Photo By Sarah Cannon | Rear Adm. Michael Wettlaufer, Commander, Military Sealift Command, (Rear left) ...... read more read more
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Rear Adm. Michael Wettlaufer, Commander, Military Sealift Command, recently presented crew members of the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), in port in San Diego, Calif., with Civilian Armed Forces Service Medals for their outstanding support of the ship’s deployment to Los Angeles for COVID-19 support.
Wettlaufer, who was in San Diego for the christening of MSC’s newest ship, fleet replenishment oiler USNS John Lewis (T-AO 205), visited Mercy to meet with the civilian mariner crew and to present them with their medals.
“These are a great bunch of CIVMARS,” said Wettlaufer. “They are amazingly dedicated and professional, and it is a privilege for me to be able to recognize their hard work personally.”
Wettlaufer presented medals to 14 Mercy crew members during his visit. Another eight, were awarded, but not presented to crewmembers not onboard the ship at the time of the visit.
“I’m happy to see these guys get the recognition they deserve,” said Trevor Sandlin, Mercy’s Chief Mate. “They sacrifice every day, to keep this ship mission ready, and when the call came down to support COVID relief efforts last year, they had this ship ready to go inside of five days, and continued that dedication to duty throughout the mission. For many of these guys, this is the highest, or the only award like this they will ever receive as CIVMARs, so it means a lot to them to get something like this and to be recognized for their hard work.”
According to the Department of Defense, The Armed Forces Service Medal is awarded to those with qualifying military service who are part of a U.S. mission “deemed to be a significant activity and who encounter no foreign armed opposition or imminent hostile action.” The medal is not something that is routinely awarded to civilians, but in this case, special consideration was given to the Mercy’s CIVMAR crew.
“The Armed Forces Service Medal isn’t an award that is usually given to civilians, but we really felt that the crews of USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort deserved them for their part in the COVID deployments,” explained Eudell Walker of the MSC Awards Office. “This award went all the way to the Secretary of the Navy. It was really great to find out that he agreed with us and recognized these CIVMARS with this award.”
Mercy spent nearly 50 days pierside at the Port of Los Angeles, serving as a referral hospital treating non-COVID-19 patients, and in effect as a ‘relief valve’ for local hospitals as they were able to focus their efforts on COVID-19 cases. The ship supported the lead agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), under the Department of Defense’s Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) mission. While in Los Angeles, 77 patients were provided care ranging from basic medical/surgical care to critical care, to trauma. Additionally, the Medical Treatment Team conducted 36 surgeries, 77 X-ray exams, 26 CT scans and administered hundreds of ancillary studies ranging from routine labs to high-end x-rays and blood transfusion support. MSC CIVMARS operated and navigated the ship, loaded and off-loaded mission cargo, assisted with repairs to mission equipment and provided essential services to keep the MTF up and running, as well as maintaining all the physical aspects of the ship throughout the deployment.
For more information on careers/employment with Military Sealift Command, visit https://sealiftcommand.com/.
| Date Taken: | 07.23.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 07.23.2021 13:12 |
| Story ID: | 401607 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 470 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, USNS Mercy Civilian Crew Receive Armed Forces Service Medals for 2020 COVID Relief Deployment, by Sarah Cannon, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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