The blue-green team in Haiti: Work continues
February 4th, 2010 | Aviation Maritime operations Photos Ships The greenside | Posted by Phil Ewing
Lance Cpl. Tyler Woodard, of the 22nd MEU, swung with a friend Monday in Port-au-Prince // MC3 Samantha Robinett / Navy
The Haiti humanitarian relief mission no longer dominates the cable-news TV networks these days, and the Navy has already withdrawn some of the ships — notably the carrier Carl Vinson — that were first to respond. That doesn’t mean the work has stopped, though. The Bataan and Nassau Amphibious Ready Groups, and the 22nd and 24th Marine Expeditionary Units, are still on station hauling supplies, distributing aid and helping out with the recovery.
“Professionals study logistics”: With the dock landing ship Ashland tied up at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, sailors and Marines broke down palleted shipments from ISO containers and loaded them aboard. Gators like Ashland, designed to send Marines ashore against a contested beach, have instead been tasked as cargo ships, picking up supplies and using their landing craft to deliver them. // Navy
When supplies reach the task force off Haiti, they’re broken down again and often hand-delivered, as was the case for these air crewmen from HSC 26, the “Chargers,” who carried food and medicine from their MH-60S Seahawk onto the hospital ship Comfort. // MC2 Kristopher Wilson / Navy
Big-birdfarm: The amphibious assault ship Nassau cruised off the Haitian coast and displayed its aviary of really large aircraft, including MV-22 Ospreys and CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters. Organizers have prized both as useful for delivering large quantities of supplies; the Nassau’s Ospreys have even flown cargo flights from Gitmo straight to Haiti. // MC1 W. B. Swoboda / Navy
Tags: Haiti