Photo By Brian Dietrick | U.S. Army Sgt. Nathan Love, boatswain, U.S. Army Vessel Hobkirk (LCU 2023), 7th...... read more read more
FORT EUSTIS, Va. – Its 5 o’clock in the morning and the sun has not broken the horizon yet. The only sound that can be heard at 3rd Port is the U.S. Army Vessel Hobkirk (LCU 2023) being loaded with Joint Task Force Civil Support (JTF-CS) vehicles.
JTF-CS enhanced their continued partnership with the 7th Transportation Brigade by assisting them in their annual Joint Logistics Over the Shore (JLOTS) training exercise here August 14.
JLOTS is the process of loading and unloading of ships without the benefit of a fixed port facility and this joint military exercise evaluated how equipment and supplies are moved ashore when port facilities are nonexistent, damaged or too primitive for ships to off-load their cargo at a pier.
JTF-CS has already confirmed their ability to deploy by air and land, but this exercise showed that they could transport by sea as well.
“Participating in this exercise validates our ability to deploy to an incident response by sea,” said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Brian Knowles, JTF-CS current operations division chief. “During a disaster, the roads would probably be blocked or damaged and traveling by sea might be the best way and we showed that we can do that.”
One by one, JTF-CS response vehicles were loaded onto USAV Hobkirk and secured in place, or lashed down, by one of their watercraft operators. Once the vehicles were ready, the 174 foot vessel commenced the four and a half hour journey to Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Va.
This type of operation is exactly what these vessels are designed to do, according to U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Arian Fernandez, vessel master, U.S. Army Vessel Hobkirk (LCU 2023), 7th Sustainment Brigade (Expeditionary).
“Our main mission is to provide support to humanitarian missions in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility,” said Fernandez. “There have been times where we deployed to Kuwait or areas in the pacific to show off what these LCUs are able to do, like roll-on/roll-off discharge operations and lift operations with crane support.”
Fernandez explained that he, along with his crew of 18, just returned from a six-month rotation in the Caribbean providing their specialized support.
After a very smooth transit along the James River and where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean, the USAV Hobkirk arrived to the unimprovised, 80 foot-long Trident Pier at Fort Story.
The causeway modular sections of a this type of pier can be used so a ship or vessel can load or offload equipment or personnel when the permanent pier had been damaged from a man-made or natural disaster. This is extremely important to a unit like JTF-CS, who may be called to response after chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear disaster.
Once the vessel was tied securely to the pier, JTF-CS members safely drove their vehicles from the vessel’s ramp and down the portable pier, making this year’s JLOTS training a very successful one.
“If we get the call to respond to an incident and the roads to get to the location are impassable, we now know that we have another option to get there to provide assistance,” said U.S. Army Maj. Jared McCormick, logistics operations officer, JTF-CS. “We need to keep training this option to sustain our proficiency.”
JTF-CS anticipates, plans and integrates U.S. Northern Command CBRN operations. JTF-CS provides command and control for designated DOD specialized response forces to assist local, state, federal and tribal partners in saving lives, preventing further injury, and providing critical support to enable community recovery.
This is not the first time different units on Joint Base Langley-Eustis (JBLE) have joined together to help in an exercise training environment. During Vibrant Response 2014, JTF-CS was assisted by many JBLE units in the preparation and deployment/redeployment to home station. The 733rd Mission Support Group provided meals-ready-to-eat, services to ship equipment, and provided preventive and corrective equipment maintenance. The 93rd Signal Brigade, JBLE’s Network Enterprise Center, provided critical communication support which enabled JTF-CS to exercise command and control of the DCRF during the exercise. Furthermore, the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command provided their safety and occupational health manager during the duration of the exercise.
Additional information about JTF-CS and the capabilities of the Defense CBRN Response Force can be found online here: http://www.jtfcs.northcom.mil/JTFCS.aspx
| Date Taken: | 08.18.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 08.18.2014 11:01 |
| Story ID: | 139639 |
| Location: | FORT EUSTIS, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 129 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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