Relations Between the UBF and the USCG [Poseidon’s Rifles]

[Webstral]

Targan’s observation about the potential stickiness of characters arriving in New England without understanding that there are rival Coast Guard commands made me think that I should write a re-cap of the relationships between the primary maritime powers of New England in Poseidon’s Rifles.

Starting at the top, Commandant of the United States Coast Guard Nils Holsbirger and Rear Admiral Scott MacDowell of USCG First District despise each other. Holsbirger sees MacDowell as a self-interested empire builder who has put his personal quest for power and glory ahead of the national interest. MacDowell sees Holsbirger as a misguided obstruction. Cooperation between these two is almost unimaginable, although the scale of the threat emerging from the melting snows in northern New England may be the catalyst required for reconciliation.

Relations between the two Coast Guard commanders and John Carlucci of the United Brotherhood of Fishermen are a bit more complex. Holsbirger sees Carlucci and his rising UBF as a direct threat to the liberties of New Englanders. However, Holsbirger does acknowledge that the UBF have been good for coastal communities where the Marines provide security, and the anti-pirate activities of the UBF have been of benefit to everyone. For the time being, Holsbirger wants to keep the peace while he develops a long-term plan for dealing with the UBF. In any event, the UBF is a far lesser evil than pirates or the Megapunks the UBF Marines fight.

Carlucci sees the Coast Guard in Narragansett Bay as a potential roadblock to increasing his dominance over the New England coast. Ultimately, the Coast Guard in Narragansett Bay will have to be dealt with; for the time being, though, Carlucci is doing his best to avoid incidents with the Coast Guard. The business with USS Corpus Christi has distracted Carlucci from more mundane details of devising schemes to either destroy, neutralize, or co-opt the Coast Guard in Narragansett Bay.

MacDowell has a grudging respect for Carlucci, who has built an empire from almost nothing. Although MacDowell is concerned about the future of civil liberties in areas under Carlucci’s control, MacDowell believes this is an issue for the future. To some degree, MacDowell feels that Carlucci’s UBF is doing the job First District ought have been doing all along within the UBF’s area of control. Although arguably MacDowell has possessed the assets to destroy the UBF Marines for some time, until the beginning of 2001 he has been unwilling to take any steps. There is more than a little justification for his reluctance. 701st Maritime Rifles has been kept quite busy along the Maine coast on missions for First District; the regiment also has been employed on a number of missions for MilGov, including the 1999 evacuation of American troops from Iceland. By the same token, the primary combatant of First District, USCGC Gallatin, has been employed on missions for MilGov and assaults against pirates all along the coasts of Maine, Nova Scotia and beyond. Diesel doesn’t grow on trees, nor do spare parts for a cutter. So long as the UBF has been doing the Coast Guard’s job for it, MacDowell has been content to pursue other goals. Nevertheless, he has always acknowledged that in the long term he is going to have to have to settle up with Carlucci and the UBF.

Carlucci has come to hold MacDowell in contempt, principally because MacDowell seems to have the means to defeat the UBF in battle but has declined to do so. Carlucci knows a fair amount about the state of affairs in First District. He knows that man for man the Maritime Rifles are as good as his own Marines; he knows that Gallatin, for all intents and purposes, is a frigate and is the boss combatant in the region. He is aware of the fact that MacDowell is on the outs with the Joint Chiefs. In 1998 and early 1999, Carlucci assumed that perhaps First District was very much weaker than numbers seemed to indicate or that the Coast Guard couldn’t fight. The actions along the Maine and Nova Scotia coasts disproved the idea that the District couldn’t fight, while the action in Iceland demonstrated that Gallatin is a potent combat force. Carlucci simply couldn’t make sense of MacDowell’s failure to at least attempt to force the UBF to play by the Coast Guard’s rules. By 2001, Carlucci has come to the conclusion that MacDowell is afraid of Carlucci personally. Although Carlucci’s idea is deluded, it’s the best he can do to rationalize why MacDowell hasn’t done something Carlucci would do if their roles were reversed.

Lower down the chain of command, the troops of the three maritime powers view each other as comrades-in-arms and undeclared allies. The officers and enlisted men are aware of the attitudes of their senior leaders towards each other. To the riflemen and crews, this is all politics. What matters is keeping food on the tables of the civilians and maintaining law and order in their respective areas. Coast Guardsmen (in Narragansett Bay), UBF Marines, and tridents all work hard and risk their lives fighting gangs, pirates, marauders, and the sea in pursuit of the same goals. Many of the Marines are former servicemen and/or law enforcement. They work the same waters, are punished by the same storms, and fight the same enemies. Much as Union and Confederate troops did during the Civil War, Marines, tridents and Narragansett Coasties engage in much unofficial and unauthorized contact. Most of the rules of engagement that prevent incidents between the three commands have been devised by the riflemen and the crews.

The senior leaders are aware of the attitudes of their troops. Carlucci has concluded that MacDowell doubts the willingness of his troops to engage the UBF and that this means the UBF has a more-or-less secure future in terms of confrontation with First District. The boss of the UBF cares less about what Holsbirger’s people think, because Carlucci doesn’t believe Holsbirger has the means to challenge the UBF.

MacDowell, on the other hand, has moved a staff-developed plan for decapitating the UBF from the back burner to the front of the stove. As far back as 1998, it was suggested to MacDowell that a surgical strike could remove the senior leadership of the UBF and place the entire structure under First District command. Until recently, MacDowell was unwilling to give serious attention to the idea. However, to MacDowell events appear to have conspired to force his hand. The District has in hand carefully-husbanded stocks of diesel fuel and large-caliber ammunition, courtesy of MilGov in payment for the Iceland venture and other actions. The imminent threat of the horde wintering in northern New England is something the District probably can’t face alone. The business with Corpus Christi has proven to MacDowell that the UBF must be eliminated. A decapitation strike against Carlucci’s headquarters on Nantucket could kill two birds with one stone by (hopefully) bringing into the fold many serviceable ships, a working maritime support network, and several hundred hardened UBF Marines and crewmen.

Storm clouds are gathering over the melting New England snow.


Webstral