the disaster area, nesia. Their m1ss1on was to help restore crews onboard pre- the severely-damaged hospital to the point pared the reverse os- where Indonesian medical teams could mosis water purifi- provide medical care and treatment to tsucation units that the nami victims on their own. ships carry as part of In all, more than twenty MSC ships, their cargo, 43 units operated by nearly 1,200 civil service and in all. Upon their commercial mariners, delivered aid and arrival, they began supported relief efforts in the twelve counproducing potable tries most affected by the disaster. Whethwater-a precious er delivering food and medical supplies, commodity m a scouting coastal waterways for debris, proplace where drink- ducing fresh drinking water, or supportReady Reserve Force ship MV Cape Texas rides out a storm in ing water supplies ing carrier strike gro ups in the area, MSC the Mediterranean Sea in early March 2003. Cape Texas and had been destroyed, ships played a key role in the US mi litary's 30 other RRF ships transported cargo for the US Armys Fourth contaminated with humanitarian outreach to the region. Infantry Division during the Iraq Wtzr. sewage, or infused Future Operations on terrorism. MSC's combat logistics with salt water. Each reverse osmosis w1it force ships travel with the Navy combat can make up to 600 gallons of potable wa- MSC's job is not complete until the last ships that form carrier strike groups and ter per hour. Five of the six ships are also tank, truck, humvee, and helicopter are expeditionary strike groups-the United each capable of making 25,000 gallons of safely back on American soil, and the last State's first line of defense. MSC supplies fresh water daily, using their onboard evap- patient is returned to family. the ships with food, fuel , and equipment, orators. The water can then be which allow them to keep on station, pumped ashore at 600 gallons per minute through nearly two ready for action. One squadron of prepositioning miles of special hoses. Meanwhile, two MSC ships remains strategically located in the replenishment oi lers, Western Pacific, laden with US Marine fleet Co rps equipment, while others continue USNS Tippecanoe and USNS to support the rotation of forces in Iraq john Ericsson, combat stores ship USNS San Jose, and fast and Afghanistan. combat support ship USNS Rainier, were diverted to the Tsunami Relief and Humanitarian Aid Despite the carnage of terrorist attacks area to provide food, fuel, and and the combined casualties of the war, supplies to other Navy ships in A Project HOPE nurse helps an Indonesian father the total number of deaths does not come the region and to relief activibring his daughter into hospital ship USNS Mercy's anywhere near the number of people ties ashore. Meanwhile, USNS Medical Treatment Facility during humanitarian aid killed, injured, or made homeless by the john McDonnell, an MSC efforts following the December 2004 tsunami. tsunami that struck Southeast Asia on 26 oceanographic survey ship, December 2004. By the end of February, only sixty days after the devastating event, the tsunami death toll stood at more than
300,000. As the world united to bring aid to the people of Southeast Asia, MSC was in the vanguard. One day after the tsunami struck, MSC's Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron Three, operated by American Overseas Marine Corporation, Maersk Line Limited, Waterman Steamship Company, and Osprey Ship Management Company, was ordered to participate in relief efforts as part of "Operation Unified Assistance." As the six ships sailed to
began to chart the ocean floor near the coastlines of the affected areas to identify changes in seafloor features that might present a hazard to ships delivering relief supplies and water. Finally, USNS Mercy, the other MSC hospital ship, reached the disaster area on 5 February. In just a few days, Mercy's Medical Treatment Facility had treated more than thirty patients aboard ship and was worki ng with US non-governmental organizations, as well as German, Australian, and Indonesian medical teams, to conduct daily operations ashore at Albidin Hospital in Banda Aceh, Indo-
No one can predict how long the current war will continue or where new confl icts or natural disasters may strike, but o ne thing is certain, when the time comes, MSC and America's merchant mariners will deliver! .t
Frank Randall is the senior writer for the Military Sealift Command Public Affeirs Office, Wtzshington Navy Yard, DC Additional information for this article came from Salvatore Mercogliano, PhD, from his series on the Military Sealift Command for www. usmm.org. Images courtesy MSC