Cole Protects Mediterranean from Terrorists
Navy Newsstand
Story Number: NNS040219-07
Release Date: 2/19/2004 7:06:00 PM
By Journalist Seaman Apprentice Cara Maglione, Naval Station Rota Public Affairs
ROTA, Spain (NNS) -- USS Cole (DDG 67) came into port at Naval Station Rota Nov. 11 for one of many stops in the Mediterranean Sea as part of Standing Naval Forces Mediterranean (SNFM), a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) command to protect the surrounding areas from terrorism.
"We work with other countries' ships to control the Mediterranean," said Ensign James Culnen, Cole's force protection officer.
There are two visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) teams aboard Cole to handle any possible terrorist ships that are on Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) suspect lists or NATO suspect lists.
"If they fit a suspect profile, we may board them," said Culnen.
During a VBSS boarding, the members don their camouflage uniforms, bullet-proof vests, tactical floatation devices and jackets, and ride a rigid-hull inflatable boat over to the ship in question.
"We have search teams," said Culnen. "They go ahead and search the cargo; we go through all of their documents and pass that back to our ship to make sure all their crew lists match up with the actual crew they have on board. We make sure none of them are known terrorists, and just make sure that no threat exists on the ship. If everything's good to go, we go back to our own ship and let them go on their way to their next port."
Culnen says there is a lot of teamwork among the countries. "We all patrol different sectors. We all do joint exercises and training. We learn from them; they learn from us," Culnen said. "It's a good thing, because we get to see the way other countries do the same job that we're doing. We learn a lot of good things to do, learn a lot of places where we can improve. It is very good training for us."
One training exercise consisted of a Cole VBSS team boarding an Italian ship, and vice versa from their ship to Cole.
"Just the way they conducted and the way we conducted were two completely different ways. We found some good things, some things we didn't like, some things we liked that we did, and then a lot of things we liked that they did. So we tried to incorporate some of their tactics into our boarding, as well," said Culnen.
Cole has had one actual VBSS inspection since they started, and according to one Sailor, their training paid off.
"We try to make our training as real as possible," said Fire Controlman 2nd Class (SW) Wesley Price, a VBSS member. So the real boarding "wasn't too much different than the other 'training boardings,'" he said.
"The ship that we boarded was on an ONI list," said Culnen. "We asked some questions, got general information. Everything seemed to match. Everything was fine. We didn't find anything that shouldn't have been there."
Since nothing was found, the ship was cleared to go to its next port of call, according to Culnen. The entire boarding took about four and a half hours.
For all of the different tasks involved, those on the VBSS teams are proud of their jobs.
"It's a real-world application of the Navy, so we look forward to go and actually board ships and do inspections of the ships," said Culnen.
"It's probably the best opportunity Sailors get to work with other militaries, other navies. We get to spend some time with them even when we're in port, learn a lot about how other navies operate and, in turn, that helps us do our jobs better," said Price.
No matter what the teams are doing, safety is always their main concern.
"The number one priority while we're boarding ships is safety at all times for all of our people, then inspections and doing the job. The mission is a very high priority, but it is second to safety at all times," said Culnen.
When the mission is complete and all is accounted for, the VBSS team heads back to the ship to await their next chance to keep the Mediterranean safe.
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