Please join us for the 2014 Nate Bruckenthal Golf Fellowship hosted by Tactical Law Enforcement Team South. 

Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan B. Bruckenthal, 24, who was based out of Coast Guard Air Station Miami(TACLET South), died in an explosion on Saturday, 24 April 2004 when an unidentified boat he was attempting to board blew up.

It was Nate Bruckenthal's second tour in Iraq and he was 30 days from returning home. Nate Bruckenthal, who left a pregnant wife behind, was one of three servicemen who died during an attack on two oil terminals in the northern Arabian Gulf. Nate Bruckenthal was part of a seven-member Coast Guard and U.S. Navy boarding team that was approaching an unidentified dhow, a small boat often used for fishing in the Gulf, when the dhow exploded as it approached the Khawr Al Amaya Oil Terminal.

About 20 minutes later, two smaller speedboats approached the Al Basrah Oil Terminal and also exploded as security teams tried to intercept them.
Two US Navy sailors were also killed, Petty Officer 1st Class Michael J. Pernaselli, a 27-year-old boatswain's mate from Monroe, New York, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher E. Watts, a 28-year-old signalman from Knoxville, Tennessee.

Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the attack in the name of the Jamaat al-Tawhid wa'l-Jihad, or Unity and Jihad Group, in a message posted on an Islamic Web site that often carries statements said to be from al-Qaida.

A Long Island native, Nate Bruckenthal grew up in Hawaii, Virginia and Connecticut. His stepfather served in the Army and his father is police chief in Northport, NY. Nate Bruckenthal joined the Coast Guard when he was 18 and served in Long Island and Washington State before joining Tactical Law Enforcement Team South, known as TACLET South, at Coast Guard Air Station Miami.

TACLET South has sent law enforcement detachments to help since the beginning of operations in Iraq. Coast Guard operations in Iraq include port and coastal security, maritime law enforcement, humanitarian aid and training of the newly established Iraqi coast guard.

Nate Bruckenthal was first deployed to Iraq from February to May 2003 and returned in February 2004.

Please send all R.S.V.P. replies directly to ME1 Bryan Bane bryan.r.bane@uscg.mil

General information and event questions should be directed to MECS Gus Tirado Gustavo.l.tirado@uscg.mil