Hi Zeke,
Interesting note about your experience as a "drug runner."  I would be very
surprised if there were no ammo in any gun pointed at you by an armed
service of the US.  Unless you could visually verify there was none in the
gun, I'd suggest they told you that to calm your fears and not make
themselves look so aggressive, once they discovered you were innocent
passagemakers.

On another tack, the US Navy also gets into the act by taking US Coast Guard
personnel aboard in the form of a legal detachment (LEDET).  Once the USCG
flag is hoisted, and the senior USCG person in the LEDET assumes control
(note: I am not saying "command" of the ship), the ship becomes in effect a
USCG vessel with all the rights and responsibilities thereof.  So you lawyer
types can forget about posse commitodus (or however it is spelled), which
says the armed forces of the US may not act as cops.  If one of Uncle Sam's
long gray ships pulls you over, don't bring up constitutional issues until
you have looked up the mast to see who's flag is there.

When I was Weapons Officer in the battleship USS IOWA in the early 1980s, we
took aboard a USCG LEDET for a swing through southern waters.  One
beautifully slick-calm day off South Carolina we came upon a boat of about
60-80 foot length that was probably a long liner.  The LEDET officer asked
the captain for control so he could board this guy with his USCG types.

Well, being a Battleship, we didn't want to be outgunned by these
fuzzy-faced Americanos; so we had prepared our part of the team well to back
up the Coasties.  I want to say at this point that I personally had no role
to play in this particular drill.  My duties were generally elevated to a
higher plane where 16- and 5-inch guns, Harpoon and Tomahawk missiles, and
automatic Gatling guns ruled the day.  I had let the US Marine Corps Captain
who worked for me handle organizational liaison with the LEDET.  Now keep in
mind that the 60 Marines he commanded were there primarily to protect any
nuclear weapons that I may or may not have had loaded in my missile cells.
As such, they tended to be completely no-nonsense about security.  They were
trained, as are all US nuke weapon guards, to take no account of hostages
nor any other mitigating factor in their efforts to KILL anybody interfering
with security of the weapons.  Just a bit of background for what happened
next.

When the boarding party call went out throughout the ship, all hell broke
loose.  I had decided to wander out on the broad expanse of teak that
covered the main deck (yes, acres and acres of teak) to see what was going
on.  Very quickly I noticed the starboard motor whaleboat lowering team get
in position followed quickly by the Navy coxswain, engineer, and bow hook
who were in turn followed into the boat by a number of combat-clothed and
armed Coasties.

While all this was happening, a hatch nearby clanged open, and nearly every
Marine on board came pouring out, fully helmeted, bullet-proof vested, and
locked and loaded.  I had to move quickly (even full US Navy Commanders do
not get between a Marine and a potential target) as these guys flung
themselves down on the deck behind every available bollard and chock and
trained their M-16s and M-60 machineguns on the fishermen.  Somewhere up
forward, some of my gunners mates were unlimbering a couple of .50 Cal
Browning heavy machineguns.  Soon the whaleboat was over to the long-liner
where the LEDET had the crew all muster over on one side with their hands in
full view, while they boarded with weapons drawn.  Then the whaleboat, with
its weapons trained on the fishing crew moved to one side of the line of
fire between the IOWA (about 50-100 yards away) and the fishing boat in case
any fireworks should develop.  The LEDET personnel initially remained to one
side of the fishermen, thus catching them in a potential three-way
crossfire.

I walked aft, thinking jusssst maybe we were a bit into the overkill mode
here.  I remember looking back forward to make sure somebody hadn't talked
my 16-inch gunners into training out the three triple-gun turrets on this
hapless group.  It was embarrassing to me, but anyway, what a tableau!  As I
leaned over the rail looking forward, all I could see were bunches of gun
barrels pointing off to starboard toward the target plus more heavy
machinegun barrels up in the ship's superstructure from the .50 cals.

And not an unloaded gun in the bunch.  Luckily, nobody sneezed.

The battleships are now gone, but the drug runners remain, as does the
Navy's support of the USCG.  So if you are off trawlering about in southern
waters, do not be surprised if a US Navy vessel or gray-painted helicopter
hails you.  When the Navy ship arrives it will identify itself as having
USCG LEDET personnel who wish to board and search your vessel. IF anybody
trains a gun on you (I hope we don't do that any more as a normal
procedure), or if you see somebody with a gun, I will bet my next month's
paycheck it is loaded.  Incidentally, I read where the USCG is now employing
armed helicopters to shoot at to disable the go-fast drug boats that do not
obey an order to pull over.  It is having to assign its fastest
ocean-capable cutters (the 110-foot Kodiaks) to chase these guys down off
the coasts of Central America, Mexico, and Texas.

Just a little tidbit FYI.

Aiming to please,
Rich Gano
CALYPSO (GB42-295)
Homeport Panama City
I'd rather be cruisin'

It ain't just the Coasties .

 My wife drove our old  RX7 to visit friends in Detroit  and took the

Ferry - just because she likes Ferry Boats --accross the Lake - entering
Canada and then returning from Canada into the US ..

Maybe, as a retired school teacher -  she fit the profile - or the car

did - who knows - but she was most upset by the complete search of the car
by armed US Customs agents at the  US boarder which took several hours  and
was asked repeatedly why she had taken that highly suspicious route !

Any odds those guns were not loaded either ???

Ken