COAST GUARD CREW WRAPS UP 56-DAY MISSION

Squad Monitored Vessels In Gulf And Caribbean Sea

ST. PETERSBURG - The waiting is the hardest part.

After nearly two months of letters, phone calls and e-mail, it all boils
down to waiting to see that familiar face at the rails.

The men and women of the Venturous, many lining the rails of the 210- foot
Coast Guard cutter, smiled and waved Sunday at more than two dozen family
members and friends waiting for their loved ones to return from a 56-day
patrol of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.

"When they're gone like that, we don't know where they're going to be or
when they're coming in,'' said Rhonda Bergoffen of Dunedin, whose husband,
Dan, is a chief petty officer. "It's tough.''

The cutter slipped into the St. Petersburg Coast Guard station on Bayboro
Harbor at noon after 56 days of boarding and inspecting foreign vessels
bound for U.S. ports, training with helicopter crews and conducting drug
operations.

In the Caribbean, a helicopter deployed on the Venturous spotted a
suspected drug-smuggling vessel that took the cutter on a six-hour chase.
The crew fired warning shots as the four people aboard the powerboat dumped
bundles of cocaine overboard and then jumped off the vessel.

The four Colombians and 140 pounds of cocaine were recovered. The suspects
were turned over to authorities to face federal drug charges.

"That's mainly what they're out there for,'' Bergoffen said. "It makes me
nervous.''

Before the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, her husband's schedule was
predictable.

"Since Sept. 11, his schedule has fluctuated a lot,'' she said. "And it
makes it very difficult, especially during the holidays.''

Bergoffen was accompanied by a 4-year-old bull mastiff, Truman, and her
husband's parents, Bob and Hilda Bergoffen of Clearwater.

Petty Officer Casey Speerschneider, 23, was welcomed home by his fiancee,
Erin, 22.

The Town 'N Country couple met about 1 1/2 years ago. Two weeks later,
Speerschneider went on his first patrol.

"It's hard,'' she said. "You go from a relationship where you're 24- 7, and
then you can't talk to him or be with him when you want to. It's
heartbreaking.''

But in the end, it's all worth it, she said.

"I mean, we don't take very much for granted,'' she said. "And it's like a
honeymoon every time he comes home.''