The Coast Guard cutter Alert was on drug patrol in the Pacific off Central America when it came across a pair of olive ridley sea turtles entangled in fishing nets. “Jumping into the ocean to free a couple of sea turtles is not something you wake up in the morning expecting to do,” says seaman Brandon Groshens. “It was a really great feeling as they swam away, knowing that we saved their lives.”

May 2015 issue