Mission to Africa – More from Morocco
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Written by: Victoria Bonk
Mohawk sails off the coast of West Africa with the Royal Moroccan Navy’s ship the Mohammed V, Friday, July 9, 2010. The Mohawk and the Mohammed V worked together for two days by doing practice scenarios and boarding each others vessels. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Victoria Bonk
Sunday, July 2, 2010 we moored in Casablanca, Morocco. This stop in Morocco has commenced our mission in West Africa, helping partner nations build their capacities and capabilities to increase their maritime domain awareness and strengthen their borders against the flow of drugs and other illicit maritime activity.
Instead of fireworks, hot dogs and baseball games on the Fourth of July, we celebrated Independence Day by hosting a flight deck reception with the U.S. Consul General in Casablanca. The guest list included distinguished visitors from the diplomatic corps as well as the Moroccan and foreign military. The reception featured beautifully prepared dishes highlighting the cutter’s food service technicians’ culinary skills. The event was a great success.
Seaman Alex Busch, a boarding team member from the Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk, practices his boarding skills aboard the Royal Moroccan Navy’s ship the Mohammed V, Friday, July 9, 2010. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Victoria Bonk
After working in port with some breaks for visits to the medina (open market), the infamous Rick’s Café, the Corniche beach area and the Hussan II Mosque – the second largest mosque in the world – we teamed up with the Royal Moroccan Naval ship Mohammed V to conduct two days of at-sea exercises including formation steaming, visual communications and small boat operations.
The highlight of the at-sea exercises was conducting mock boardings; our boarding team “boarding” the Royal Moroccan Navy and the Royal Moroccan Navy team “boarding” Mohawk. Each vessel created scenarios that walked the other country through Right of Approach questions on the radio, getting the boarding team safely transferred aboard the suspect vessel, initial safety sweep and inspection of the vessel and finally procedures for seizure of people and property. Teams encountered everything from simulated illegal drugs and migrants, to weapons and even a simulated bomb.
“During our boarding exercises with the Moroccan Navy I was able to learn many things from their lead boarding officer. I was able to see how they react to stressful situations and what their policies were pertaining to use of force interactions,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Timothy Tolliver, law enforcement officer aboard the Mohawk. “I was able to share my knowledge from boarding officer to boarding officer standpoint and assist them as much as possible. Ultimately, I feel it was a great experience for the Moroccan Navy and us. It gave Mohawk’s law enforcement teams a chance to showcase their talents and skill-based knowledge. They were able to show the Moroccan Navy a different way to do work.”
Now that we have officially wrapped our engagement with Morocco the ship is back at sea heading toward the next host nation and more exciting adventures.
PA3 Victoria Bonk
CGC Mohawk
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Training the Navies of African Nations about how to intercept pirates is something that is fifty years Too Little and Too Late – but – better Late than Never….
One very obvious need for these Navies is the ability to communicate and synchronize their Activities. One would hope that Our Coast Guard will help them learn how to do this.
Thanks for the great updates. It is so nice to hear about the experiences the crew is having in Africa.
Ensign Fogarty, hope you are having fun!
Thanks for keeping us connected and thank you for the pictures!
Please give our love to BMC and the crew.
We cannot wait to see you come back to the Mohawk Pier!!!
Thanks for keeping us updated!! It’s so gnice to be able to hear the stories of what you guys have been up to!! Let MK1 Callenius know that the family misses him very much!! Cannot wait until all of you return back to the Mohawk Pier safely!!