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Navy Reservists from the Military Sealift Command Headquarters Unit, Military Sealift Command Pacific Headquarters Unit and Military Sealift Command Far East are currently participating in the U.S. Navy’s Large Scale Exercise 2021 (LSE 21), supporting operations in the Pacific Area of Responsibility.
Over two weeks, the six MSC reservists have scheduled and coordinated logistics services from the MSC fleet replenishment oiler USNS Yukon (T-AO 202) and MSC dry cargo/ammunition ship USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11) at sea, with U.S. Navy ships participating in the exercise.
According to Capt. Jim Rosenbach, commanding officer of MSCPAC HQ unit, the reservists have been participating in both the at-sea real-world scenarios and the constructed forces virtual scenarios. In addition to coordinating logistics services, the team has also been collecting information, pertinent to MSC operations.
“Because we are scheduling underway replenishments in a contested environment, we have to coordinate protection of our assets along with the UNREPS,” said Rosenbach. “Ultimately, we are collecting information for our commander, so he can make good decisions.”
With LSE 21 being the largest military exercise in a generation, Rosenbach explained that the reservists are using the opportunity to test themselves on their ability to work together as a unit, and to also work with the MSC team, especially the MSC Pacific operations team.
“We are integrating and learning how we will work in a real contingency. We are preparing to mobilize and to be ready on day one, when the call comes,” he said. “By working with other reservists and reserve units, as well as the MSCPAC operations department, we are getting an appreciation of MSC’s operation tempo. As for reservists from other units, they are getting to see how busy we are in PAC. We want them to see more broadly how we operate. That will help the whole organization and help us to work together more seamlessly.”
Participating in fleet exercises is nothing new to MSC reservists. Earlier this year, they participated in the table-top exercises Pacific Sentry and Pacific Fury. What makes LSE 21 different, is the real-world scenario, working directly with ships at sea.
“Because we are working with actual ships at sea, we can communicate directly with the crews, which is much more realistic than a table-top exercise,” explained Rosenbach. “The table-top exercises helped us realized some of the challenges we face with our communications, so participating in those, helped us to correct issues, which helped us to be better prepared and successful in LSE 21.”
MSC reservists will continue to provide support to LSE 21through the completion of the exercise.
LSE 2021 is a globally integrated exercise designed to test advanced warfare concepts across the full-range of maritime and amphibious operations under Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO). LSE 2021 will take place Aug. 3-16, 2021, in the U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. Fleet Forces, and U.S. Naval Forces Europe areas of operation.
| Date Taken: | 08.13.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 08.13.2021 13:16 |
| Story ID: | 403049 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 227 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Military Sealift Command Reservists Support U.S. Navy’s Large Scale Exercise 2021, by Sarah Cannon, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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