In this episode of Coast Guard Mission Critical, in Florida, a day out on the ocean turns into a medical emergency when a man suffers a life-threatening injury. He's in a lot of pain, screaming, yelling. As a storm rolls into the Florida Keys, a sailboat captain is disabled 20 mi offshore. >> It was horrible. It was pitch black. Make sure we don't get caught between the sides of the boats so we don't lose fingers or break bones. And in the East Pacific Ocean, a boat found hundreds of miles offshore raises reasonable suspicion. They doused the whole boat in fuel. A lot of fuel. Mayday, Coast Guard, mayday. Roger, Captain. We have assets en route to your position. Over. You, now. Get him out of here, okay? I got your back, man. [Music] South Florida, Air Station Miami, really busy unit, a lot of training flights, a lot of law enforcement, a lot of SAR and medevac. It's real real dynamic. We were out on a training flight, a beautiful beautiful Saturday morning. Just out flying around, doing some approaches to water, just some training. Every day you come to work, you come on duty, you don't know what you're going to do. You know you're going on a training flight, but that training flight could turn real exciting real quick. Pan pan pan pan pan pan, this is all stations. This is United States Coast Guard Sector Key West. The Coast Guard has received a report of a 39-ft blue hydrosport with an injured person on board in the vicinity of Islamorada Humps. All mariners are requested to keep a sharp lookout. Break. This is United States Coast Guard Sector Key West, Florida. Out. Call came in from the sector command center saying that there was somebody who had taken a bad fall. Rescue 48 Sector, roger, be advised it's a medevac on a 39-ft hydrosport. He was in the water and he got knocked down by the swells. That's all the information that we have. And then he had a he appears to have a floating rib that's uh it's moving around and it's on his side. Um the flight surgeon said they're concerned he does also have a neck injury. We knew a Coast Guard vessel was already on scene and a lot of times the vessel is the safest way to transport someone. Hoisting is dangerous in and of itself even when you have ideal conditions. The floating rib or the broken rib is definitely a concern, but when we hear neck injury and we think of someone riding in a boat and we think of someone riding in a boat on choppy seas, that's something that we don't want to mess with and so that's when we think the helicopter's a good asset to bring into that type of situation. Sector Key West, Rescue 48, we are on scene. We're about 6 ft hoist state with the uh recreational vessel at this time. So once we get on scene, we uh do overfly to the vessel trying to get good references on for hoisting, anything that could be a possible snag hazard while we're hoisting. We checked out the boat first of all and we saw how small it was. So our first concern was where we're going to put our our our litter down to get the uh the patient up. The litter is a large flat stretcher used to immobilize survivors so they can be safely hoisted to the helicopter. One of the small boats from Small Boat Station Islamorada was on scene already, which actually aided us tremendously. Anytime we have a sister station on scene, those guys are professionals. Just knowing that they have the basis of understanding how hoisting works and tending trail lines, uh it's a time saver. >> That's a huge help when we have a crews from a good station like Islamorada that we can work with. Rescue swimmer Jonathan Foss will be lowered down to execute the hoist. To guide both the rescue swimmer and the litter safely, a trail line is lowered to the Islamorada crew. I'm getting hoisted to the bow. Uh the boat is dead in the water. It's a little more of a a challenging hoist for our pilots. Load check, please. Swimmer's going down. Swimmer's going down. Swimmer's going down. During hover, the rotor blades of the helicopter move at over 300 revolutions per minute producing hurricane force winds. Swimmer's halfway down. Swimmer's going down. As soon as we get overhead of the vessel, it tends to blow them in a direction that we may or may not want them to go. While suspended in midair, the swimmer's life is in the hands of the pilots, the flight mech, and the person holding the trail line. Stabilization only works when you have someone at the bottom that's pulling and someone that's capable of keeping that line taut and keeping that line steady and being able to keep the device on its way down stable. Swimmer is on deck. Swimmer is disconnecting from hook. Swimmer is okay. So when I see those guys on scene and uh I know that I'm safer and better hands. Where did he hit? He hit right here. He hit it pretty hard. He hit like right here. This area? Right in this. A little more weight him out, just move him into the side. All right. How fast were you going? Probably about 30 something. All right, like I said, breathe as deeply as you can, all right? The challenge is going to be getting him up on my litter. What we can do is we'll bring the litter in. Yeah. We're going to try to elevate or you can hold him off. It's going to take all of us. And set him back down. You don't want to use the backboard at all? Um all right. [Music] The patient was already lying on his back on a extended lounger cushion and the idea was to literally pick him up with the cushion and place him in the litter. But with the tight space, we had to alter that. I had to remove some pads from the litter to get it next to him. And we realized that we we'd we're going to have to roll him to his side and and roll him onto the litter. But with the piece of a man's rib broken and floating in his body, any movement can cause the fragment to shift causing immense pain and further internal injury. Can you help me uh roll him over? Yeah. What's the whoa whoa whoa? Trying to get the blanket out for a second. What's wrong? I mean it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt, there's no doubt. I know that it's very painful, but I have to do certain things. I try to give him enough heads up of what I was doing and how long it was going to take. >> We're going to basically get him up enough to push this under him. Okay. All right, ready? One, two, three. Off the Florida coast, search and rescue teams from Air Station Miami and Station Islamorada are rescuing a man with a broken floating rib and a possible neck injury. When we hear neck injury, that's something that we don't want to mess with and so that's when we think the helicopter's a good asset to bring into that type of situation. The patient, he was in a lot of pain, screaming, yelling. He was not comfortable whatsoever. I have to do certain things. I try to give him enough heads up of what I was doing and how long it was going to take. Yeah, we're going to basically get him up enough to push this under him. Okay. All right, ready? One, two, three. [Music] There we go. There we go. Nice job. Nice job. Keep breathing deep. Breathe deep. So after we've strapped him into the litter, I made a conscious effort to splint his chest if he did have any rib fractures. I got to strap him in. You want him strapped in? Okay, hold him together. I noticed that moving him to the forward part of the the vessel where I was hoisted to was probably not the best option. So using uh the boat crew that remained on scene with me during this evolution, I knew that I was going to depend on them with helping tend the trail line while I held the litter as as strong as I can to to keep it from swinging or getting caught up under the overhead of the center console vessel. And hold your position here, sir. And I'm ready for pickup. Fair take the load. Take the load. Survivor is coming up. They're halfway up. Litter back left. Let's remove back left. All right, see the load cabin. As the patient was at the door, we did hear the patient moaning and just I would say extreme discomfort. Survivor right below the cabin door. I'm trying to be as careful as possible, gentle as possible bringing him inside the cabin. Survivor is half cabin door. Definitely don't want to be bumping him off of anything. Try to make this a little bit better for him, a little bit more comfortable for him. From my perspective, I could tell this guy was very uncomfortable, very much in pain. My thinking was we need to get him in the cabin, put him in a position that we can bring the swimmer up as quickly as possible, and then uh get going. So again, it was great having the boat crew on board on station to tend that trail line, keep the ensure that the rescue swimmer was nice and stable in terms of coming back up to the helicopter. We don't know what his internal injuries are. So, we want to get him to the hospital as quickly as possible to a higher level of care where the surgeons and the doctors can take care of him. >> Best you can do, deep breath. Myself and the flight mechanic had to slide him out of the aircraft, which is a task in itself, walk him around the helicopter with his blades turning, and onto the gurney that the uh staff brought out. Knowing that you've picked somebody up, you have a survivor in the back of your helicopter, you've taken them to a hospital, and now he's alive and going back to his family because of what you and your team did, that's the greatest feeling in the world. And that's exactly why I became a pilot and fly for the Coast Guard. [Music] Meanwhile, in the East Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard Cutter Munro is on a 3-month deployment. Its mission is to stop illicit contraband from entering the United States. Commander Joe Muse leads the Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Unit known as TACLET. The Munro is a new class of ship for the Coast Guard. It's a national security cutter. It primarily is designed to deploy significant distance offshore doing counter-drug operations. The Coast Guard will request personnel to go on board the ship. In this case, PA Sebastian and PA Soriano were hand-picked to go on the Munro because of their LE training and capability. And because of the nature of the mission, the high-risk nature of the mission that uh Munro was going to be involved in. To find potential targets of interests in known drug trafficking areas, the Munro deploys advanced SUAS drones. We're trying to find, you know, a needle in a needle stack. We can be 700 mi away from a case, 8 900 mi away from a case, and we just start driving. The Coast Guard has been conducting counter-drug operations for several decades now. And through that experience, we've learned what types of vessels, which routes they run, and really what to look out for. Our authorities are under USC Title 14, which allow us to conduct law enforcement on the high seas. [Music] It's a panga-style boat, two outboards, and they have something on board. It could be trash, or it could be contraband. We'll find that out. The target of interest is stationary in a known drug trafficking area. They're both under the tarp. I think they were sleeping. Suddenly, the target of interest takes off. I have enough ARs right here on the TV screen. I have no additional nationality vessel underway making way in international waters. Tarps, two people >> We use things like traveling at a high rate of speed, northbound direction, the type of craft they're using to collect some of that reasonable suspicion to then conduct the boarding. We need a pursuit song right now. They already said up for It's in two our pistols. Yeah. It's in two by the boarding kit and everything on the My job is to facilitate the boarding. I want to get on board. As soon as we grab them, get them down, we can restrain them, frisk them, then call PA's gun. All right, yeah. I would like, if we can, two people to get on at the same time. And then, just as we're doing that, call MBISS complete. They will will not get out. The Munro crew launches their helicopter interdiction tactical squadron, known as HITRON. [Music] The boarding team launches in a 26-ft over-the-horizon pursuit boat. We encounter a go-fast vessel at sea. We're going to use every means that we can to to actually communicate with them. We'll use calls, we'll use loudhailers both from the helicopter, from the ship, we'll use radio broadcast, we'll use every means that we have. And we're going to give them an opportunity to stop and explain, "Hey, why are they traveling at a high rate of speed in the middle of the ocean and evading us?" [Music] When those methods fail, we then shift to higher levels of use of force again to comply. All right, they're not compliant. Prepare for warning shots. Underway, clear forward. In international waters, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro, alongside the TACLET team members, have spotted a boat traveling at high speed in a known drug trafficking area. We'll use radio broadcast, we'll use every means that we have. And we're going to give them an opportunity to stop and explain, "Hey, why are they traveling at a high rate of speed in the middle of the ocean and evading us?" [Music] When those methods fail, we then shift to higher levels of use of force again to comply. All right, they're not compliant. Prepare for warning shots. Underway, clear forward. They didn't do what they were supposed to do, so we had authorization to disable their engines. Get them on the flare, and they're underway again. Roger, prepare for disabling fire. Roger, ready up for disabling fire. Our folks who do disabling fire, who shoot out of the helicopter, have years of training under their belt, so they're able to do that effectively and safely without endangering the crew. The HITRON sharpshooter takes out one motor. After HITRON does warning shots and disabling fire, we get the go-ahead to take positive control while they have cover for us in case something bad happens. The crew of the suspect vessel decide to stop running and shut down the remaining engine. [Music] What's that? Nope. What's that? Weapons? Pistola? Pistola? See. Nada? No. We have positive control. Doing the BISS. When we got on board, there was like 30 or 40 barrels of fuel. They doused the whole boat in fuel. What the Is this fresh paint? A lot of fuel. They use that fuel sometimes to cover up their tracks because they know we have tools to track to see if they are or at one point had drugs on their vessel. Hey, give me a lighter. Give me the lighter. Give me the lighter. You got a cigarette? Two suspects on board, put them in handcuffs, make sure the boat was safe to be on, wasn't taking on water. While the boarding team maintains positive control of the suspects' vessel. [Music] The second team launches from Munro. [Music] [Music] Woo! Good job, K. They have another partner. They were fishing. He doesn't know where he's at. They were fishing? Yes. Fishing gear is And what kind of fish? They were They were here to get the fishing gear and They came to get a partner that he was going to give him the fishing gear. Where's he at? He don't know. We we got the alpha four down. Oh, yeah, you don't know say? Yeah, of course. ICVL, radio check, 107 handheld, over. [Music] ICVL, again, three times asked, uh they did not claim nationality for the vessel. They are Mexican, and they departed Mexico 1 day ago. Make it three. You seen the hole? Seen the hole? Dude, look at this. I've never seen this before. >> In the Florida Keys, a storm is brewing offshore bringing in high winds and rough seas that can wreak havoc to even the most experienced sailors. I am in trouble. The engine stopped. My electronics are down. I don't know where I am. Roger that, Captain. I copy. Hey, we got something. He does not know where he is. He's disoriented. He has no idea where he is. He has no idea. I'm going to go ahead and plot this and I'll be able to give you a geographic location. Roger. Sector Key West is able to ping the captain's cell phone and plot a search area. Coast Guard 33132, this is Coast Guard Sector Key West. Sailing vessel is in position 24.43 decimal 830 north. The sailboat is trapped in 4 to 5-ft seas, 20 mi off of Marathon, Key Florida. Nighttime case, so we're already at the heightened risk. With that, you're thinking worst-case scenarios. In the Florida Keys, a storm is brewing offshore and a sailboat is dead in the water. I am in trouble. The engine stopped. My electronics are down. I don't know where I am. The boat crew got underway. Nighttime case, so we're already at the heightened risk. With that, There's a uh disabled sailboat 20 mi offshore and they're getting beat up pretty bad. We're going to go out there to remove them off the vessel and bring them back to safe haven. We didn't know who or how many people were on board. We just know we needed to get there pretty quickly. [Music] The weather was horrible. It was 25 to 30 kn the entire time. It did not slow down, which made it horrible with the waves. 20-kn winds, so it's a little choppy. And they're probably getting banged up a little bit uh and they're disabled right now, so it's probably a rough ride for them. So, we're going out to uh extract the people that are on the sailboat and bring them back to safe harbor. Vessel in distress. Vessel in distress. This is Coast Guard Sector Key West. What is your Number of people on board over? One person, myself only. And I seem to be adrift with an anchor dragging. He says uh got his nav lights on. Okay, when we get on scene, just knock on the boat. He'll probably be down inside the cabin. Luckily, we were able to see the light off the sailboat when we uh we got close. You got a VHF radio? You got a 22 alpha? It was pretty nasty conditions. The uh the captain was down below and we had to uh we had to hail out to him on channel 16 and the loud hailer to get him to come out and talk and make contact. And then we ended up making a contact on 22 alpha. Yeah, so uh right now we're on scene with the uh 38-ft disabled sailboat. Right now, we're probably in a sea state of 2 to 3s, uh 20 to 25-kn winds. Uh we're trying to just get in uh contact with them over the VHF radio. With the wind, it's going to be easier to understand them over the radio. And then we're going to set up a game plan uh to extract them off his sailboat and get them into safe harbor. The storm has completely disabled the sailboat. As the anchor line's taking tension, waves are crashing over the bow. And then as the waves move to towards the stern, the stern's pretty level with the water as well. Uh it's not looking good for the sailboat. In the East Pacific Ocean, the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Monroe and the TACLET team members are in positive control of a suspicious vessel. At first glance, the boat contains no contraband, but the situation raises reasonable suspicion. When we got on board, there's like 30 or 40 barrels of fuel. They doused the whole boat in fuel. Is this fresh paint? A lot of fuel. They use that fuel sometimes to cover up their tracks because they know we have tools to track to see if they are or at one point had drugs on their vessel. 33. You seen the hole? You seen the hole? Dude, look at this. I've never seen this before. Just looking for for indicators that there might be hidden compartments inside the hole. Um I've never seen that batwing before underneath the uh back of the on the stern of the panga, so that intrigued me. Just kind of interested to see what happens. A lot of fuel on deck, but uh we'll see. Thing about these pangas is they all have false decks. The question is, is this false deck between this deck and the the keel, is that full of something? Ice Cube VO, all gasoline containers are full of gasoline over. Right now, they've claimed that this vessel is Mexican. That enacts an operational procedure between the US and Mexico to say, "Hey guys, can you confirm is this your vessel?" Uh it can take a couple hours, so that's what we're waiting on scene for right now. If they come back and determine, "Hey, we can't uh say that that is our vessel." we'll get permission to conduct a full LA boarding, a full sweep, a more invasive search of the vessel to determine if there is in fact any contraband. We uh secured the electronics just for the safety of the boarding team. We asked him where his cell phone or GPS are. Asked him to turn them off. He said that his cell phone was in a compartment and said it was okay if we went and got it. Oh, hey. I said telefono. Telefono? Telefono? Senor, I said telefono. Cell phone? [Music] [Music] Crystal? Crystal meth? Crystal meth? We asked him what they were and one guy was like, "That's crystal meth and that's cocaine." With growing suspicion, the team performs tests on the surface of the boat, but the results are negative. It's now been 5 hours after boarding the vessel when the team gets word from Mexican authorities. Mexico makes the call and says, "Hey, we are denying this is our vessel and go ahead, you have permission to do what you need to do." Ice Cube VO, request 10 minimally intrusive searches throughout the vessel uh due to reasonable suspicion factors, fresh paint, uh tools on board to cut into fiberglass over. 20 mi off the Florida Keys, a storm has completely disabled the sailboat. As the anchor line's taking tension, waves are crashing over the bow. And then as the waves move to towards the stern, the stern's pretty level with the water as well. Uh it's not looking good for the sailboat. Are you just going to Are you just going to plan on drifting all night over? I don't think I'm drifting. Roger. He was a prior commercial salvage captain and uh he used to tow boats for a living. He was relying on commercial salvage and they weren't able to get out there that day. I know that I am coming back out here in the morning with commercial salvage. I know that has to be very tough for him to pick up that radio and say he needs help, you know, cuz he's used to he used to be the one on the other end helping us. Sir, do you have an EPIRB on board? You do not. Negative. No EPIRB. If the the conditions get worse, uh he can activate that EPIRB and it'll give us a position of where he's at and it's an emergency response. We'll be out here again at BP. We first Coast Guard 32 Bravo to get the OSC approval for tow. Coast Guard on the way. My hero and I will be already out here. That's That's a rough sit. Boat's disabled um and it won't start. 32 station, uh you are granted bringing him closer. We're going to set up a game plan uh to extract him off his sailboat and get him into safe harbor. Sir, would you be opposed to letting us tow you back closer to Marathon? You won't have comms with anybody once we leave. So, I I would at least like to bring you closer into where you could have comms or uh you know, that way you're not stuck out here again by yourself. I'm going to do that again. Are you going to be able to get your anchor up by yourself? Yes. First plan of attack is we're going to try to get the sailboat into a hip tow, get side by side and hook it in hip tow. I got the bow Got it. And then get pressure off the anchor line and then pull his anchor line in, then transition him into a stern tow and then tow him back to station. All right, over. Lines on board. We're going to have to watch out for all of his rigging, his railing, make sure we don't get caught between the sides of the boats, we don't lose fingers, lose arms, or break bones. All right, you got it? Yeah, got it. The biggest thing that I have for me is that I don't want anybody on my boats to get hurt. I try to minimize that at all cost. It was horrible, it was pitch black. You couldn't The only time you ever saw anything is if you were on the bow because of the port starboard light and his lights. Other than that, you didn't see anything. Rough seas are making the maneuver too dangerous. The Coast Guard is forced to disconnect from the sailboat and try to abort. I couldn't hear him at all. We tried a few things and nothing seemed to work. We couldn't get on the same page with the captain. I didn't see it being a safe situation, so I broke away. The only other option I I could say is that we could hook your tie up to your anchor and tow you from your anchor line. Grab the anchor. Let's go further out after this little wild ride. All right, we have to get a good bit out so that we can hook it up. Got a lot of slack. We're getting like a lot of water on the back deck and it's causing the line to float. Give it to the boats. Give them the fender. That's it. This is the biggest shackle we've got. You have a line with a shackle on it. You put it on your anchor line and then I can I can slide that down your anchor and just tow you from your anchor. Yeah, that's a great idea. Which one of your guys wants to do that? I'm out. That sucker down. I'm exhausted. I've got a harness here if you want to use it. Roger, sounds good, Captain. I'll transfer one of my personnel. This is what's going to happen. I'm going to pull alongside. You're going to get over. I'm going to go over onto the sailboat and we're going to hook up what's called a de-anchoring shackle. It's basically a big shackle that goes around their anchor line and goes down to the anchor. And when we start taking tension on the tow line, it'll lift the anchor and uh we'll be able to tow from it. Crew member Nicholas Sweet must now board the sailboat. The plan is simple. Get the two vessels close enough for him to jump. It's going to be a little little dangerous with the given sea state where it's We're seeing that's getting worse. Um we're probably experiencing 4 to 5-ft seas now. I was trying to, you know, time the waves just right so that when I came alongside, it nothing happened. I didn't smash up against the boat. Him stepping over was it had to be timed perfectly. He had to commit the moment he thought it was best. My coxswain has to really get the boat in position quickly uh but effectively so that I can do a safe transfer and not fall between the boats, get crushed. In Marathon, Florida, a sailboat captain is in peril offshore, completely disabled by a storm. We're probably experiencing 4 to 5-ft seas now. To bring the vessel to safety, the search and rescue crew needs to attach a tow line to the sailboat. >> what's going to happen. I'm going to pull alongside. You're going to get over. I'm going to go over onto the sailboat Crew member Nicholas Sweet plans to jump from one boat to the other. I was trying to, you know, time the waves just right so that when I came alongside, it nothing happened. I didn't smash up against the boat. My coxswain has to really get the boat in position quickly but effectively so that I can do a safe transfer and not fall between the boats, get crushed. Him stepping over it had to be timed perfectly. He had to commit the moment he thought it was best. Sweet waits for the perfect time to jump. One wrong move and he could be crushed between the two boats. No, I need you to give him slack when you pass that line over, all right? You ready on deck, Fultz? Roger. Sweet, you ready on deck? As the boat is coming up, I can see Fultz is ready to make his first throw. I have a shot, take it. Heads up on the bow. Left of the bow. SHACKLE CONNECTED. SHACKLE CONNECTED. SWEET, IS IT CLEAR? It's clear. Roger. [Music] Hold it, Fultz. Yep, holding it. Got it? Yep, yep, got it. Vessel sideways. That shackle's sending or is it sliding down or no? I I can't see it. It looks like it. I want to get behind the helm with the sailboat because with sailboats, the rudder will wildly shift back and forth and they like to kind of go into the surf as they, you know, rock and roll. Yeah, diving hard, nose deep. There are few times where we're taking swells and it's ripping the helm out of my hands. She's turning. She's not straight on with that swell. Back behind the helm, I'm having to really manhandle the the helm and with the sea state, it's actually making it really difficult to keep it in line. So you have to hold on to the helm so the rudder's not shifting you know, port starboard. That way it doesn't create a dangerous situation during the tow and potentially capsize the sailboat. Whoa, she's down bearing She's she's nose down all the way under. She went like two, three times all the way in. That boat capsized, then you're then you're now hooked up to a boat that's being capsized and can potentially pull you under or, you know, worst case scenario is you lose your crewman on that sailboat. Right now, we just got to keep I got to keep an eye on him so that way the coxswain focus on uh keeping in contact with our crew member on board and getting him back safely. [Music] So as we get in back into Marathon, we're literally a few hundred yards away from shoreline. It's a lot calmer than it was, you know, 20 miles offshore. It was calm right offshore Marathon. We anchored them up. All lines on board. Put in shackle. Now that we see that he's in position and that he's holding, he's safe, he has enough electrical power to make it through the night and hopefully tow boat will get out to him in the morning. And so we're cleared to come back to station. [Music] Back in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, suspected drug runners are being detained while Coast Guard law enforcement confirm their boat's nationality. We asked them what they were and one guy was like, "That's crystal meth and that's cocaine." With growing suspicion, the team performs tests on the surface of the boat. When the team gets word from Mexican authorities, Mexico makes the call and says, "Hey, we are denying this is our vessel and go ahead. You have permission to do what you need to do." Ice Cube VO, request 10 minimally intrusive searches throughout the vessel uh due to reasonable suspicion factors, fresh paint, uh tools on board to cut into fiberglass. Over. All right. Uh so far, we have no joy. Agua. Drill five holes. All five have been unsuccessful. Uh two hit water and the other three just came up empty-handed. Ice Cube VO, Roger. Uh we've drilled eight minimally intrusive searches. We've checked with the borescope. Uh nobody on board believes that there is any contraband uh beneath the primary deck. Over. Sometimes we'll find vessels running drugs or they've already done a delivery and they've returned it. You know, they're out here hundreds of miles from the nearest port of land with no means to get back. Unsafe vessel, no tow points, no navigation lights, outfitted for smuggling. But because we didn't find anything, we will take them on board and we will repatriate them through some means with Mexico. But right now they're they're SAR survivors, search and rescue survivors. They are not detainees. They have done nothing wrong that we could find. [Music] Overall, the actual mission of the Munro, Petty Officer Bash, Petty Officer Romo, was a huge success. There is no agency better suited than the United States Coast Guard to lead in the maritime domain. These cutters are the flagship of the Coast Guard's modernized fleet. It's the end of the Munro's 90-day deployment. In total, the Munro seized over 4 tons of drugs in 3 months. When you come back from a 90-day patrol and you're like, man, we got 4 tons of cocaine, that speaks volumes. Just their presence, you know, reduces the amount of drugs that are going to flow into this country. We all serve for different reasons. But over my 36-plus year career, I have found that we all share the same desire to take care of our shipmates, protect our families, and safeguard the American dream. [Music] This is Jersey's. It's a nice spot we like to come and relax and hang out after a deployment. It's family, you know. It's nice to just come here and relax, have a beer, eat some wings, and just talk about life, you know. You know how hard it is telling your girlfriend that you got to prepare for a 90-day or 120-day deployment, and she's like, "120 days, 90 days?" And I'm like, That's what I told her. Yeah. [Music] So, Phil's my lieutenant, he's my OIC, and then Gabe's my ME1, he's our training petty officer. When you're with your boys on the team and you're deploying, it helps. It helps a lot cuz you guys are all going through the same thing. You're missing your family together, you're missing your home life together. I'm originally from Southern California. My family is all the way across the United States. If I have a problem, I know I can call Phil. I can call Gabe and be like, "Yo, man, this is going on or that's going on." [Music] They're my family as well. And now I I look at them and we're going out the door and they're doing a high-risk mission, and I do worry about them. You know, I see them training. I'm the one who personally certifies each and every one of these young men and women. It's a brotherhood. And to be on 405, known as the black sheep, we just got tasked with deploying in May. We're going to be gone for 60 days, roughly. And then when we come back, the scuttlebutt is that we might be deploying for another 90 to 120 days. So, we'll be out for quite a bit of time this year. But it's good though, we're doing the Lord's work. We're out there catching bad guys. And going out there catching bad guys is probably one of the funnest things you can do. [Music]