MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- U.S. Air Force
Senior Airman Garrett Stevens, 6th Security Forces Squadron marine patrolman,
operates a jet ski in Tampa Bay, Florida, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida,
March. 7, 2022. Marine patrol Airmen utilize boats, jet skis, and all-terrain
vehicles to patrol and enforce all of MacDill’s coastal restricted area. (U.S.
Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Hiram Martinez)
The United States Secret Service wants to purchase two jet
skis that would be used to train agents and help protect President Donald Trump—along
with his family and friends—while at vacation properties located near the
water, such as his exclusive south Florida Mar-a-Lago resort, according to an
order request posted Monday.
The federal agency requested two Kawaski jet skis,
watercrafts that each retail from $9,999 to $15,299. The request noted security
challenges that special agents face when traveling with Trump to places such as
Mar-a-Lago and the Hamptons.
"President Trump and his family spend several weeks
throughout the year in Mara Largo FL and Hamptons NY. The First Family is very
active in water sports," the
request reads, which was first highlighted by
Washington-based WRC-TV reporter Scott McFarlane.
"Several family members along with their guest
participate in open water activities for which USSS Special Agent Rescue Swimmers
are responsible," the request continues. "SA's have rented watercraft
with their own personal funds to allow them to be near our protectees in
various water environments to fulfill the USSS Rescue Swimmer mission."
The Secret Service said the jet skis would primarily be used
for training exercises and would be stored at a training facility in
Beltsville, Maryland. They would be transported via a dual trailer, which the
agency also wishes to purchase.
's unclear as to when the jet ski quotes are due,
considering the posting lists Tuesday but also says September 18 as the
deadline, which would be Wednesday.
Currently, the Secret Service provides rescue watercraft
training in North Carolina during a one-day course. However, the agency
explained in its request, a three- or four-day training course provided by
agents who are rescue swimmer instructors would be "more appropriate to
become a proficient operator/rescuer on a" rescue watercraft.
The jet skis will "be outfitted with rescue sleds (in a
separate purchase) that will be used by USSS Rescue Swimmers as training tools,
as well as assets that can be used on a variety of protective missions, as
needed," the request added.
The Secret Service also noted the agency's former
partnership with local officials in Hawaii for when former President Barack
Obama and his family vacationed there, stating that rescue swimmers used and
trained with jet skis for the same reasons.
Cole Yeatts shouted instructions to 10 Secret Service agents
gathered on the beach under the afternoon sun – nine men, one woman, all lean.
They were learning another way to save the president of the United States.
“Who are we looking for and what are we looking at?” Yeatts
asked. “Victim and …?”
“Waves,” answered an agent.
“Correct: waves,” Yeatts echoed.
Five of the agents lined up behind five
2-foot-long orange rescue buoys and pairs of swim fins propped in the
sand.
Yeatts, director of Kitty Hawk Ocean Rescue, counted down:
“One, two, three, go!”
The agents grabbed their gear and sprinted into the surf.
One tripped and fell, but quickly recovered. All struggled to slip on the fins
as waves broke across their backs. Instructors representing victims stood in
chest-deep water about 100 yards offshore.
“We don’t make it easy on them,” said Sean Donlon, a special
agent and water rescue instructor. “The protectee does not care how much
training we have – he just wants to be rescued.”
In a real emergency, the victim could be former presidents
George H.W. Bush, who loves boating at the family property in Kennebunkport,
Maine, or Barack Obama, who loves to body surf in the large waves in Hawaii
where he grew up, or a member of the Donald Trump family at Mar-A-Lago in Palm
Beach, Fla.
These agents voluntarily exchange dark suits and earpieces
for swimsuits and sunscreen. They pull duty on beaches in Hawaii or
Tahiti rather than wearing a bulletproof vest while guarding a motorcade in the
middle of a crowded city. A regular detail of agents guards the person being
protected at the same time the water-rescue agents also keep watch, Donlon
said.
Three weeks and three days of intense instruction and tests
begin at a Washington, D.C., pool. Some don’t pass the initial swim test of
covering 800 meters in 16 minutes, or the requirement to swim a length of a
25-meter pool underwater four separate times with a minute break between laps.
On the beach, the Kitty Hawk rescue team grills them for two
days. They learn to retrieve a victim using a variety of grips and bring them
to shore through the unforgiving Outer Banks surf where at least six people
drowned last year. The class learns to recognize rip currents, and may
intentionally dive into the strong outward flow to get to a victim more
quickly.
“This is not like swimming a pool,” Yeatts said.
The group then goes to the Coast Guard’s Air Station
Elizabeth City for three days’ training with the nation’s best rescue swimmers.
There they learn to deploy from helicopters and wrestle victims into rescue
baskets.
Elsewhere, agents also train for white-water rescues. Former
Vice President Dick Cheney loves to fish in rivers with rapids.
“This is one of the most demanding fields of Secret Service
training,” Donlon said.
Next fall, the same group learns emergency medical
treatment, a first for Secret Service agents. They will learn how to
handle spinal injuries and heart attacks as well as jellyfish stings.
Of the 3,200 Secret Service agents stationed around the
globe, 75 serve on the water-rescue detail, Donlon said. Typically, about 10
percent are women.
Many of the trainees have been lifeguards or college
swimmers. Most are in their mid-30s with experience as an agent, Special Agent
Scott Healy said.
The Secret Service began water-rescue training during the George H.W. Bush administration, Donlon said. The Coast Guard conducted it in the early years and still oversees the overall curriculum. The class began coming to Kitty Hawk in 2003 at the recommendation of a senior Coast Guard official.
Shared from First in Freedom Daily
The First Family have now officially hit the halfway point of their Hawaiian holiday and enjoyed a nice lie-in followed by an afternoon at the beach on the eighth day of their vacation.
However, while a regular bunch would just hit the sand and surf, the Obamas had their regular motorcade drop them at Bellows Air Force Station in Waimanalo, and Secret Service agents on wave runners circled them in the water.
The main task of the agents seemed to focus on stopping any other people in kayaks getting to close to the President, his wife and their two daughters.
The officers could be seen telling different groups at the popular spot to turn around, as they sectioned off part of the water.
There was also a strong contingent of local police on the ground.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. WAVY- On Sunday down at the 1st Street Jetty at Rudee Inlet, crews fought back against fierce rip currents and 15-to-20 ...
