Story by Petty Officer 3rd Class Caleb Critchfield

Ships from nations all around the Pacific made their way into the harbor and moored to the piers of Port Angeles, Washington. The vessels were as varied and different as the crews they carried but they all had one thing in common. Each ship was laden with a wealthy cargo of knowledge, experience and wisdom. It was this commodity, and the willingness to share it, which would prove invaluable in the days to come.

Named in honor of the partnerships that exist between the member nations, Pacific Unity 2009 was a five-day event hosted by the U.S. Coast Guard, Aug. 23-27, consisting of numerous multi-mission and multi-lateral drill exercises and social events, which allowed each nation to showcase their knowledge and skills, and share information with the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum partners.

 “Our countries each recognize that the Pacific is a pretty big back yard. None of us can keep watch on it alone. We need each other to help combat the types of common threats that we face on the high seas,” said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Greg Sundgaard, head of the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum combined operations working group.

Participating partners included representatives and resources from the Canadian Coast Guard, the Japan Coast Guard, the Russian Border Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard. Forum partner nations representatives from the People’s Republic of China and Republic of Korea attended to observe this year’s activities and participate in an international command center.

Initiated by the Japan Coast Guard in 2000, the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum is designed to foster international cooperation and enhance maritime domain awareness through the sharing of information and best practices related to combined operations including illegal narcotics trafficking, fisheries enforcement, information exchange and maritime law enforcement.

The forum has had great success in documenting best practices in areas of mutual interest for each of the member nations and has formed a web-based information exchange system and developed and published a voluntary manual for combined operations.

“The goal is to take the lessons learned from coordinating and exercising together and develop them into greater interoperability between our assets on the high seas,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Thompson, head of operations for Pacific Unity 2009.

This year’s event opened with a “Sports Day” and a reception aboard the Japanese Coast Guard Cutter Yashima. “Sports Day” gave the international partners a chance to break the ice in a casual setting, and the Japanese Coast Guard reception set the tone for the sharing of information and culture.

“Sports Day is a great chance for us to get to know each other and see each other in an informal setting to improve our relationships for down the road,” said Susan Pickrell, commanding officer of the Canadian Coast Guard Hovercraft Siyay.

The next day proved to be one of the busiest days of the exercise.  The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Henry Blake, a buoy tender homeported in Everett, Wash., cross trained with the crew of the Canadian Coast Guard Buoy Tender Provo Wallis, homeported in Victoria, British Columbia, which marked the first time the U.S. and Canada have set each other’s training buoys on the west coast.

The crews of both vessels shared ideas on maintaining buoys and navigational aids, and also swapped crewmembers to demonstrate best practices.

“This is the first time I have seen an exchange for operations like this,” said 2nd Officer Jim Garrett, the acting executive officer in charge of the Canadian Coast Guard buoy tender Provo Wallis.

The U.S. Coast Guard also worked with partner agencies from Canada and Russia during a simulated search and rescue case. A pair of rescue dummies called Oscars, named for the Oscar flag which means “man overboard,” were lowered into the waters of Puget Sound. The Russian Border Guard vessel Vorovsky, accompanied by U.S. Coast Guard and Canadian Coast Guard observers, were tasked to find and rescue them. The day ended with a reception onboard the Vorovsky.

“They did exactly what we would have done. They drew out a search pattern, put down track lines and plotted out how they were going to search,” said Sundgaard.

The Yashima crew also conducted a port state control type boarding drills of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Midgett, homeported in Seattle.

Much of the next day was spent underway as Vorovsky conducted a search and rescue drill and Yashima and Midgett conducted port state control boardings drills in conjunction with their transit to Seattle, where the remaining events and exercises took place, including a reception that evening onboard the Midgett.

 “I think all the things we covered in these exercises will help us cooperate fruitfully in the future,” said Capt. 1^st Rank, Mikhail Aleksandrovich, head of the Paciic Unity 2009 Russian Border Guard delegation.

Pacific Unity 2009 was not the first Forum event to host multi-national exercises, but it was the first event that allowed the participants to respond to the exercises as though they were real cases.

“The first multi-national exercise event was scripted in great detail. We wanted an exercise that mirrored an actual case, so we provided a scenario to the vessels involved and allowed them to work together without scripting a response,” said Thompson.

The closing ceremonies took place on the final day of the event in Seattle. Representatives from each of the forum member nations delivered a few words of encouragement and praise for the forum and everything that had been accomplished during the past week.

“I think all the things we covered in these exercises will help us cooperate fruitfully in the future,” said Capt. 1^st Rank, Mikhail Aleksandrovich, head of the Paciic Unity 2009 Russian Border Guard delegation.

 “I was inspired by the interaction between our crews, from our most junior personnel to our most senior. We have developed new ideas that each of us can take home to be used to improve our countries operations in the future,” said Rear Adm. Gary Blore, commander of Coast Guard District 13.

“Conducting operations and exercises like this can hopefully break down some barriers and allow for better international cooperation in the future,” said Thompson.

He also said he hopes the junior crew members aboard the ships who participated in this year’s exercises will have a chance to see even greater interoperability and opportunities to work together for mutual benefit in the future.

Each vessel came bearing its own wealthy cargo of knowledge and experience, but by sharing with and educating their international partners through discussion, demonstration and social interaction, each agency left Pacific Unity 2009 laden with the combined operational and cultural wealth of six Pacific nations.

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