I Have Asked Skinner to Lock This Thread as "Off-Topic"

[Boatswain2PA]

69. This story is a blatant LIE

I am not discussing the "lesson" the OP is trying to impart here, and I will not delve into the political spectrum here. However his story of being a Coast Guard Ensign in 1988 and killing a man (any man) during a drug interdiction patrol at that time frame is, I believe, not true.

I will give you many reasons why this story is a fabrication. I recently retired from the Coast Guard as a Senior Chief Boatswain Mate. I was an operator for almost all of that career, and attending their senior law enforcement school (sounds cool, but not really). I have also written about Coast Guard history, and am a paid author about Coast Guard history and operations.

First reason: The entire Coast Guard is a smaller force (about 35,000) than the New York City Police Department (about 45,500). If a New York cop shoots a suspect, every other cop in New York is going to know about it in just a few days. Now, maybe the office assistant for the undersecretary of janitorial services for the #th district of the New York Police Department won't know about it, but every COP on the beat is going to know about it. I was an operator for almost all of my career, and I damn well knew about every major Coast Guard law enforcement action during that career.

Second: Coast Guard Ensigns are typically brilliant idiots (meaning incredibly smart, but young and naive), and nobody gives them a gun unless there is a Chief right behind them making sure they don't hurt themselves. NOBODY would EVER have given an Ensign a gun (presumably a long gun) and told them to go to the side of the ship to "show" their weapon. This is NOT, and since the Civil War HAS not, been the role of an Ensign on any Coast Guard ship. If the OP had said he was a "gunner's mate", or "boatswain mate", then this story would have used at least the right character, but in this case, it is simply an imaginary actor.

Third: The Coast Guard has reporting requirements for incidences, called Situation Reports (or SITREPS). Even back in 1988 a Commanding Officer would NEVER have fired a hostile shot unless it was immediately reported via SITREP. In about 1992 the Coast Guard added a LEREP (Law Enforcement Report) requirement for anything as small as an officer using more than "level 2" (defined as giving verbal commands" against a subject). These SITREPS were put together in reports from the Coast Guard Office of Law Enforcement and distributed to the field as learning aids. There was NEVER a SITREP concerning a Coastie (let alone an Ensign) getting shot at by a Panamanian drug smuggler and returning lethal fire.

Fourth: The Coast Guard, even way back in 1988, required every single cutter, boat, or unit to account for each and every bullet expended. This was a requirement for far longer than what I remember, and comes from the NAVY, from which we get our ammunition from. This means that any ammunition fired operationally would HAVE to be reported as an operational expenditure. If someone wants to get conspiratorial (in the realm of the twin towers being brought down by our own government), then YES, it is theoretically possible to get an entire crew of a ship (because everyone will know when a round is fired) to agree to lie, including the "career" guys who were not involved in the shooting yet would lose their careers if it came out that they covered it up. However, remember, this is the incredibly small Coast Guard, and human nature is that "people talk". I, and every other senior person from 1988 onward, would have heard about this.

Fifth, his Commanding Officer would not have "killed twice before" unless his CO had perhaps been an ENS or LtJg during Operation Markettime during the Vietnam Conflict. Even then I do not believe any CO or XO of a patrol boat during Operation Markettime ever directly engaged the enemy and got a KIA, let alone TWO.

Lastly, the supposedly Lieutenant Commander Fitzomething has been in the Coast Guard for 30 years, and is soon making Commander and "getting his own boat". This also reeks of bull excrement. The very few Lieutenant Commander's the Coast Guard has who have been in for approaching 30 years are prior enlisted guys who went to OCS. These are guys who are subject matter specialists (naval engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, etc) who are the technocrats, NOT the ship-driving officer corps. For those who were Ensigns in 1988, most are now Captains (O-6), or AT LEAST Senior Commanders. If you want proof, look at the biography of ANY "Coast Guard Sector Commander", who are all O-6s.

Now, we are all wrong sometimes. And I am certainly an imperfect human being. So I will make (the supposedly) Lieutenant Commander Ryan Fitzomething a deal. You send me an email to Boatswain2PA@gmail with details of who you are, and I will ask some of my friends up in D17 (Alaska) if you are for real. If you are, I will come back on this board and publicly apologize, and I will send you a bottle of wine for you to share with your wife as my apologies for calling you a liar.