JTF 505 transitions out of Thailand

OKINAWA, JAPAN

05.24.2015

Courtesy Story

III Marine Expeditionary Force   

UTAPAO, Thailand -- With all U.S. earthquake relief efforts in Nepal complete, the movement of U.S. personnel, equipment, supplies and aircraft have transitioned out of the country through various routes – one of those routes being through Utapao, Thailand.

Utapao has been the site of the Joint Task Force 505 Intermediate Staging Base where the Joint Air Component Coordination Element and the Thai-U.S. Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Relief Combined Coordination Center for Nepal work together to ensure the smooth movement of required support in and out of Nepal. Now that the movement of the Joint Task Force has transitioned to redeployment, the staging base in Utapao is facilitating the movement of U.S. forces back to their various home stations.

“We have an array of assets, enablers and logistics professionals from all services working together to bring personnel and equipment out of the region,” said U.S. Army Col. Leon Plummer, ISB Joint Logistics Coordination Element officer in charge. “The key capabilities within the unit are the service members who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience in supporting humanitarian assistance missions in a joint environment. They are the experts coordinating the large movements of people and equipment throughout the region.”

Plummer said the joint operations in Utapao are paramount because they unite the best capabilities of each branch in support of the shared mission in Nepal.

“For our JTF, each service brings unique assets to contingencies such as Operation Sahayogi Haat. Operating effectively in a joint environment means synchronizing those unique service capabilities to ensure we provide the right resource to the right place at the right time,” Plummer said.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Samuel Payne, the mission support commander for the ISB, said the personnel assisting with the retrograde are working hard to ensure mission success.

“We have 24-hour operations monitoring and facilitating sorties out of Nepal, and have been continuously ensuring they get in the air and on their way,” Payne said. “Our joint forces are syncing well together to fulfill the requirements for the retrograde, just as they did when we were sending personnel and supplies in for the first half of this operation.”

At the ISB in Utapao, the joint force is working to support the retrograde operation which helps ensure accountability as assets are moved out of Nepal to Thailand, and back to their respective locations.

“As we look to the future we realize that regional cooperation is essential to maintaining economic stability and positive security relationships in the Asia-Pacific region,” Plummer said. “When we work together, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.”

• Date Taken: 05.24.2015
• Date Posted: 05.25.2015 23:45
• Story ID: 164481
• Location: OKINAWA, JP