After delay, Mercy leaves fired up for a mission of help
May 4th, 2012 | Community relations Deployment Disaster response Medical Navy Pacific Partnership | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
With the “global force for good” in mind, some 400 military service members, many of them trained and skilled in the medical and health professions, boarded the hospital ship Mercy at San Diego Naval Base, Calif, on the morning of May 1 for a mission to Southeast Asia. Joining them that day were scores of civilians, volunteers of all ages from universities, nongovernmental organizations and charities who embarked on the ship for “Pacific Partnership 2012,” the seventh iteration of the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s humanitarian and civic action program that grew from the widespread disaster of the 2004 tsunami that struck South Asia. The atmosphere on the pier was one of excitement, as if a cruise ship was heading out to sea. In the coming week or two, nearly 1,000 will board the ship for missions in Indonesia, one of four countries Mercy will visit on this deployment, along with the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Sailors manned the rails for the departure through San Diego Bay, a string of white uniforms interrupted by an occasional Air Force blue dress uniform or Army beret. But just as Mercy was preparing to leave her berth, and crews readied to lift the brow and toss the lines, trouble came with a faulty valve in the forward propulsion section. The crowd waited on the pier. It wasn’t long before the ship’s radar went still, and two super tugs waiting to nudge the former tanker-turned-hospital ship from the pier veered away and headed back to their berth nearby. It would be two days before Mercy, with repairs done, would get underway.
The hiccup probably did little to quash the excitement for the mission. “This does energize you,” said Command Master Chief (SW/FMF) Thomas Twigg, Mercy’s command master chief and a 21-year veteran. “Going to Vietnam is going to be a great opportunity, and the chance to visit some of the remote islands in Indonesia.” Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class (AW) Amirah Roman volunteered for the mission, a break from her regular duties at Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. She described herself as “a jack-of-all-trades corpsman,” and expects to dabble in everything from patient administration to patient care and medical education during the deployment. She’s been teaching herself a little Tagalog but can’t wait to see Cambodia. “It’s going to be amazing,” she said. “These are all new countries to me.”
Life on the 894-foot-long ship will have a different feel than her previous sea tour aboard the carrier Abraham Lincoln. “It’s smaller but it’s more comfortable,” she said of the berthing spaces and lounges. “They’ve got a Fit Boss, and they even have a Fun Boss.” “It’s kind of like a cruise ship atmosphere,” she added. “You can go see things that you’ve never seen before.” There’s even a nutritionist aboard, she said. Actually, there may even be more than one. Deploying and joining her over the four months will be a wide range of health, medical, dental and even veterinarian experts with the Military Treatment Facility, along with engineers and scores of civilian volunteers, many who will go ashore for civic, humanitarian and disaster relief missions and training. Others will treat patients aboard the ship, which has up to 1,000 beds, vast medical and patient spaces including surgery, radiology and optometry lab. The ship produces its own water, even oxygen, and can hold up to 5,000 units of blood.
The $20 million humanitarian mission will start with Indonesia at the end of May, then onto the other countries for missions lasting two weeks each before the ship returns, probably sometime in September. The mission is about building relationships as much as mending broken bones, fixing teeth and teaching local providers and residents about good health, said Rear Adm. C. Forrest Faison III, who commands Navy Medicine West in San Diego. “We learned that from our experience in Indonesia,” after the 2004 earthquake and tsunami.
Nearly two dozen nongovernmental organizations, from Project Handclasp and World Vets to the University of California-San Diego Pre-Dental Society, will participate. “It’s an opportunity to serve our country in ways others can’t,” said retired Army Lt. Col. Mike Hughes, a physician’s assistant and LDS Charities volunteer who joined his wife Shari, a nurse and veteran of “PP 2010.” This larger presence of volunteers, many who will go ashore to work with military teams and train with local first-responders and NGOs, is noticeable on the ship, crewed by 70 civilian-mariners. “Our people brought a spirit to the ship,” said Dr. Irv Silverstein, the Dental Society’s director and advisor and veteran of previous Pacific Partnerships. “At first, there was a lot of skepticism. By having the civilian engagement concept, there’s less of a feeling that it was a military mission.” Cultural exchanges and training help as well. “It’s not us telling them how to do things,” he said. You can track PP ’12’s own blog here.
Hospital ship Mercy deployed Thursday from San Diego, bound for Southeast Asia and "Pacific Partnership" humanitarian and civic missions. (MC2 Eve-Maria Ramsaran/Navy)
Haze gray in Charm City
November 16th, 2011 | Community relations Historical Navy Photos Ships Surface Force Atlantic War of 1812 | Posted by Bill McMichael
Next year marks the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, and the Navy is helping the state of Maryland kick off its multi-year commemoration with a two-ship visit to Baltimore’s beautiful Inner Harbor. The war with Great Britain that gave us the Star-Spangled Banner and “Don’t give up the ship!” was declared on June 18, 1812, and lasted another 2 1/2 years.
Two patrol coastals, Hurricane and Monsoon, arrived at Baltimore's Inner Harbor Tuesday morning. The two ships are in town to take part in Maryland's Star-Spangled Bicentennial Launch, slated for Wednesday morning. // U.S. Navy photo
The Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard will be marking the bicentennial through 2015 with week-long events, parades of sail, public visits and numerous other community relations activities in Baltimore, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Boston, and the Great Lakes ports of Milwaukee, Chicago, Toledo, Cleveland, Detroit and Buffalo, according to Naval Surface Force Atlantic.
The kickoff ceremony will be held Thursday at 11:30 a.m. in Baltimore’s Bicentennial Plaza.
New York, New York
September 13th, 2011 | 2nd Fleet 9/11 Community relations Navy Norfolk Naval Station Pentagon Photos San Antonio class | Posted by Bill McMichael
A Navy amphibious warship returned to its figurative and literal source Sunday, as the crew of the amphibious transport dock ship New York spent Sept. 11 in the Big Apple taking part in events throughout the city honoring victims and responders of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Quartermaster 3rd Class James Kern stands watch on the bridge aboard the amphibious transport dock ship New York as the ship transits to its backdrop location on the Hudson River as part of the commemoration ceremony of the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Corey Lewis
The transport dock ship was named for the city that took the heaviest terrorist blow on that day in 2001, as nearly 3,000 people died when two hijacked jet airliners crashed into two World Trade Center skyscrapers — followed by a jetliner crash into a Pennsylvania field that took the lives of all 40 passengers and crew members, and another that struck the west side of the Pentagon, killing 184 aboard and inside the building.
And its bow was fashioned from 7.5 tons of steel recovered from the shattered buildings, a rebirth being mirrored at the reborn site, where the twin-waterfall memorial built where the twin towers stood was unveiled Sunday.
Embarked aboard USS New York for the transit from Norfolk, Va., to New York Harbor were 170 members of the 9/11 Families Association, including families of victims and first responders, 2nd Fleet said.
Good works in Jax
July 29th, 2011 | Carriers CNATRA Community relations Maritime operations Naval aviation Norfolk Naval Shipyard Photos Sea trials Ships | Posted by Bill McMichael
More than 40 sailors from the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower spent the morning of July 26 sprucing up a resource center for the homeless in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., during a three-day port call in Mayport that began July 25.
Interior Communications Electrician Fireman Donovan Cooper picks weeds from the property of Mission House during a community relations project in Jacksonville Beach, Fla. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Parde
The center, called Mission House, offers food and counseling services to the homeless in the Jacksonville area.
Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Glen Everette picks weeds in front of Mission House. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Parde
Ike’s port call came in the midst of an underway period in the Atlantic following a nine-month maintenance availability at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. While at sea, the carrier successfully completed sea trials and has continued with additional training.
Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Jeremy Prestigiacomo shovels weeds at Mission House. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Parde
Hopefully, these hard-working sailors received some well-deserved time off the rest of the day. After its three-day break, Ike got underway and continued air operations, helping CNATRA prepare naval aviators for future carrier-based operations.
A T-45C Goshawk training aircraft assigned to the Chief of Naval Air Training performs a touch-and-go aboard Ike July 28. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Rob Rupp