NAVELSG Port Group Charlie Returns from Kuwait
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS060311-07
Release Date: 3/11/2006 4:25:00 PM
By Journalist Seaman Matthew D. Leistikow, Fleet Public Affairs Center Atlantic
NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- About 150 Sailors from Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group (NAVELSG), Port Group Charlie returned to Naval Station Norfolk March 10 after completing their mission in Kuwait ahead of schedule.
The group wasn’t scheduled to return until May.
“We didn’t want them there any longer than they needed to be,” said Rear Adm. Hank Tomlin III, commander, NAVELSG.
The Sailors conducted port vessel operations in Kuwait, which included the onload and offload of crucial supplies, ammunition and warfighting equipment to more than 207,000 service members coming in and out of Iraq.
“We had a lot of long hours,” said Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Ben E. Hansen, a Sailor with Navy Cargo Handling Battalion (NCHB) 1. “I can sleep in my own bed now.”
Charlie was comprised of both active and reserve cargo handlers.
“I’m proud of this team,” said Tomlin, “and I’ve got more like them coming up behind them.”
The rest of Port Group Charlie remains in Kuwait conducting additional logistics port operations.
“We had some that could have come home, but volunteered to stay so others could go home,” said Tomlin.
Some Sailors noticed their shipmates from the New Orleans area needed to return home to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“They came together as a Navy family,” said Tomlin.
The remaining members of Port Group Charlie are scheduled to return home in May.
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