Photo By 1st Lt. Hannah Morgan | Task Force Stilwell personnel in the foreground and the US Navy Explosive Ordnance...... read more read more
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By 1st Lt. J. James L. Rojek
66th Transportation Company, 39th Transportation Battalion (MC)
LIEPAJA, Latvia – Decades ago, below the waves of the frigid Baltic Sea off the shorelines of Lithuania and Latvia, the Soviet Union planted countless mines for coastal defense during the second world war, protecting itself from German U-boat invasion. Now, seventy years onward, the U.S. Navy collaborated with Latvia and Lithuania in a tri-nation, joint-forces exercise, known as Baltic Partnership 2015, to uncover and dispose of those mines in order to protect civilian and military watercraft and personnel from potential danger.
Task Force Stilwell’s Movement Control Team worked with the U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Device Team for weeks, preparing for their arrival and execution. On Aug. 22, 2015, three Soldiers from Task Force Stilwell’s team in Lithuania, 2nd Lt. David Golonka, Staff Sgt. Steven Tipton, and Staff Sgt. Dennis Davis, received the U.S. Navy’s C-130 at Palanga International Airport in Palanga, Lithuania, north of the medieval city of Klaipeda.
After receiving the three-man Navy EOD Team, the Task Force Stilwell Soldiers ensured the downloading of their equipment, which included a 21-foot rigid-hulled inflatable boat, as well as hyperbolic chambers and oxygen tanks to protect the divers from the barometric pressure they experience at different depths under the sea.
Task Force Stilwell coordinated onward movement of the EOD Team and their equipment to Liepaja, Latvia, where they executed their mission.
The Navy EOD Team’s leader, Lt. Dobbins, complimented the MCT personnel, “Their actions have been so proactive, and we are really impressed with the level of logistical support that you have been able to accomplish,” he said.
Staff Sgt. Steven Tipton, a movement supervisor in 386th MCT, said, “This has been a fascinating and unique experience to work in a joint-service exercise with the U.S. Navy, and in particular one of their EOD Teams. I found it amazing that we met one of only ten female EOD personnel in the entire Navy. This experience reinforced our interoperability with all forces, as well as our Baltic partners. We were also pleased to advise them on future cargo configurations for their RIB boat by suggesting goo for which they were grateful.”
The effects of previous wars have lasting effects, and Task Force Stilwell participation in a piece of that history played a role that will safeguard mankind from the destructive instruments of World War II and ensure that a conflict, now seventy years from its culmination, will not claim any further lives.
| Date Taken: | 08.28.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 09.15.2015 11:24 |
| Story ID: | 176074 |
| Location: | LIEPAJA, LV |
| Web Views: | 355 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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