Members of Port Security Unit 305 conduct underway gun exercises. Photo courtesy of Chief Petty Officer Robert B. Trinkle. A New Horizon: port security units look to the future Story by Petty Officer 3rd Class Brian Zimmerman, District 7 Public Affairs For Coast Guard Port Security Unit 305, things had come full circle. It was the Virginia-based PSU 305, after all, that first deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2002, serving as the Coast Guard’s initial Maritime Security Detachment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in the months after 9/11. And on June 13, 2023, it was PSU 305 that took part in the casing of the colors ceremony at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, joining the Coast Guard’s commandant, Adm. Linda Fagan, as she presided over the official end of the Coast Guard’s 21-year mission supporting Joint Task Force Guantanamo. As one mission closes, the Coast Guard’s port security units await what comes next. They are a well-equipped, well-trained expeditionary Reserve force that can rapidly deploy worldwide for anti-terrorism and force protection operations. And fortunately, a new mission has come into focus. According to Pacific Area PSU/ESF Force Manager Lt. Cmdr. Ed Sandlin, the leading PSU employment option involves stronger relationships with the Naval Expeditionary Combat Command and Navy Maritime Expeditionary Security Force squadrons (MSRONs) to provide various support to Combat Commands outside the contiguous United States. Under this new option, PSU employment will reinforce an existing partially sourced mission for INDOPACOM in support of Navy Command Task Force 75 Embarked Security Team (EST) operations, with Coast Guard PSU ESTs providing underway security for Navy ships and Navy logistic voyages throughout the Indo-Pacific and Oceania region. Each EST mission will likely be a nine-month deployment with six-month in-theater mission tasking and a five-week Embarked Security Combat Skills Course held in San Diego or North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune. As always, the Coast Guard’s PSUs are ready and able to adapt to any contingency. Petty Officer 1st Class Matthew McDowell, 41, of Charleston, South Carolina, is used to making adjustments and moving with the times. A former firefighter, the maritime enforcement specialist served nine months at Guantanamo as part of PSU 305. He said that he was glad to take part in the historic handoff between the Coast Guard and Naval Station Guantanamo Bay’s Navy Harbor Patrol Unit and Marine Corps Security Forces, and he’s confident the mission is in good hands. “We worked a lot with our counterparts in the Army, doing joint intruder drills where we would interact with the Army and Marine Corps,” he said. “We’d answer any questions they’d have and did our best to fill them in on what we do and our experiences so far.” Moving forward, he plans to bring the maritime enforcement skills he honed with JTF-GTMO to his next station as a chief petty officer. He sat for the servicewide in October and is excited for his next chapter with the Coast Guard, wherever the service needs him. Chief Petty Officer Philip Prisco, Jr., a damage controlman attached to PSU 305 as the unit’s engineering officer, has a more permanent change in mind. At age 44 and after two and a half decades of service, he plans to retire from the Coast Guard at the end of 2023. His nine-month deployment to Guantanamo was the perfect swan song. “In the back of my mind, I had always been interested in what PSUs do,” said Prisco. “I was at the end of my career and wanted to broaden my horizons by being able to see what the PSU does. It means a lot to say that I was part of a PSU. This deployment was the ultimate way to go out. I couldn’t say no.” Though he didn’t partake in the official casing of the colors ceremony, Prisco made it a point to convey to his team that they were participating in something special, and that the future of PSUs will no doubt carry a similar significance. “I’ve been in the Coast Guard for 25 years, and I don’t think I’ve ever been that close to the commandant,” said Prisco. “That registered with me, and I think it registered with a lot of my team as well–just how important these missions really are. Not just for the U.S., but for the world.” . Issue 4 • 2023 . Reservist 11 Celebrating Celebrating 70 70 years of the Reservist years of the Reservist
