Aircrew participates in Japanese sea review

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Matt Summers
  • 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --  Seven U.S. Coast Guard flight crew members aboard an HC-130 Hercules Long Range Surveillance Aircraft demonstrated their unit's capabilities for Japanese Coast Guard leaders and the citizens of Tokyo April 26 during an annual sea review and comprehensive drill in Tokyo Bay.

Lt. Cmdr. Brust Roethler, aircraft commander, and Lt. Andrew Paszkiewicz, co-pilot, based at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii, flew their Hercules some 250 feet off the surface of the bay during the final portion of a drill featuring 28 surface vessels, 12 helicopters and six fixed-wing aircraft. The flight crew, who traveled more than 3,800 miles and were based out of Yokota Air Base during preparations for the show, were the only foreign-based unit participating in this year's event.

"It's a good way to foster international relationships -- especially with the Japanese Coast Guard with which we share a very strong relationship," said Commander Roethler, who's Coast Guard District 14 has hosted Japanese Coastguardsmen for search and rescue exercises.

Officials designed this year's sea review and comprehensive drill to not only demonstrate the readiness of Japan's 12,000-person strong Coast Guard, but to educate the nation's decisionmakers and public at large on the capabilities of the service responsible for the safety and security of the country's nearly 22,000 miles of coastline. The service also patrols and monitors 267,000 square miles of territorial waters and 2.5 million square miles of exclusive economic zone waters.

The demonstration included firefighting capabilities at sea, helicopter formation flying, rescue and maritime disaster prevention drills, and drills for pursuing and capturing smuggling ships.

"We didn't realize the magnitude... it's quite spectacular," said Lieutenant Paszkiewicz, who had one briefing and two dress rehearsals to get ready for the event. "Despite the language barriers... everything worked out really well.

"It was such a big event and we were just a small part of it," he added

Commander Roethler said although he's participated in air shows and search and rescue exercises before, nothing compares to the sea review.

"There are lots of pieces to this puzzle," he said. "We're proud to be here waving the Coast Guard and United States' flag with the Japanese."

At home station, Commander Roethler and his crew spend a majority of their time enforcing fishing laws in the 200-mile exclusive economic zones surrounding the numerous inhabited and uninhabited islands of the Pacific claimed by the United States. The unit's territory ranges from Hawaii halfway to Kodiak, Alaska, from Hawaii halfway to the coast of California and from Hawaii west past the island of Guam.

But, the primary mission of the Coast Guard's HC-130s is search and rescue.

"If there's search and rescue to be completed we will drop what we are doing and do that," said the commander. "One of the things that make it (HC-130) so versatile is it's massive endurance -- we can go places our smaller aircraft can't and the Hawaii area of responsibility demands something with the kind of legs the Herc has."

Despite the airframes' uniqueness, the lieutenant said it's almost "shocking" the amount of similarities between the two country's coastal services.

"They have the same missions, the same challenges, things work the same way," he said.

"But for the color of the stripe on their ships, there goes a U.S. Coast Guard ship," said Commander Roethler.