, the two were presented with certificates of valor, awarded to those who exhibit heroism by putting their own lives at risk to save another. Capt. Suzanne Englebert, Coast Guard Captain of the Port based in Seattle, presented the commendations.