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Guardsmen man guns on ships bound for Iraq

by Spc. Bill Putnam

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, May 12, 2003) -- Puerto Rican National Guardsmen are standing watch over American equipment being shipped to Iraq.

It's normally a job for the Marines, but 1,200 soldiers from the 92nd Infantry Brigade, dubbed "Guard Mariners," have mobilized for the mission. The first team recently completed its initial six-week voyage to Kuwait and back and several other teams are now underway.

Before going to sea, all soldiers had to qualify on the crew-served weapons that they would carry on the ship, the M-2 .50- calibers and the M-240B machine guns.

The soldiers' job while underway is to defend the ship from potential terrorist attacks. If a potential terrorist gets close, the soldiers on board have what Col. Rodney A. Mallette of the Military Sealift Command called "release authority" to take care of that threat.

An average mission might take three or four weeks, and how long the guardsmen stay on-board is dictated by the length of the voyage, Mallette said.

"They're on board until the mission's completed," Mallette said.

He explained that with the current operations tempo, and the threat of terrorism against shipping -- as highlighted last November when an explosive-laden boat exploded next to a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen - this mission is something that needs to be done. There needs to be a force designated to handle security of surge sealift, Mallette said.

"Lets put it this way -- this is the new normalcy," Mallette said. He serves as the operations officer for the Military Sealift Command and coordinates all sealift carrying U.S. military cargo on both government-owned and contracted ships throughout the world.

The Military Sealift Command first realized the terrorism threat to American shipping after Sept. 11, 2001, said Mallette.

Then the threat became more acute with the build-up in Kuwait for Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Marine units normally tasked with shipping security became overwhelmed, said Mallette.

During the build-up to Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Military Sealift Command floated 110 ships and shipped 20 million square feet of cargo to Kuwait, said Mallette.

"That number doesn't include tankers or other ships directly supporting the fleet," Mallette said.

That large number and the limited number of Marines assigned to security duty forced the MSC to come up with new ideas to guard the ships, Mallette said.

The idea to put National Guard soldiers on the ships came up during that time, and so far it's worked wonderfully, Mallette said.

"We haven't had any personnel problems," he said.

The captain of the Faust later echoed Marlette's comment during a visit by Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Reginald Brown.

Brown visited two ships May 8 -- one in Charleston, S.C., and another in Norfolk, Va. The first ship was the M.V. Faust, a government-contracted ship loading equipment bound for Kuwait. The second was the USNS Seay, a government-owned ship docked in Norfolk, Va.

"They're a good crew and we've had no problems," John Hefner, the Faust's captain, told Brown about the guardsmen. Hefner is also a Naval Reservist.

The 92nd Infantry boarded its first ship March 21 after a two-week training period at Fort A.P. Hill, Va., and a move to its deployment headquarters at Fort Bragg, N.C.

During his visit to both ships, Brown asked the soldiers if anyone had a problem with the mission or doing it again in the future.

"Not at all, sir," the soldiers said.

"As you all know, we can't go to war now without calling the National Guard," Brown said to the soldiers.

There might be some talk in the civilian media in the future about how the Army abused the National Guard and Reserves during the build up to the war, Brown said.

"That might be the impression, but it wasn't the case," he said.

Brig. Gen. Roberto Marrero-Corletto, the 92nd Infantry brigade commander, told Brown that his teams were initially supposed to be led by lieutenants, but the mission turned into a sergeant's mission.

Two of those sergeants are Sgt. 1st Class Reinaldo Ortiz, the leader of the brigade's Team 109, and his assistant, Staff Sgt. Anthony Latalladi. Ortiz normally works for the Puerto Rico Power Authority. Latalladi is a high school teacher. They have been in the National Guard 24 and 20 years, respectively, and said they're looking forward to traveling to other places on board the ships.

"It's like an adventure, something new and exciting," Latalladi said. "This is something you can look forward to telling your grandchildren about."

Their team is taking over for Staff Sgt. Pedro Diaz's team and is heading to Kuwait.

While not on duty, their soldiers will be attending classes on weapons maintenance, first aid and nuclear, chemical and biological protection.

But weapons maintenance will be their biggest project. The salty air of the ocean can rust weapons in a hurry, said Ortiz. That means plenty of bore-brushing the barrels, and spraying lots of weapons lubricant, which they have plenty of, Ortiz said.

Living conditions on the ship weren't Spartan and that surprised Diaz. The Faust has a small basketball court, a weight room, a pool and even a sauna. Soldiers have their own rooms too.

Some of his guys did become seasick during the first part of the voyage. But their Dramamine pills helped, he said.

Overall, though, their first trip on board was good, Diaz said.

Crossing through the numerous choke points, like the Straits of Gibraltar and the Straits of Hormuz, were the most stressful parts of the voyage for the team, Diaz said.

The Straits of Hormuz are a narrow chokepoint that ships must navigate crossing from the Arabian Sea to the Persian Gulf. On one side is Iran, and on the other is Oman.

"There are a lot of speed boats in the Straits of Hormuz that could hit a major target like our ship," he said.

There is one way of looking at the job the National Guard soldiers are doing, Brown said before returning to the Pentagon. The mission demonstrates the versatility of the Guard, he explained.

"In a way, its like we're ensuring our stuff gets there," Brown said, "because if the ships are damaged by terrorists, it can definitely hamper our mission."