Photo By Jennifer Brofer | U.S. 1st Marine Logistics Group Marines take a tour of the USNS Sgt. William R....... read more read more
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NORWAY – From combat missions to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, Marines can respond to a crisis anywhere in the world within 7-10 days. This is achievable, in part, through the Maritime Prepositioning Force, which forward deploys naval ships in strategic locations throughout the world, loaded with enough supplies and equipment to support a Marine Expeditionary Brigade of 15,000 personnel for 30 days.
The concept for the MPF program was created during the Cold War as the Norway Air-Landed Marine Expeditionary Brigade, in response to the Soviet threat, in order to support NATO’s reinforcement of Norway with a MEB-sized Marine Air Ground Task Force. After the Cold War, NALMEB was transformed into a program more capable of providing global support to forward-deployed naval forces. Thus, Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway was born.
In order to educate staff non-commissioned officers and officers on the capabilities of MPF and MCPP-N, a group of logistical planners with the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Logistics Group made visits to Blount Island Command in Jacksonville, Fla., and Trondheim, Norway, April 3-9.
Blount Island Command is responsible for the maintenance cycle operations and oversight of the MCCPP-N While there, the 1st MLG Marines conducted a walking tour of one of the Maritime Prepositioning Ships, the USNS Sgt. William R. Button, one of 16 ships divided into three MPS squadrons.
“We’re the Marine Corps’ Wal-Mart; we have everything you need,” said David Eddycaptain of the USNS Button, who added his ship carries everything from tanks and Humvees to bull dozers and ambulances and can make 40,000 gallons of water a day by filtering ocean water.
By having many ships strategically located around the world, the Marines can simply fly to the nearest airfield and fall in on equipment and supplies being offloaded from the nearby ship, allowing for the rapid deployment of military forces whenever and wherever needed.
“It’s easy to transport [Marines and sailors], but it takes a while to transport the equipment,” said Eddy. “By prepositioning us, we can probably get there as fast as the bodies get there.”
After their tour of the Button, the Marines also witnessed the capabilities of the Improved Navy Lighterage System, a causeway ferry system that allows an MPF ship to offload at sea and transport heavy equipment from ship to shore.
“With the lighterage we carry, we don’t need a port,” said Eddy. “Basically, any place I can put an anchor down, I can offload.”
The dozen or so Marines who attended the training tour said they gained valuable knowledge.
“Today I learned a lot about the new vessels coming into the program and how we’ll be able to use those as floating supply warehouses and how they can get parts and supplies to us faster on the ground,” said 1st Lt. Todd Hoyt, logistics officer with 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, who will soon assume become the company commander for Landing Support Company, CLR-17, 1st MLG.
“This is a great capability set we have as a Marine Corpsso we can deploy anywhere in a short amount of time and really affect places well outside the [Continental United States] scope,” added Hoyt, 30, from Bend, Ore.
Historically, MPF assets have been used during Operation Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and were also employed for humanitarian efforts after the Indian Ocean earthquake in 2004 and again after the Haiti earthquake in 2010.
After the tour of Blount Island Command, a smaller group of Marines traveled to Norway to visit the site of the land-based portion of the program that maintains equipment, supplies and ammunition, within six climate-controlled storage caves carved into the sides of mountains of solid rock. The caves provide more than 736,000 square feet of storage, and two additional airstrip locations hold equipment to support Marine aviation. Norway shares 50 percent of the cost of maintenance to keep the equipment up and running, and the readiness rate is currently 98 percent, according to members of the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organization.
“The Norwegians maintain the MCPP-N equipment and supplies at a very high standard and have proven many times over the years their continued commitment to the program and its mission,” said Mike Harvey, prepositioning officer, Marine Forces Europe, who joined the Marines on the tour of the caves.
The Norwegians echoed their commitment to the prepositioning program and partnership with the U.S. Marines.
“Well aware of the political and military value of the [MCPP-N], I remain dedicated with the entire NDLO to support the program as long as political and military leaders of our two nations agree on its mutual value and continued existence,” said Norwegian Armed Forces Maj. Gen. Trond Karlsen, commander of the NDLO, to the visiting Marines.
The 6-day training tour was spurred on by the Commandant’s Planning Guidance, said Brig. Gen. Charles L. Hudson, commanding general of 1st MLG, in which Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James Amos wrote, “The Navy-Marine Corps team will be postured and engaged forward to be most operationally relevant to the needs of our Nation. Due to their demonstrated flexibility, amphibious ships are the most utilitarian platforms in the American fleet for crisis response.”
While Marines continue to fight in two land-based wars spanning the past decade, Hudson hopes to bring 1st MLG back to its amphibious roots.
“It’s been a while because we’ve been busy fighting OIF and OEF for 10 years,” said Hudson, 52, from Zirconia, N.C. “To be in line with the Commandant’s Planning Guidance, we need to get the turnover of MPF back into the lexicon of the Marine Corps. We have to [train] the younger Marines so they can continue to carry the knowledge and the capability forward over the next decade or two decades from now.”
| Date Taken: | 04.04.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 04.20.2011 14:00 |
| Story ID: | 69043 |
| Location: | 2, NO |
| Web Views: | 502 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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