Supporting the porting

Photo By Sgt. Ryan Swanson | The Scholarie ST-905 is offloaded from the USNS Mendonca, a large cargo ship, during Alaska Shield 2014 in Anchorage, Alaska, March 27, 2014. The U.S. Army has several small tugs that can transport supplies to shore when port facilities are inoperative, degraded, or otherwise unavailable. Alaska Shield is a U.S. government, State of Alaska, and local disaster response exercise. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ryan A. Swanson)  

ANCHORAGE, AK, UNITED STATES

04.01.2014

Story by Sgt. Benjamin John 

364th Theater Public Affairs Support Element

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Port of Anchorage is normally filled with ships off loading materials needed for the city of Anchorage and the state of Alaska. From March 16 to April 14, the port will have been home to a Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore operation that is part of the larger Alaska Shield 14 exercise. Alaska Shield 14 is an exercise that involves federal, state, local and military agencies, designed to test response and coordination efforts during a disaster and is modeled after the 1964 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated much of South Central Alaska including the city of Anchorage.

A Joint Task Force consisting of assets from the U.S. Army, Navy, and Coast Guard will demonstrate the ability to rapidly deploy in support of local and state authorities in response to a large scale natural or man-made disaster. The JTF will perform the JLOTS operations in order to sustain and support the region that has had its normal facilities and services destroyed due to the disaster. In the event of a disaster, JLOTS would support the state of Alaska by retrieving goods such as food, clothing, oil and water from vessels unable to dock at a damaged harbor.

“Eighty-seven percent of the state depends on the Port of Anchorage,” said Stuart Greydanus, the Port Operations Director and Facilities Security Officer for the Port of Anchorage. “It would be vital that we have a JLOTS response in the event of a catastrophic failure.”

The JLOTS operation has been used globally and an exercise like Alaska Shield 14 prepares the JTF to be able to reach further and respond faster.

“We could do this anywhere,” said Col. Randal Nelson, the Commander for the 7th Transportation Brigade (expeditionary) and the Commander for JTF 7 that is JLOTS during Alaska Shield 14. “We have done this in Haiti, we've done this in South Korea, we've done this in areas of South America and it doesn't matter that we are here at the Port of Anchorage, this applies everywhere.”

The tools used in a JLOTS operation are taken from all branches of the military. A group of service members are hand chosen because of their unique skills and brought together to accomplish a mission that no one else could do. For Alaska Shield 14, at the Port of Anchorage, the U.S. Navy is here with large seagoing vessels, the U.S. Marines and U.S. Army are here providing smaller utility vessels that can create or maneuver what is needed for the mission, and the U.S. Coast Guard is here providing security for the port. The JLOTS team is not always the same, as it depends on the mission's needs and what is available to be allocated for the task at hand.

The first part of the JLOTS group for the Alaska Shield 14 exercise is the USNS Mendonca. The USNS Mendonca is a large U.S. Navy seagoing ship that holds and transports supplies to wherever they are needed. The next members of the group are the logistics support vessels and landing craft utility vessels that are part of the U.S. Marines and U.S. Army.

The Port of Anchorage has sustained some simulated damage and the port has been filled with glacial silt that inhibits the large seagoing ships from being able to dock at the port. The LSVs and LCUs have shallow drafts that do not need deep water levels to operate that allow the vessels to take supplies from the USNS Mendonca and bring them to shore.

The last members of the group are the U.S. Army large tug and small tug vessels that are here to guide the LSVs and LCUs to shore because the Port of Anchorage has areas of strong
currents that the LSV and LCU vessels have difficulty navigating without help.

The application of a JLOTS operation allows the affected area to continue to survive, while simultaneously starting the rebuild process of those areas destroyed by the disaster.

Nelson expressed that JLOTS will come away from this exercise with multiple lessons learned and will be ready to provide Alaska with assistance in any situation.

• Date Taken: 04.01.2014
• Date Posted: 04.02.2014 22:03
• Story ID: 123841
• Location: ANCHORAGE, AK, US