Through the use of a forward operating location in Kotzebue, the Coast Guard has begun Arctic Shield 2017.
Arctic Shield, which started on Saturday, involves the Coast Guard deploying cutters, various aircraft and staff to missions from Dutch Harbor, through the Bering Strait, up to the North Slope. Those deployments include crews from the Coast Guard Cutters Healy, Sherman, and others.
In their Kotzebue location, the Coast Guard has pre-staged flight crews from Air Station Kodiak who are prepared to respond to operations in the Arctic region.
Later on this season, the Coast Guard will also participate in Operation Arctic Guardian, which is a multi-agency pollution response exercise hosted in Utqiagvik as a part of Arctic Shield 2017.
