ATLANTIC OCEAN--U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Buddy Gavisk, boarding team member aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Forward, prepares to conduct a joint U.S. and Sierra Leone law enforcement boarding on a commercial fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean June 26, 2011.
The Forward will be the primary operational platform for the African Maritime Law Enforcement Partnership (AMLEP) mission, a branch of the Africa Partnership Station (APS), and will focus on operating side-by-side with regional maritime services in order to stop and deter illicit transnational maritime activity by conducting these operations with African navies.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Annie R. B. Elis.