Coast Guard Wins Again

Photo By Maj. Gretel Weiskopf | Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Keith Cupples stands in a familiar position at the wheel of a transportable port security boat, Feb. 19. Cupples, Joint Task Force Guantanamo Senior Trooper of the Quarter, is a seaman with Port Security Unit 305 and is in his second tour to the JTF. JTF Guantanamo conducts safe, humane, legal and transparent care and custody of detained enemy combatants, including those convicted by military commission and those ordered released. The JTF conducts intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination for the protection of detainees and personnel working in JTF Guantanamo facilities and in support of the Global War on Terror. JTF Guantanamo provides support to the Office of Military Commissions, to law enforcement and to war crimes investigations. The JTF conducts planning for and on order responds to Caribbean mass migration operations.  

GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA

02.20.2009

Story by Sgt. Gretel Weiskopf 

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - A sea of Coast Guard troopers' photos is a familiar site on the Trooper of the Quarter winner board, and this quarter is no different. The most recent winner of the Senior Trooper of the Quarter board was Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Keith Cupples.

"That is a good question," Cupples said when asked why Coast Guardsmen usually win the Trooper of the Quarter contest. "Everything [tested on during the board] except for land navigation are things that we need to pay attention to in our daily jobs," he continued. "For example, law enforcement is a part of what we do so we have to know aspects of the constitution, especially the fourth amendment, really well."

Cupples, a seaman, has been a member of the Coast Guard Reserve for more than six years. This is his second deployment to Joint Task Force Guantanamo with Port Security Unit 305.

"It is a good mission," said Cupples. "Providing [anti-terrorism, force protection] for the base and for the Joint Task Force is a good way to highlight our capabilities to the other services."

Cupples was selected to go before the Trooper of the Quarter board by his chiefs and felt genuinely surprised when notified that he was going to represent the Coast Guard and their long history of success.

To prepare, Cupples had everyone in his unit asking him questions. He even had Soldiers ask him questions specific to their service to cover areas that he was not familiar with.

After going before a panel of senior enlisted leaders of the Joint Task Force, Cupples was informed that he had beat out his competition and was named Senior Trooper of the Quarter.

"It was such a relief to be done," Cupples said. "Then I was kind of in shock when they told me I won. It was a relief to know I kept up the Coast Guard tradition."

• Date Taken: 02.20.2009
• Date Posted: 02.25.2009 11:24
• Story ID: 30429
• Location: GUANTANAMO BAY, CU