Naval Reserve Unit Called Up to Provide Ships Port Protection

The Pentagon has called to active duty an elite reserve unit here trained to guard Navy ships against terrorism in foreign ports.

Regardless of service branch, most of the reservists Washington plans to call up will be in support jobs far from possible danger. But Inshore Boat Unit 17 could be on the front lines. The 36 officers and enlisted personnel attached to the unit here have been told to expect to be away for at least a year.

The move suggests that the Navy anticipates that the conflict will be protracted, and that a large number of ships will be in need of protection.

As the Navy reservists gathered Friday morning at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, morale was high.

“I’d rather be out there making a difference than just sitting back here,” said engine man Kristian Gonzales, a quality assurance inspector at a local shipyard.

“I joined up for moments like this,” said gunner’s mate Philip Kerr, a bar bouncer. “We all want to go over and be part of it.”

The unit is trained to repel attacks by terrorists who might approach a U.S. ship in a boat or even by swimming. The group was scheduled to go to the Persian Gulf in December for several weeks, but that assignment has been scrubbed.

With only 24 hours notice, reservists had to notify their employers and families about the uncertainty ahead. As they prepared to ship out to an undisclosed location, they were hurriedly filling out forms and signing wills and powers-of-attorney.

Gunner’s mate Kyle Cieliczka, an emergency medical technician for a local American Indian tribe, said he tried to explain the turmoil to his daughters, ages 11 and 12.

“I told them it’s like there’s somebody in the neighborhood who is beating up your friends and won’t stop,” Cieliczka said. “After a while you have to go do something about it. I hope what we’re doing will make a safer world for my girls.”

In the world of reservists, there are active and inactive units. In the latter, reservists keep their passports and medical forms current and await orders.

Active units, like Inshore Boat Unit 17, train each month and for several weeks each summer. For the boat unit, overseas deployments are common.

“Our whole framework is expeditionary,” said Lt. Cmdr. David Weeks, the unit’s commanding officer, an executive with a local high-tech defense contractor.

The Navy increased “force protection” measures after a terrorist attack in October against the destroyer Cole in the port city of Aden in Yemen killed 17 sailors. There are 14 of the boat reserve units, split evenly between the Pacific and Atlantic fleets.

The Navy has mobilized about 1,750 reservists so far, including another boat unit in Washington state. The Pentagon has said it probably will call about 35,000 National Guard troops and reservists from all branches.

The San Diego area has the nation’s largest number of naval reservists: 2,800 personnel in 94 units. Capt. Jim Cheatham, commanding officer of the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center, said that, even in peacetime, reservists are on duty. “Every day of the year there are reservists working elbow to elbow with active-duty personnel.”

As they prepared to ship out, members of Inshore Boat Unit 17 said the prospect of being “tested” by terrorists trying to strike a Navy ship does not frighten them; the heavily armed unit patrols foreign ports in 24-foot inflatable boats.

“If I die, I’ll be dying for something important,” said cook Lilibeth Layon, a nurse for the state prison system.

“This is a new kind of threat: terrorism,” said 50-caliber machine-gunner Sharad Venugopal, a college student studying international business. “In this kind of war, everybody is on the front lines.”