Damage Control Third Class Nathan Bruckenthal, USCG, 1999 - 2004

He was a leading member of a Coast Guard Law Enforcement Team deployed with Coast Guard Patrol Forces Southwest Asia aboard the USS FIREBOLT in the Spring of 2004.  On 24 April 2004 inside the territorial waters, FIREBOLT was tasked with maintaining an established exclusion zone around the Kwahr al Amaya Oil Terminal by querying vessels and approaching as necessary to direct them clear.  Petty Officer Bruckenthal was the only U.S. Coast Guard member of a seven-Sailor security team that boarded the ship's Rigid-Hull Inflatable Boat(RHIB). on that afternoon.  Their mission was to clear vessels from the exclusion zone.  Within the first hour of operations, the security team successfully cleared over 10 unauthorized vessels from the areas closest to the oil terminal and was beginning to expand the operation into the outer areas of the exclusion zone.  An unidentified dhow was detected by the boarding team traveling along a course that would take it in close to the oil terminal and the RHIB was maneuvered to query and intercept.  At intercept, the dhow did not answer bridge-to-bridge queries, was unresponsive to loud-hailer directions, and maintained a direct course for the terminal.  Abruptly, the dhow altered course toward the FIREBOLT RHIB and exploded at close range, violently throwing the security team into the water and overturning the RHIB.  Petty Officer Bruckenthal directing the RHIB's maneuvers, was closest to the blast and was thrown into the water from the blast.  Petty Officer Bruckenthal was pulled from the water by rescue teams from FIREBOLT and the Australian Frigate HMAS Stuart and was evacuated to Kuwait Hospital where he later died of his wounds.  The actions of Petty Officer Bruckenthal and his security team on 24 April 2004 prevented a large scale environmental disaster and a strategic blow to the coalition forces that would have been caused by damage to the oil pipeline or destruction of the offshore oil terminals.  Bruckenthal was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star with Valor, the Purple Heart, and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.  Petty Officer Bruckenthal was the first Coast Guardsman killed in action since the Vietnam War.

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