MIAMI—Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team Miami, the Air Force, FBI, Miami Fire and Rescue and Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1 participated in the joint training exercise, Operation Patriot Sands, Saturday, at the Homestead Air Reserve Base.
Operation Patriot Sands is an annual Air Force exercise in which agencies learn to properly prepare equipment, resources, and assets for tactical air mobility. This includes the standardization of weighing, fueling, inspecting, and securing the load prior to take-off. During the exercise, the MSST worked with partner agencies to properly load a Coast Guard 29-foot Response Boat—Small into an Air Force C-17 Globemaster cargo airplane and fly with the asset onboard to conduct a load test.
“The training is an excellent example of how the Coast Guard, the Air Force, and supporting agencies remain mission ready, relevant, and responsive,” said Lt. Cmdr. Saladin Shelton, commanding officer of Coast Guard MSST Miami. "Conducting air lifts like this offers Coast Guard deployable specialized forces a high degree of speed, range, and flexibility to maximize response time in any given situation."
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