Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA) is a United States Coast Guard command based in Manama, Bahrain. PATFORSWA was created in November 2002 as a contingency operation to support the U.S. Navy with patrol boats. The command's mission is to train, equip, deploy and support combat-ready Coast Guard forces conducting operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) in the Naval Forces Central Command's area of responsibility. It was commissioned as a permanent duty station in June 2004. In July 2003 PATFORSWA moved from its own compound to facilities at Naval Support Activity Bahrain. Elements Patrol boats [[File:USCG PATFORSWA member underway in the Arabian Gulf.png|thumb|right|A member of USCGC Adak'''s boarding team conducting training in the Persian Gulf.]] There were six Coast Guard 110' Island class patrol boats assigned to PATFORSWA: , , , , , and . The Coast Guard made plans to base six new Sentinel-class cutters in Bahrain to replace the aging Island-class cutters. The first two replacement cutters Charles Moulthrope and Robert Goldman passed through the Suez Canal on 7 May 2021 on their way to Manama, Bahrain. They arrived at their new homeport on 25 May 2021 to replace the cutters Adak and Aquidneck, which were subsequently decommissioned in Bahrain on 15 June 2021. The next two replacement cutters Glen Harris and Emlen Tunnell sailed for Bahrain before the end of 2021. After the arrival of Glen Harris and Emlen Tunnell but before the arrival of John Scheuerman and Clarence Sutphin Jr., the cutters Maui, Monomoy and Wrangell were decommissioned on 22 March 2022. The cutters John Scheuerman and Clarence Sutphin Jr. arrived in Bahrain on 23 August 2022 and Baranof was decommissioned on 26 September 2022. Unit History Establishment Initial preparations for naval operations supporting OIF began with the U.S. Navy in the summer and fall of 2002. The navy drew upon its standing contingency plans for combat operations involving Iraq and, in September 2002, United States Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) requested U.S. Coast Guard support for a mission termed “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” The Navy saw the Coast Guard's cutters and skilled personnel as ideally suited to naval operations supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. The shallow coastal areas and waterways of Iraq are subject to heavy silting and strategists believed that Iraq's primary threat to American naval units came from small boats, patrol craft and mine laying