Volunteer officers and members of Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 12-02 will zip up their $1,000 Coast Guard-issue dry suits, board a 26-foot boat at Roosevelt Inlet and head out to inspect big tankers and cargo ships entering the anchorage area off Big Stone Beach. They will approach all vessels, circle them during a cursory inspection, write down the vessel identification numbers and report anything that looks suspicious to officers at U.S. Coast Guard Station Philadelphia.

"It's a new role for the Auxiliary," explained Flotilla 12-02 commander Tony DiMauro during a group meeting Jan.. 14. "Each patrol will work four hours on duty, covering the anchorage and then the ferry basin."

Security issues prevented Auxiliary members from explaining the fine details of their new missions. But under its new organizational structure within the federal Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard has become a front-line unit in the war against terrorism.

To continue their 65-year-old tradition of supporting the active U.S. Coast Guard, auxiliaries have had to change with the times. For members of Flotilla 12-02 based in Sussex County, that support will now take the form of shipping lane inspections in addition to its normal duties of search and rescue, public education and vessel safety inspections.

"The Delaware Bay has been a dead zone when it came to winter patrols," said Flotilla 12-02 vice commander Jim Stelene. "This will be a bold new experience for us. It's so vast out there."

"We're ready to do our part for the Coast Guard as always," said longtime Auxiliary member John Bernath. "The patrols we'll be running in the bay are similar to harbor patrols, only we'll be out in the open water with winter weather in our face. It'll be an adventure."

Dangerous open water patrols searching for signs of terrorists are but one of the many new roles of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Beginning this year, Flotilla 12-02 will also be patrolling the waters around Indian River Power Plant. They will have a new presence in the Nanticoke River, conducting vessel safety inspections and, when needed, search and rescue operations. Auxiliary members were glad to learn they may receive a surplus Coast Guard rigid hull inflatable craft for that mission. They will stand radio watch at a new Auxiliary station near a state boat launch on the Nanticoke.

Coast Guard Station Philadelphia also wants District 12 auxiliary members to perform harbor patrols there and to be prepared to respond to chemical spills in the bay. Such duties require special training and certification for Auxiliary members. It is a chance, Flotilla 12-02 commander DiMauro explained, for members to learn valuable new operational skills and techniques.

"We're volunteers," said Bernath. "We drive up to Philadelphia or down to Chincoteague for full days of training, and the Coast Guard gives us lunch. We're not in this for the money. We're in the auxiliary to serve our country as a civilian, nonmilitary component of the Coast Guard. We have a vital role to fill for our nation."

What the officers of Flotilla 12-02 would like more than anything else is to have new members join their group. They are always recruiting to fulfill that goal. Anyone interested in learning more about the Coast Guard Auxiliary role in local waters is asked to call Bernath at 945-3632.