A Question: Coast Guard LEDETs

From Wiki...

Law Enforcement Detachments currently consist of eleven members and are usually commanded by a Lieutenant (junior grade). Personnel are trained to conduct vertical insertions, container climbing, and close quarters combat (CQC). Some personnel also receive special training as precision marksmen, emergency medical technicians, or linguists. In addition to providing law enforcement boarding teams, LEDETs also have specially trained aerial gunners which can deploy aboard ship-based Navy helicopters to provide airborne use of force against smugglers, similarly to the Coast Guard's Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron.

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Are there any Ensign billets with LEDETs? What sort of training would the personnel undergo? How far up in rank can an Officer go in these D.O.G. groups? Thanks!

No ensign billets in LEDETs. The DOG has a rear admiral, so you can go high, but it's not a path...so you'll be in and out of the DOG.

Seems like they're talking about MSSTs, or the MSRT....I don't know of any LEDETs engaged in airborne use of force.... You'll often find LEDETs on Navy ships though.

LineInTheSand said:

Seems like they're talking about MSSTs, or the MSRT....I don't know of any LEDETs engaged in airborne use of force.... You'll often find LEDETs on Navy ships though.

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Aren't MSST and MSRT based out of Sectors though? I know that HITRON engages in airborne use of force. What would a j.g. go through for training of this billet, and do you think they would get the opportunity to lead, or just do paper work? I'm assuming they would have at least gone to Boarding Officer school...

Does this mean whenever the Navy pulls over pirates it's actually the Coast Guard LEDETs, due to some of DoD's restrictions?

LEDETs do MANY boardings, and from the stories, you don't want to be in a boat of sailors with shotguns on a board...."accident discharges galore".

MSSTs and the MSRT are both under the DOG, so they do not answer to sectors. The DOG is through PACAREA, for an interesting, but not important reason right now. DOG used to be an HQ unit.


Sure, there are opportunities to lead, but as an officer, you will also get some paper work...that's true across the board.


I know LEDETs and MSSTs and the MSRT sound really really cool, but not everyone sees it that way, or want to be in them. I can tell you, many of us don't see them as the "bad asses" of the Coast Guard. They use money, get pretty good funding, and I fear, personally, (and I guess this is good), they have not been used for the huge, scary event they were created for.

Will MSSTs and the MSRT be around forever? I don't know. Maybe not in the numbers today. LEDETs are a safe bet though.

I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer about the MSSTs and the MSRT, I have friends in both...and they certainly have a purpose.

The old joke of course is what do the first 6 letters of officer spell? o-f-f-i-c-e.

What is the huge, scary things that these groups were created for? I seem to recall that there were a couple of Academy grads who became Navy Seals, but I never saw the point behind that program either..

It's definitely interesting to see all of the different sides of the Coast Guard, for sure.

Also, a lot of MSST billets go to OCS grads.

SamAca10 said:

The old joke of course is what do the first 6 letters of officer spell? o-f-f-i-c-e.

What is the huge, scary things that these groups were created for? I seem to recall that there were a couple of Academy grads who became Navy Seals, but I never saw the point behind that program either..

It's definitely interesting to see all of the different sides of the Coast Guard, for sure.

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You can think of the MSST as "SWAT" and the MSRT as something like the the FBI's HRT. MSSTs were meant to be packaged units that are mobile and can be flown/trucked in to an area. The MSRT is like the MSST on steroids.