The Coast Guard Cutter Northland and the USS Farragut combine efforts to find flight drones used for a gun exercise off the coast of Brazil, April 26, 2008. The drones were used as a target for a gun exercise during this years UNITAS, a multinational event testing the interoperability of U.S. and foreign navies.

Since 1959, the United States and various South American countries have participated in an annual multinational naval exercise called UNITAS, named after the Latin word for unity. This year's UNITAS exercise includes navies from Argentina, Brazil, and the U.S., along with U.S. and Brazilian Marines and Coast Guardsmen in the exercise held off the coast of Brazil, April 24-May 2.

The annual exercise is designed to enhance relationships with our neighbors to the south by developing interoperability in naval operations among the participating nations. For the crew of the Portsmouth, Va., based Coast Guard Cutter Northland, it was a great opportunity to highlight the roles and missions of the Coast Guard on the multinational stage.

"We will be building unilateral strategies to combat 21^st century maritime threats in a joint operational environment through our specialization in the execution of Search and Rescue and Maritime Interdiction," said Cmdr. Christopher Austin, Commanding Officer of the Northland.

In an exercise relying heavily on secure communications with its many international counterparts, the Northland's Combat Information Center (CIC) worked long hours and were tested in their ability to accomplish the mission while trying to overcome language barriers and fatigue. Throughout the exercise, the participating units were divided into two teams. Each team represented opposing countries with the other country constantly trying to get through the defenses of the other in order to build a weapon of mass destruction.

"When we were trying to communicate with the other countries it was hard to understand what they were saying because of the language barrier," said Petty Officer 3^rd Class Peter Vancamp, an Operations Specialist stationed aboard the cutter in the (CIC). "To come up with a game plan with these countries, we had to realize that every country does things differently. In the end we all came together as one."

For more than 3,500 U.S. sailors, seasoned and new alike, this experience held many new and different challenges they hadn't faced until the exercise and it was no different for the crewmembers of the Northland.

"Sailing with more than one unit was unusual for us. Making maneuvers with multiple ships while being in a formation was definitely a new experience," said Austin.

"UNITAS was very different, we normally aren't working with other countries or with the Navy to complete Coast Guard missions.  Our normal missions are maritime law enforcement, migrant operations, or search and rescue operations," Vancamp said. "During UNITAS that wasn't the case we had to come together with these other countries navies in order to be successful."

Petty Officer 3rd Class Scott Roark, a U.S. Navy culinary specialist stationed aboard the USS Farragut, retrieves a flight drone with the help of a Coast Guard Cutter Northland small boat crew off the coast of Brazil, April 26, 2008.

As a member of the team trying to defend their "country" from outside threats, the Northland was given Maritime Interdiction Operations (MIO) control for the final exercise.

"We're part of the blue team, our goal is to not let the orange team, the ‘bad guys,' accomplish their goal of gathering parts in order to make a weapon of mass destruction," said Austin. "For the final battle exercise, we were given command and control of the operations and had to stop the ‘bad guys' from getting through our defenses and prevent them from delivering the final parts they needed."

As part of the final battle problem, the Northland deployed a boarding team along with a Navy Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure team (VBSS), were deployed to conduct a search of an opposing teams ship 40 miles away in rough nighttime seas using the cutters over the horizon boat (OTH).

"I've been on the OTH before to do long distance boarding's, but this was still a long ride to get to the Argentinean navy ship that we had to board, by the time we had got there, it was dark and we were tired," said Seaman George Degener, a member of the cutter's boarding team. "The boarding took about an hour or two. But we completed the boarding and found their stash of so called weapons. There were boxes that were marked with foreign writing and some that had English on it. Some of the weapons were easy to find because of the writing on the boxes, but some of the other ones were a little more hidden in certain compartments. It was a definitely an interesting experience going on a foreign navy ship and doing a boarding with the Navy."

"We accomplished the mission successfully." Austin added. "I think we left an indelible mark on U.S. and foreign navies by highlighting what our capabilities are and what we have to offer in of our experience with legacy Coast Guard roles and missions. This exercise really helped in increasing more visibility for the Coast Guard on an international level."

Petty Officer 2nd Class Carlos Montejano, a boatswains mate, stationed aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Northland supervises two Brazilian marines during a training exercise in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, April 23. The Northland provided crewmembers from the cutter to help train Brazilian and Argentinean navies in law enforcement tactics during in this years UNITAS, Atlantic phase.

Though the Coast Guard participates in the exercise every year in one capacity or another, this was the Northlands first time participating in the multinational event.

"Overall, the crew answered very well to the challenges that were put before them," said Austin. "They had to overcome a steep learning curve, but they adapted and overcame the challenges."

"It was an honor working with the other different countries military's and seeing how they operate, during a war like operation and how the different countries came together as a group to work together to accomplish our missions," Vancamp said.

For more high resolution photos, please go to cgvi.uscg.mil and type UNITAS in the search field.

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