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Old 02-14-2017, 02:30 AM   #9
Icelander
 
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
Default Re: Coast Guard response to distress call on Jewell Island, ME

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinman View Post
Having visited USCG cutters in NYC during fleet week I know that they will have at least 1 .50 BMG.
Many cutters will have a 20mm cannon (or larger) in a bow turret and a .50 BMG on port & starbord mountings (with gun shields). They will have lots of pistols and some M-16 family rifles. Maybe a few shotguns too.
Most coast guard stations & many cutters will have a helicopter too.
The helicopter will have a door mounted medium machine gun.
Thanks, that's useful.

So Coast Guard helicopters are always armed, even if primarily intended for search and rescue? Even if there is no helicopter in South Portland, Portsmouth base is only some 65 miles away, a short hop for a helicopter.

I'd think having a cutter sail a few miles is probably cheaper than spinning up a chopper, as I'd think that the distress call caused them alarm, but wasn't in itself enough to justify planning and executing a full-scale assault on Jewell Island. After all, there is a guard force there working on contract for the federal government, some of whose members are even Coast Guard Reserve or Auxiliary.

And while none of the guards can be reached by radio, no more than the federal agent, O'Toole, who radioed in saying that the guards had attacked him and kidnapped his boss, the Warden will be assuring them by phone that things are fine. I don't know how he'll explain O'Toole's distress call or the fact that neither O'Toole nor his boss, Banks, are available to speak with (the OIG of the DHS will confirm that the agents are on the island), nor how he'll explain that there's a jammer preventing radios from working (in case that the Coast Guard can detect the white-noise jamming).
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