At the onset of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, Americans knew that the brave men and women of the United States Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force would be asked to make tremendous sacrifices in order to safeguard the U.S. and the world from violence and tyranny. But when contemplating the risks and sacrifice asked by those who serve, we too often forget the members of the U.S. Coast Guard, who are often omitted in praise of the military but deserve a respect similar to that given to the other branches. The Coast Guard’s mission is broader in scope than many of us realize, as they play a critical role in the defense of our country at home and the assistance of operations abroad. This profile focuses on a man, Nathan Bruckenthal, who was devoted to the service of his family and his country, rarely thinking of himself.
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There is a photograph of Petty Officer Nathan Bruckenthal, taken at an unknown date in his time in the Coast Guard. In the photo Bruckenthal, standing a stout six-foot-two, two hundred twenty pounds, gazes wistfully at the camera. Sunglasses dangle around his neck. Behind him, the ocean stretches into the distance. It is hard to imagine what he could be thinking.
In another time, Nathan Bruckenthal grew up in his hometown of Ridgefield, Connecticut, dreaming of becoming a police officer or firefighter. He played football in high school, but wasn’t a great student. Still, Bruckenthal was well-liked and had an inclusive streak, helping out at school with a club called LINK—“Let’s Include New Kids.” It made sense. Bruckenthal himself had at other times lived in Hawaii and Virginia after his parents divorced as a child and perhaps knew the pain of exclusion in a new school.
A year and a half out of high school, often serving as a volunteer firefighter but lacking direction, he joined the Coast Guard in 1999, knowing that the experience would help him get some college education so that he could make it above sergeant as a policeman in his hometown. He first served on an eighty-two-foot patrol boat out of Montauk, New York, before being shipped out to Neah Bay, Washington, or, as Bruckenthal recalled, “the end of the world.” It was cold, rainy, and boring.
Still, Neah Bay wasn’t all bad for Bruckenthal. He met his wife, Pattie, who was in college studying the Makah Indian Tribe and got on a civilian tour of the Neah Bay Station, a tour led by Bruckenthal. Locals recalled Bruckenthal as a man who loved to help others.
“Volunteering was the first thing he did; he helped the community,” Joe McGimpsey, a resident of Neah Bay and member of the Makah Tribe, told the Seattle-Post Intelligencer.
“Nate gave unconditionally and that is why he was so loved in this community,” recalled Neah Bay Police Chielf T.J. Greene.
After terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in 2001, Bruckenthal headed east to New York, where he assisted in funerals for two firefighters and a police officer killed on that day. He extended his time into October, using up his leave time to stay at ground zero for a few weeks, passing out food and water to firefighters, police officers, and construction workers helping to clean up the site.
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By 2003, Bruckenthal was destined for Iraq, serving on a Coast Guard unit that boarded vessels traveling through the waters around offshore oil rigs. Bruckenthal was excited, accepting the risks involved but describing himself as feeling “on a high horse.”
“He was very honored to do anything that the Coast Guard asked him,” said Petty Officer Daniel Burgoyne, who was Bruckenthal’s shipmate, friend and neighbor in Dania Beach, Florida. “He was a true patriot. He loved serving his country.”
In 2004, Bruckenthal signed up for another tour, destined to be a hundred days. Before this tour, Pattie became pregnant with the couple’s first child, Harper, and Bruckenthal couldn’t wait to come home. After all, he had already missed both of the couple’s first two wedding anniversaries because of his duty in Iraq.
But in the early evening hours of April 24, 2004, a small vessel approached an oil rig in the Persian Gulf. Bruckenthal, trained as part of a unit who boarded suspicious vessels, was accompanied by one other Coast Guardsman and five sailors from the United States Navy. The unit took off in pursuit of the vessel with Bruckenthal eventually leading the operation to board it.
As the crew was poised to board the boat, an explosion was detonated—a suicide bomb. Bruckenthal was killed by the force of the blast. Two Navy petty officers also died as a result of the waterborne attack: PO1 Michael J. Pernaselli, 27, of Monroe, New York, and Christopher E. Watts, 28, of Knoxville, Tennessee. Three other Navy sailors were injured, as was Joseph T. Ruggiero, USCG, 23, from Revere, Massachusetts, who received the Purple Heart.
For his heroics, Bruckenthal was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor, the Purple Heart, and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.
Glenn Grahl, one of Bruckenthal’s commanding officers, remembered him by saying, “Nate was jovial, he was intense, and he was a dedicated professional.”
Nathan Bruckenthal became the first member of the U.S. Coast Guard to be killed in wartime action since the Vietnam War. But it wasn’t his death that made him special.