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Navy Cargo Handlers Preparing for Predeployment

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS060328-06
Release Date: 3/28/2006 3:29:00 PM

By Lt. Karin R. Burzynski, Naval Expeditionary Logistics Support Force Public Affairs

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (NNS) -- About 260 Sailors reported for duty March 20 and are currently participating in pre-deployment training at the Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group headquarters in Williamsburg, Va.

Upon completion of training, they will deploy to the Middle East as part of Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group Forward Headquarters/Delta to perform a cargo-handling mission in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Sailors will conduct port operations in Kuwait and an air cargo handling mission in Iraq. They will relieve Port Group Charlie, which was deployed in September 2005 to provide combat service support through logistics port operations in Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The majority of NAVELSG Forward Headquarters/Delta are Navy Reservists, however, about 50 are active-duty Sailors attached to Navy Cargo Handling Battalion 1 in Williamsburg, Va.

The Reservists are primarily from Navy Cargo Handling Battalion 12 Headquarters, Bessemer, Ala., with companies in Atlanta, Chattanooga, Tenn., and Bessemer, Ala. Additionally, the Sailors come primarily from, Navy Ordnance Reporting and Handling Battalion 1, Companies Echo, Earle, N.J., and Foxtrot, Bronx, N.Y., Navy Air Cargo Handling Battalion (NACHB) 1, Williamsburg, Va., and Navy Cargo Handling Battalion (NCHB) 8, Fort Dix, N. J.

Leading NAVELSG Forward Headquarters is Capt. Gordon Livingston, who will be in charge of all NAVELSG forward deployed units, including the NAVELSG Delta cargo handlers and Navy customs inspectors working in Kuwait and Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Livingston, a mobilized Reservist from Dallas, said the group training in Williamsburg is ready to serve.

“Since the beginning of mobilizations of Navy cargo handlers for [Operation Iraqi Freedom] in January 2004, these Sailors have been preparing to deploy, to do their part,” Livingston said.

These Sailors received official notification of their mobilization in February and are expected to deploy in early April. The Reservists come from 24 reserve centers across the country. Each Reservist has orders for one year, with the possibility of an extension for an additional year.