Tactical Law Enforcement Teams

TACTICAL LAW ENFORCEMENT TEAM (TACLET)

DC3 NATHAN B. “NATE” BRUCKENTHAL
(7/17/1979 – 4/24/2004)

TACLET South CG Air Station Miami, FL
(In Memory of DC3 Nathan Bruckenthal)

On 24 April 2004, Petty Officer Bruckenthal was killed in the line of duty while intercepting a waterborne suicide attack on an offshore oil terminal in the northern Persian Gulf. At age 24, he was the first Coast Guard wartime casualty since the Vietnam War. Petty Officer Bruckenthal, a trained boarding team officer, was accompanied by one other Coast Guard member and five U.S. Navy sailors. The boarding team embarked on a rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) in pursuit of a dhow (a lateen-rigged Arabian vessel) that had approached a Persian Gulf oil terminal. As the boarding team prepared to board the dhow, an explosion was detonated. Petty Officer Bruckenthal, along with two Navy petty officers, were killed. All of the other boarding team members survived.

Petty Officer Bruckenthal was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal w/Combat Distinguishing Device, the Purple Heart, and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The USCGC NATHAN BRUCKENTHAL (WPC-1128), homeported in Atlantic Beach, NC, is the 28th Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter (FRC) and named after Petty Officer Bruckenthal.