Local Coast Guard Unit Deployed to Guantanamo Bay

The Coast Guard Port Security Unit 308, based at Stennis International Airport in Kiln, Mississippi, has deployed seventy-four members to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The members of the Hancock County unit, deployed on January 5^th, will be working to maintain an uninterrupted maritime protection presence in the Naval Defensive Sea Area of the Bay. They will directly support the commander of the Joint Task Force Guantanamo, which is the United States military organization that was created to manage the terrorism suspects detained at the base.

According to Ronzelle Green, Commanding Officer of PSU 308, "For two years we’ve been preparing for this moment and this time. We look forward to working with our JTF counterparts for mission success.”

Member duties will include patrolling the water around the military facilities using 32-foot patrol boats equipped with mounted automatic machine guns that are able to travel at speeds of up to 45 knots, in addition to training alongside and working with other branches of the military. The assignment will last up to a full year.

PSU 308 is an all-reserve unit, ready to be deployed anywhere worldwide within 96 hours in support of maritime security missions. Members of the unit are from across the region as well as from around the nation.

This is the unit’s second deployment to Guantanamo Bay. It has also been deployed to Kuwait and Bahrain, where it patrolled the Port of Ash Shuaiba, where U.S. military gear traveled out of Iraq.

The 308 is a part of the 8^th Coast Guard District, which is headquartered in New Orleans.