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NAVELSG Sailors prepare for Middle East deployment

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS071031-18
Release Date: 10/31/2007 4:38:00 PM

By Lt. Penny Cockerell, Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group Public Affairs

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (NNS) -- More than 240 Sailors are packing up their gear to depart to the Middle East Friday in the seventh rotation (GOLF) of the Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group (NAVELSG) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

NAVELSG GOLF, which includes forward headquarters and port operations group, will perform two major cargo handling missions in Kuwait to support combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Duties include round-the-clock onloading and offloading of cargo vessels as well as oversight of cargo marshalling yards.

GOLF Sailors will also provide administration, transportation, communication and medical support while in theater. More than one-third of the deploying Sailors are on their second or third mobilization.

Rear Adm. Sharon H. Redpath, NAVELSG Commander, addressed the Sailors Monday as they wrapped up four weeks of pre-deployment training. She said GOLF greeted her with the most enthusiastic "hooah" she's heard yet. The GOLF team works closely with the Army in support of all forces while in theater.

"I cannot imagine a better job than to say that I get to serve with all of you," Redpath told the group. "You will all pull together and be stronger as a group. You're going to form tremendous bonds with each other that will hopefully last a lifetime."

GOLF is comprised mostly of mobilized Navy Reservists from 20 Navy Reserve detachments, with members residing in 10 states.

The Reservists come from Navy Cargo Handling Battalion Eleven in Jacksonville, Fla. and Navy Ordnance and Reporting Battalion One in Yorktown, Va. Reservists are also reporting from detachments in Connecticut, Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Their pre-deployment training prepares them for in-theater operations, but also instills team spirit and cohesion, which GOLF leadership says the Sailors have achieved. This week, 95 percent of all eligible Sailors signed up for training for their Expeditionary Warfare pin.

NECC is a global force provider of adaptive force packages of expeditionary capabilities to joint warfighting commanders. NECC serves as a single manning functional command to centrally manage the current and future readiness, resources, manning, training and equipping of the Navy Expeditionary Force.