NAVELSF serving in Kuwait and Iraq

Navy Supply Corps Newsletter, Nov-Dec, 2004

In January of 2003 about 65 Reservists of Navy Cargo Handling Battalion 10 were recalled to be deployed to Kuwait in support of Navy Cargo Handling and Port Group (NAVCHAPGRU). These Reservists served six months and returned home.

A year later, Naval Expeditionary Logistics Support Force (NAVELSF) mobilized over 525 Sailors from four of its Cargo Handling and Supply Support Battalions for port stevedore and marshalling yard work, fuel farm (depot) operations, mail operations, and air cargo handling in Iraq and Kuwait. They were designated NAVELSF Forward Alpha. This group took over an Army mission so Soldiers could rotate home. (See the May/June 2004 issue, Page 9, for an article on how the unit trained and prepared to deploy.)

The next three articles tell the stories of the services performed by these two groups. The first article is an overview of the six month deployment for NAVELSF Forward ALPHA. The second article by a junior officer assigned as the Officer in Charge, Mail Element, talks about how it was to be a new officer suddenly thrown into a combat zone with morale for in-theater troops resting on his unit's shoulders. The last article is the story of NCHB 10 being called up to go to war and the work it performed to support the troops from the perspective of one of its members.

Naval Expeditionary Logistics Support Force Delivers Joint Combat Capability

"Cargo Transfer Company," "Petroleum, Oil, Lubricant (POL)", and "Army Post Offices (APOs)" are key trade phrases in Army combat service support/logistics circles. So why are Navy Supply Corps personnel learning Army jargon? Over 525 Navy cargo handlers (stevedores, fuels and mail) from the Naval Expeditionary Logistics Support Force (NAVELSF) are working with the Army to provide critical combat service support logistics to Soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).

The importance of logistics in any military campaign cannot be over emphasized--and OIF and its associated troop rotations will comprise military logistics case studies for years. One study will be how the Navy is playing a big part in logistics with the Army. This article examines four areas where NAVELSF personnel are providing critical combat logistics support to the warfighter in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility (AOR).

In January 2004, NAVELSF mobilized over 525 Sailors from four of its Cargo Handling and Supply Support Battalions for port stevedore and marshalling yard work, fuel farm (depot) operations, mail operations, and air cargo handling in Iraq and Kuwait. These Sailors relieved and augmented a variety of Army and Marine Corps logistics units. "This is the single largest recall and deployment in NAVELSF history. Our first challenge was to integrate ourselves; four battalions had to become one group, NAVELSF Forward Alpha," explains the Group Commander, CAPT Ray English, SC, USNR. "Then we had to integrate into the Army TACON chains of command."

So in a predominantly Army-green environment, how is the Navy blue and gold doing? "Everywhere I go I see magnificent men and women who are totally integrated into the Army's forces," said Maj. Gen. Stephen Speakes, the Coalition Forces Land Component Commander's (CFLCC) Logistics Chief at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. Regardless of the specific tactical mission, Sailors are working in a joint environment supporting Army logisticians.

Port Cargo Handling Operations

The 350 Sailors of Alpha's port element have been working for CFLCC on the deployment and redeployment of over 240,000 Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors, Marines, and equipment since February of this year at the Port of Ash Shuaybah, Kuwait. This location, 45 miles south of Kuwait City, has been the Seaport of Debarkation/ Embarkation for the AOR and is the key civilian port for all of Kuwait. Port element responsibilities are broken down into shipboard stevedoring and managing the marshalling yards.

Combat Stevedores

Sailors work the piers that service numerous types of Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships--the largest are LMSR's. If you asked anyone what LMSR stands for they might not know, but it is one of the latest and most capable MSC ships. It is officially a "Large, Medium Speed, Roll-on/Roll-off Ship," and at 950 feet the LMSR is almost as long as an aircraft carrier.

The Sailors work 24/7 in two section watches during surge operations. While detailed to the port these Sailors have handled, directed traffic, and managed securing of roll-on/roll-off and lift-on/ lift-off cargo for over 40 deployment/redeployment vessel operations. "This is exactly what we've trained for. It's tough, but I like it so much I'm thinking of going active duty," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Harold Milles, 33, of Chicago, Ill. At home, Milles, a stevedore cargo handler, commutes to California once a month to drill with his unit.

In any operation, optempo and morale are not always in sync. "1 love it," Chief Petty Officer Clark Lindner said as he oversaw the loading of 700 tanks, trucks, Humvees, and helicopters of the Army's 4th Infantry Division onto the decks and into the holds of the MV Cape Horn at the docks of Ash Shuaybah. "I love being on ships, the people, the camaraderie you have with everybody."