We hit the wave head-on, and green water and white foam exploded over the bow and cabin of our 25-foot, Defender class boat.

I caught a face full of salt water.

The M240 gunner in the bow turned and grinned; the boat driver just laughed.

I looked up to see four other small boats converging on us like Seahawks' cornerbacks on a Broncos' wide receiver.

"United States Coast Guard!" came a bullhorn-enhanced voice out of the dark from one of the boats. 

"Stop. We have information to pass."

Our coxswain, Chief Boatswain's Mate James "Glowstick" Moerls, grinned again.

Coxswains receive their nicknames from other tactical coxswains, or boat drivers.

As the OPFOR (opposing force) driver of a RBS, or Response Boat Small, Moerls had to make a decision.

>>> A Response Boat Small, or RBS, moves into position to head off a threat. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

>>> While Boatswain's Mate Chief Brandon Alani, left, drives a RBS (Response Boat Small), CWO2 Aaron Ferguson, right and Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Matthew Riesberg keep an eye out for boat traffic on Elliott Bay during a training mission. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

>>> A Response Boat Small heads into the setting sun after completing a simulated attack on Pier 70 in Seattle. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

As the Coast Guardsman leading the training on Seattle's Elliott Bay last week, he could comply with the order to stop, or he could see how well the other four RBSs and their crews would react to a threat.

Moerls decided to further test his teammates.

With twin outboard 225 horsepower Honda engines and more than 4500 rpms of giddy up, he pushed the throttle forward.

"Let's see how well they react to this," he said.

Turning - or "juking" - hard to the right and then left into open water, Moerls aimed our boat directly at Pier 70.

In this scenario, our boat was a waterborne improvised explosive device racing over the dark water toward a restaurant on the end of the pier.

Or so we thought.

Reacting just as swiftly, the four other RBSs closed in, and as they did so they simulated raking our boat from bow to stern with their M240s.

We went dead in the water.

"OK," Moerls said over the radio. "Good job. Next scenario."

And so it went. Thirty-two different scenarios to test the men and women who make up the Coast Guard's Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) stationed at Pier 36 in Seattle.

>>> Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Paul Seyler checks radios before beginning a training exercise in which Coast Guardsmen reacted to 32 real world scenarios on Elliott Bay. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

"This group is well-versed," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 and training officer Aaron Ferguson before the training began. "It is a very diversified team.  They are capable of any mission the Coast Guard throws at them."

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is a branch of the United States armed forces and one of the country's seven uniformed services.

"We certainly don't fit the mold when it comes to our mission," opined safety officer and Chief Boatswain's Mate Brandon "Shrek" Alani. "We are different."

With just over 42,000 active duty members, the Coast Guard is a maritime and military multi-mission service that has a law enforcement mission (with jurisdiction on both domestic and international waters) and a federal regulatory agency mission.

To fill out its already busy mission schedule, the Coast Guard operates under the Department of Homeland Security during peacetime, and it can be transferred to the Department of Navy during times of war.

The Coast Guard doesn't have the high profile missions that other branches of the service do.

"We are highly overlooked in what we do," explained Ferguson. "On that other hand, that's not always a bad thing.  We know our mission sets, and we perform them well."

In fulfilling this role, the Coast Guard has 11 statutory missions, which include enforcing U.S. law in the world's largest exclusive economic zone of 3.4 million square miles of water.

Elliot Bay looked small when I heard that.

Besides providing security for ports and waterways, the Coast Guard's other 10 missions include drug interdiction, aids to navigation, search and rescue, living marine resources, marine safety, defense readiness, migrant interdiction, marine environmental protection, ice operations and other law enforcement.

"Like I said, we are diversified," Ferguson reiterated.

The MSST at Pier 36 trains specifically to handle any threats to port, waterway and coastal security.

"We've always got a lot to do, a lot to train for, a lot to prepare for," continued Alani.  

From late afternoon into later into the night, we worked.  Everything from vessel escort to rescuing someone who had fallen overboard, four RSBs performed their missions covering zones of protection or protecting high value assets, or HVAs.

Throughout it all, Moerls and his OPFOR boat made the training as difficult as possible.

Nearing midnight, the five RBSs tied up at Pier 36, the training done for the day.

"We did well," commented Alani as he climbed up onto the dock.

"We are always ready."

>>> Crews from five boats return from a long training day and night on Elliott Bay. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson