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Emory S. Land Completes 2006 Gulf of Guinea Deployment

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS060430-02
4/30/2006

By Journalist 2nd Class (SW) Rebekah Blowers, USS Emory S. Land Public Affairs

DAKAR, Senegal (NNS) -- USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) completed its 2006 Gulf of Guinea deployment with a final port call in Dakar, Senegal, April 26-28.

The ship deployed to the Gulf of Guinea in late February to initiate a series of security cooperation activities that have helped to promote regional stability counter terrorism and advance U.S. interests in the Gulf of Guinea region, while maintaining positive relations with regional partners.

This deployment has included a number of bilateral maritime safety and security training opportunities. The efforts have focused on maritime domain awareness, leadership development, natural disaster response, and medical awareness and disease prevention.

Commander, Task Force 65, Capt. Thomas Rowden, said that Emory S. Land met all of its objectives for the deployment, including training, repairs and interaction with the host nations. He said the deployment provided unique experiences for Land Sailors while accomplishing the mission.

“The opportunity to relate with the local population through community relations projects, band concerts, sporting events and just general liberty was an excellent opportunity for the Sailors to see a different part of the world, and for the folks of these various countries to see the real face of America, the Sailors in the United States Navy,” Rowden said.

Rowden said Land’s trip to West Africa has been a learning experience that will help to pave the way for future operations in the area.

“This has really been a voyage of discovery. We’re in the process of learning how to operate in West Africa, learning how to operate with the navies that exist down here, and how to logistically support our ships as they operate pretty far away from our logistics hub,” he said. “The more we learn about how to better support our ships down here, the more we’ll be able to better support operations with the Gulf of Guinea navies.”

Emory S. Land Commanding Officer Capt. Michael Budney said he thinks there were many achievements during the three-month deployment; most important of these was the impact the Sailors had on the people there.

“I think the biggest success was the fact that we went to places we (the United States) have not gone to in many, many years and reset those people’s perceptions about Americans,” Budney said. “As we left there, they were impressed with the openness and the willingness to help them. To perform training and all the things our Sailors did that was different from what other (foreign) navies have done before.”

Rowden agreed, saying the Sailors are what made the mission a success.

“I think the Sailors have been just superb ambassadors of the United States. They have represented the United States superbly, the Emory S. Land superbly, and the Navy superbly in every aspect of their performance in the Gulf of Guinea,” Rowden said.

Navy Europe is transforming, and one of Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe’s top five priorities includes strengthening enduring and emerging partnerships. Budney said that Land contributed to this significantly.

“We bring some unique things to that mix. We bring large repair capabilities, and we bring a large crew that can assist in doing COMREL (community relations) projects. Some units come down here with a 250- to300-man crew, and for them to do the size of COMREL projects we do is very stressful. What we have the capability to do is send 30 different people every day, five days in a row, to the COMREL projects, so fresh folks are out there every day and can really make some headway,” Budney said.

Though Land may or may not be returning to the Gulf of Guinea next year, Rowden said that the mission in West Africa won’t stop here.

“We are continuing a very robust schedule of operations in West Africa in an attempt to work towards a more secure and more safe maritime environment in the Gulf of Guinea,” Rowden said.

“I have never seen a more motivated group of young men and women who have gone down and really make a difference for the Navy, for the country, and for the efforts of the European command. I applaud each and every one of them for their significant contribution to taking a very large step in making the maritime domain in West Africa, Gulf of Guinea, more secure,” Rowden concluded.

This is the second year Emory S. Land has deployed to the region with embarked mobile training teams designed to bolster existing capabilities within each of the partner nations. Gulf of Guinea nations participating in and observing this year’s deployment include Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, Congo and Angola.