Coast Guard Capt. Paul E. Frantz relieved Capt. Adrian L. West as commanding officer of the Special Missions Training Center during a change of command ceremony on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, Thursday, June 20.
Frantz was previously assigned as chief of response at Coast Guard Sector Anchorage, Alaska. West will transfer to Boston as chief of response at the Coast Guard’s First District.
Rear Adm. Brian Penoyer, commander of Force Readiness Command, presided over the ceremony and said, “I know the Special Missions Training Center to be the place at which there is an inborn bias for action and a focus on delivering excellence that is unmatched.”
While addressing the crew, Frantz said, “I don’t think words can actually describe the excitement that I feel for this opportunity to serve the crew of Special Missions Training Center as their commanding officer.”
As the Coast Guard’s “Tactical Center of Excellence,” SMTC analyzes, designs, develops, and delivers high risk and expeditionary training to improve performance, ensure safety, promote proficiency, and enforce standardization for Coast Guard Deployable Specialized Forces, Boat Forces, Expeditionary, and Chemical, Biological, Radiation, and Nuclear communities. SMTC manages three geographically-dispersed training detachments, offers 17 resident courses, and graduates over 1,500 students annually, while also providing direct support to over 1,400 field members during Ready for Operations assessments at 22 DSF units and two Maritime Force Protection Units.
