https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/noems-use-coast-guard-resources-strains-relationship-military-branch-s-rcna258904

The dissonance between Noem’s priorities and senior Coast Guard officials is a lesser-known part of the fallout from President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy, and is largely playing out behind the scenes. Coast Guard officials have privately raised concerns with one another and confided in former officials about some of Noem’s directives and use of Coast Guard resources to service her and the administration’s priorities, the current and former Coast Guard officials said.

At times, the tensions have escalated into confrontations, the sources said. In one contentious incident in May, Noem’s top adviser, Corey Lewandowski, berated Coast Guard flight staff and threatened to fire them for taking off without one of the secretary’s personal items on board — a heated blanket, according to the current and former Coast Guard officials.

DBoon

(25,017 posts)

6. like a toddler, Noem throws a temper tantrum if she can't have her favorite blankie

Reply to progressoid (Reply #3)

Wed Feb 18, 2026, 05:12 PM

Feb 18

Norrrm

(5,132 posts)

31. Royalty and peasantry- the blanket.

Reply to progressoid (Reply #3)

Thu Feb 19, 2026, 04:49 PM

Feb 19

Response to tblue37 (Original post)

sop This message was self-deleted by its author.

Disaffected

(6,446 posts)

5. Good thing though the missing guardsman

Reply to tblue37 (Original post)

Wed Feb 18, 2026, 05:10 PM

Feb 18

wasn't lost in a gravel pit.

Psychos, all of them...

Bev54

(13,443 posts)

23. Thankfully the coast guard found 2 other planes for her to use and turned the plane around

Reply to Disaffected (Reply #5)

Thu Feb 19, 2026, 03:01 PM

Feb 19

to continue the search, which by the way the coast guard member was found alive. He would have died if she had had her way.

Disaffected

(6,446 posts)

24. Hey, very good!

Reply to Bev54 (Reply #23)

Thu Feb 19, 2026, 03:22 PM

Feb 19

A post here yesterday said he was presumed lost. To clarify, was it that plane that found him?

Bev54

(13,443 posts)

26. Not sure, just that he was found alive.

Reply to Disaffected (Reply #24)

Thu Feb 19, 2026, 04:10 PM

Feb 19

Grokenstein

(6,364 posts)

27. All sources I've seen say the search was called off and the person was never found.

Reply to Bev54 (Reply #23)

Thu Feb 19, 2026, 04:18 PM

Feb 19

Seaman Bryan K. Lee.
If anyone has a decent source that says otherwise, please post in reply.

Disaffected

(6,446 posts)

29. That's a different guy.

Reply to Grokenstein (Reply #27)

Thu Feb 19, 2026, 04:29 PM

Feb 19

He was lost Feb of last year.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/02/10/coast-guard-calls-off-search-service-member-missing-eastern-pacific.html

Grokenstein

(6,364 posts)

30. Both Seaman Lee and the person in Maddow's post

Reply to Disaffected (Reply #29)

Thu Feb 19, 2026, 04:41 PM

Feb 19

were lost in early February of last year.

Disaffected

(6,446 posts)

32. OK, I though the case was Feb this year.

Reply to Grokenstein (Reply #30)

Thu Feb 19, 2026, 05:16 PM

Feb 19

I guess that answered the question - he was not found.

artemisia1

(1,886 posts)

7. I served at a USCG C-130 station and those aircraft do more than just search. They drop lifesaving items to distressed

Reply to tblue37 (Original post)

Wed Feb 18, 2026, 05:15 PM

Feb 18

individuals in SAR (Search and Rescue) cases, including dropping life rafts and life preservers. This is a disgrace. A BM3 (corporal equivalent) only a couple years out of high school has more leadership ability than the Secretary apparently does.

GusBob

(8,265 posts)

8. Did they find the guy ? eom

Reply to tblue37 (Original post)

Wed Feb 18, 2026, 05:16 PM

Feb 18

nuxvomica

(14,110 posts)

10. No

Reply to GusBob (Reply #8)

Wed Feb 18, 2026, 05:53 PM

Feb 18

In an effort to keep the C-130 searching for the missing service member, the regional Coast Guard command in San Diego scrambled to find two available C-27s that could fly the detained people to Texas, which freed up the C-130 to continue searching for the missing guardsman after about an hour, the two U.S. officials and the Coast Guard official said.

The search ultimately went on for 190 hours covering 19,000 square miles, but the guardsman was never found. It’s not clear that Noem’s directive to pull the C-130 had any impact on the search, particularly given the Coast Guard found alternative aircraft that allowed it to return to the effort.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/noems-use-coast-guard-resources-strains-relationship-military-branch-s-rcna258904

So they lost an hour's search time early on, which may have been critical.

liberalgunwilltravel

(1,224 posts)

9. The goodnews is

Reply to tblue37 (Original post)

Wed Feb 18, 2026, 05:45 PM

Feb 18

We now know the punishment that Krusti Gnome should be handed at the Nuremberg II trials. She should be flown in a C-130 over the open ocean and dropped from a thousand feet, as the C-130 flies off into the horizon.