It’s about time that someone remembered that this is the way that you are supposed to deal with pirates, and that The Marines know a little bit about how it is supposed to work. After all, we’ve been fighting pirates since the Barbary War.
“U.S. forces board pirate-captured vessel, seize control
“(CNN) — U.S. Marines boarded and seized control Thursday of a German-owned vessel that pirates had captured the day before off the coast of Somalia, the U.S. Fifth Fleet said.
“It’s the first time U.S. military forces off Somalia have staged an action to board a commercial vessel in which pirates were on board with hostages, said a U.S. Navy spokesman, who was not authorized to speak publicly but had direct knowledge of the incident.
“The action came about because the highly specialized Marine raiding force — the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Maritime Raid Force — was nearby, the spokesman said.”
Back in the Old Corps, when the MEU SOCs reigned supreme, the Amphibious Ready Groups had SEAL platoons to do these primarily naval missions, backed up by the Force Recon platoons, which could also field that capability. I’m glad to see that Marines are back in board-and-put-a-gun-to-their-heads business. It’s one of the many places where we belong.
Now, the only thing missing from the story is the line, “After a brief proceeding conducted by the Commander of the Amphibious Task Force, the pirates were lined up on the rail, then each was shot in the head and dumped overboard.”