Coast Guard LT Perpares for deployment to Middle East.

[CFHSNJROTC]

Press Release
Atlantic Area

U.S. Coast Guard
Date: April 13,2006
Contact: USCG Public Affairs
(757) 398-6272

SOMERS POINT NATIVE TO DEPLOY TO MIDDLE EAST IN SUPPORT OF OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Coast Guard LT. j.g. Jonathon R. Waechter, 24, a native of Somers Point, N.J., will deploy April 15, to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. While there, he will be assigned to the Coast Guard Cutter Aquidneck, a 110-foot patrol boat.

Waechter will participate in maritime interception operations and coastal security patrols in the Persian Gulf along with the U.S Navy and coalition naval forces, enforcing U.N. sanctions preventing the movement of insurgent military forces, or equipment at sea.

The 110-foot patrol boats are the workhorses of the Coast Guard's efforts in the Persian Gulf. They board, search and escort many ships in the area.

Waechter is serving as a member of an elite Coast Guard expeditionary force, capable of world-wide deployment to conduct sustained maritime security operations. He has been trained in procedures suitable to the prevailing security environment.