Military Sealift Command Far East Supplies and Supports the Fleet, Enabling Success

SEMBAWANG, SINGAPORE

05.17.2016

Story by Petty Officer 3rd Class Joshua Fulton 

Commander, Logistics Group Western Pacific

At Military Sealift Command Far East (MSCFE), the combined efforts of military personnel and civilian mariners ensure the United States and partner nations are able to successful complete any mission with outstanding logistical support.

In pursuit of United States Pacific Command’s (USPACOM) goal of enhancing stability in the Asia-Pacific region, MSCFE delivers the supplies and support necessary to ensure USPACOM personnel can promote security cooperation, encouraging peaceful development, respond to contingencies, and deter aggression.

MSCFE’s mission is to safely and efficiently operate Military Sealift Command (MSC) controlled ships to provide services in support of USPACOM and U.S. 7th Fleet. MSCFE utilizes up to 50 combat logistics force, special mission, prepositioning, and strategic sealift ships in its vast area of responsibility, encompassing more than 48 million square miles of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, to achieve this goal.

“MSC is a government owned entity that employs civilian mariners aboard government controlled vessels in order to provide crucial logistics support to U.S. Navy Ships and military exercises,” said Lt. Brittany Rossi, special mission ships action officer for MSCFE. “We supply food, fuel, ammunition and equipment where it is needed, be it in port or at sea.”

MSCFE’s geographical area of command stretches from the western Indian Ocean to the central Pacific. This massive area of responsibility includes many of the most strategically important locations worldwide, in terms of trade and global economics as well as maritime security.

“It is constantly busy here due to the amount of special circumstances that exist in our area of responsibility,” said Rossi. “Due to the high number of bilateral and multinational military exercises in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region combined with the unparalleled volume of shipping traffic, we maintain a high operational tempo at MSCFE to ensure logistical support is always delivered where it is required.”

MSCFE’s work ethic not only enables the military to achieve its regional goals, it allows it to do so with immeasurably less expense.
“What makes MSCFE indispensable is the fact that we provide transportation of government goods via shipping routes at a fraction of the expense it would otherwise cost to transport the goods by commercial airlines or shipping services,” said Mike Azevedo, MSCFE force protection officer. “These savings are then reinvested back into the Navy’s budget and make a meaningful impact.”

MSC is the premier provider of ocean transportation to the Department of Defense. The command operates approximately 110 non-combatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world and move military cargo and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces and partner nations.

• Date Taken: 05.17.2016
• Date Posted: 05.17.2016 04:17
• Story ID: 198297
• Location: SEMBAWANG, SG