What law enforcement does the Coast Guard do? It doesn’t really show up on our patches very well.

The US Coast Guard has several missions. Search and Rescue (SAR) is what we’re best known for, but as the successor to the original Revenue Cutter Service, we are also charged with suppressing smuggling over water, an old fashioned word for drug-running. Ever heard of Prohibition? The Coast Guard tried for several years to curtail the smuggling of liquor into the United States. Drugs and illegal immigration are just the current twists on smuggling. Nowadays, the mission is called Marine Law Enforcement (MLE) or Law Enforcement (LE). The Coast Guard also enforces various fisheries laws and environmental protection laws. That mission is Enforcement of Laws and Treaties (ELT). We enforce boating safety laws, merchant marine, port safety and marine shipping safety laws. These are carried out by the various stations and Marine Safety Offices (MSOs), enforcing laws regarding ship construction and repair, equipage, manning, proper navigation and port security. The Coast Guard also has other missions, like aids to navigation, military readiness, iceberg patrols, icebreaking, etc.

Every operational Coast Guard unit is a multi-mission unit. Cutters (ships), air stations and stations are the frontline units. Some units seem to concentrate more on SAR, some more on LE, some others more on buoy tending (Aids to Navigation - AToN). Even though a unit may mostly work in one mission, it is expected to be proficient in all of them. Thus, an air station, primarily involved in SAR will fly drug detection sorties. A cutter, frequently used for drug interception patrols, will always respond to a SAR case. Stations do the same thing, perhaps with the northern stations having a little more emphasis on SAR and the southern ones a little more emphasis on LE. A unit may be called upon to do ‘gracious knows what.’

This profusion of responsibilities gets reflected in our patches. A unit that does a lot of drug interception patrols may emphasize it on their patch. Likewise, a unit that does mostly SAR may emphasis that on their patch. For reasons known only to young people, the dangdest things show up on their patches. Units only occasionally involved in LE may put it on their patch and units deeply involved in LE may not mention it at all. Often, the unit emphasizes location or some other facet of it’s culture on it’s patch. But they are all, at least in part, law enforcement units.

Should you have any questions about what units do what or when or how much, give me a shout. I’m always good for an opinion.

Enjoy collecting Coast Guard patches !

Rex M. Wessling, LCDR, USCG(Ret)