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Elite units trained in war, weaponry for secret missions

Calling it "an extraordinary opportunity," the Coast Guard said it will be sending select candidates to become Navy elite special forces SEALs.

The Navy said it hopes to grow the size of its SEAL forces from 2,500 to 2,800 but won't compromise the rigorous mental and physical training standards to do so. The Coast Guard is a ready and willing pool upon which to draw.

Some who served with the Coast Guard's own elite unit, the select 325 group of helicopter rescue swimmers, wonder where the candidates will come from, hoping it won't force the service to compete with itself for high-end units.

"It will be the thing to watch," said Mario Marini, 50, of Olympia. Now retired after 21 years in the Coast Guard, Marini was one of the nation's first rescue swimmers, completing the famed school in 1985, its first year of existence.

"Navy SEALs are 180 degrees out from the Coast Guard, a different breed," Marini said.

While Coast Guard rescue swimmers are selected and trained to brave extremely hazardous conditions to save lives, Navy SEALs - as well as Army Rangers and Green Berets, Air Force commandos and para-rescuers, and the Marine Corps' Force Recon - are disciplined in war and weaponry to carry out highly difficult, and often secretive, special warfare missions.

Coast Guard and Navy officials say the SEAL merger evolved from the 21st century National Maritime Strategy between the Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy penned in October. It emphasizes more interchange and less redundancy between the nation's maritime military services.

"Jointness" is the overall military buzzword for such things these days.

Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen wrote in a memorandum July 31 announcing the SEAL agreement, "since 9/11, our safety and security missions have grown considerably and we must continue to learn and increase our specialty knowledge by providing our personnel with the requisite skills."

Only four candidates a year will be sent to SEAL school, where the dropout rate is more than 50 percent. The challenge has been met with enthusiasm in the Coast Guard, officials said. The first nominees, who undoubtedly will be highly scrutinized, are expected to be selected by 2009.

"We have about four (Coast Guard) slots for a SEAL class in the February time frame," Rear Adm. Thomas Atkin, who commands the Coast Guard's deployable operations group, said in a recent phone interview. He oversaw relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, where the Coast Guard was singled out for its effectiveness.

The Coast Guard falls under the Homeland Security Department but works closely with the Defense Department. Anti-terror and home defense were added to its long list of responsibilities after 9/11, responsibilities that already include lifesaving, environmental protection, guarding fisheries and interdicting drug runners.

It's too soon to count applicants, although "anecdotally there is a huge response in the positive," Atkin said.
P-I reporter Mike Barber can be reached at 206-448-8018 or mikebarber@seattlepi.com.