 In March 1989, the Department of Defense organized Operation Hat Trick III, an exercise employing the efforts of several reserve patrol squadrons, staging out of Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, Puerto Rico.This operation, the largest drug interdiction operation using reserve forces to date, resulted in the capture of a record number of narcotics carrying vessels and aircraft.After the success of this
operation, Atlantic reserve patrol squadrons routinely devoted a portion of their two-week ACDUTRA time each year on drug interdiction patrols with the United States Coast Guard based out of NS Roosevelt Roads and NAS Key West, Florida Reserve and active duty Navy patrol squadrons had previously assisted the Coast Guard in drug interdiction flights in the Caribbean area since 1985.