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GWANGYANG, South Korea - On the southern coast of the Korean peninsula, four Sailors with Expeditionary Port Unit 114 from San Diego were tracking ships entering this area, the second largest port in the Republic of Korea (ROK). These Sailors were staged in a small, modified shipping container that was equipped with various types of critical communication equipment.
The container, called a Mobile Sealift Operations Center (MSOC), was a prepositioned asset from Busan and reserved for quick deployment during contingencies or exercises such as this one, Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) 2015.
Set near the edge of the pier, next to the starboard side of the USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11), a dry cargo and ammunition vessel that was here undergoing a scheduled voyage repair, one of the MSOC’s role during a contingency or operation is to direct and assist supporting ships.
“During an operation, this post could be overwhelmed with ships coming in with its cargo and some of the local ports are not equipped to handle our ships,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Phillip R. Casalegno, a reserve-component Sailor and executive officer of EPU 114, which is part of Military Sealift Command (MSC) Pacific. “Essentially, we become the military liaison for the local port authority.”
Port operation here is just one aspect of MSC Far East’s participation in UFG. More than 30 MSC personnel located in Korea, Singapore and Japan participated Aug. 17-28 in UFG 2015, a major computer-simulated exercise involving more than 30,000 U.S. service members.
The exercise, one of two annually scheduled between the U.S. and ROK forces, tested the ability to respond to a contingency on the Korean peninsula. Australia, Canada, Columbia, Denmark, France, and the United Kingdom also participated this year.
For the EPUs UFG facilitated valuable training.
“This kind of opportunity is critical for EPU’s to be able to work with the MSOC every day, satisfy our qualification requirements and make sure we are proficient for mobilization readiness,” said Casalegno.
Despite the small exercise footprint of MSC Far East, the scope of the UFG training was both diverse and complex, managing hundreds of simulated U.S. government and commercially contracted dry cargo ships and fuel tankers to and from the Korean area of operations. Scenarios included adverse weather, unscheduled maintenance, fueling of vessels, bunkering and working with host nation port authorities.
The EPU had 17 billets to operate the MSOC and assist with port operations, but for this exercise they only deployed four here and a second EPU at Yokohama, Japan.
“Our unit had already addressed several other requirements this year, including training a large group for [Exercise] Key Resolve at Chinhea [ROK] in March, so I was mainly taking the new personnel,” said Casalegno. “That made the training even more valuable since two of the three had never seen the inside of an MSOC. They were trained and ready for operations by the end of the exercise.”
In Pier 8 at Busan, eight Navy personnel from MSC Far East Reserve Unit 102 augmented permanent MSC Office Korea staff. They manned a 24/7 crisis action team, and the Combined Seaport Command Center, a centralized command and control center that can manage cargo ships at ports throughout South Korea. Here, MSCFE Sailors worked closely with the Army's Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC), and ROK army and navy personnel.
While the bulk of the exercise activities took place in South Korea, MSC Far East headquarters in Singapore played a key role. Nine reserve-component Sailors from St. Louis-based MSC Far East Reserve Unit 101 and Sealift Support Unit 102 augmented permanent command staff in manning an around-the-clock command and control center, working with counterparts from the staff of Commander, Task Force 73. During UFG, they monitored and directed all simulated MSC shipping traffic throughout the western Pacific.
“We supported any sealift and combat logistics requirements for the exercise,” said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Christopher Cassano, a reserve-component Sailor and operations officer for MSC Far East RU 101. “We also supported any request-for-information of MSC assets and any other exercise roles such as one for a noncombatant evacuation operation.”
In Yokohama, six reserve-component Sailors from MSC Far East RU 101 and four from Syracuse, New York-based EPU 104 joined counterparts from SDDC in manning the Japan Seaport Coordination Center (JSCC). During exercises and contingency operations, the JSCC serves as the single point of contact for sealift activities and cargo destined for Japan.
The Sailors from EPU 104, a highly mobile unit that can deploy quickly and establish port operations even under the most adverse conditions, also visited the Japanese ports at the Yokohama North Dock; Hakozaki Fuel Terminal at Fleet Activities, Yokosuka; and Kure/Hiro Ammo Pier, near Hiroshima to assess the capabilities of those ports and to conduct Port Risk Assessment Surveys.
“Our time here in Japan provided excellent training opportunities for the members of both units,” said U. S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Paul Unverzagt, a reserve-component Sailor and executive officer of EPU 104. “No members had previous experience in the Far East, so the training was educational. We feel that our learning points here will allow us to positively contribute to the MSC mission.”
| Date Taken: | 08.31.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.31.2015 03:47 |
| Story ID: | 174729 |
| Location: | GWANGYANG, KR |
| Web Views: | 464 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Military Sealift Command participates in Ulchi Freedom Guardian 2015, by Grady Fontana, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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