• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Navy Reservists Supporting Operation Unified Response

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100222-22
Release Date: 2/22/2010 7:52:00 PM

By Army Spc. Juanita Philip, Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay Public Affairs

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (NNS) -- Sailors assigned to Navy Cargo Handling Battalion (NCHB) 13, a Reserve logistics unit headquartered in Gulfport, Miss., responded on short notice to support Operation Unified Response, the relief effort sending food, supplies and medical equipment to Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Reservists were activated as part of Combined Task Force (CTF) 48, established on Jan. 17 as a Joint Logistics Hub coordinated through Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The task force provides humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations through interagency and international channels.

Within days of the earthquake in Haiti, NCHB Sailors were called to active duty from Navy Operations Support Centers from Mississippi, Missouri and Texas.

"They asked for volunteers on Friday [Jan. 15]," said Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Ann-Marie Shy. "On Sunday [Jan. 17] we were told to put our orders in."

Volunteers were notified later that night of their departure the next day.

"I've never worked on a humanitarian mission," Shy said. "The work really is not a lot different since we're trained to unload planes. And, that's what we're doing."

Sailors use forklifts to unload pallets of humanitarian supplies, which include food, water, Meals Ready to Eat, bedding and dry goods that are then repackaged and sent to Haiti.

"To feel like you're doing something [to help] makes you feel good," Shy said. "Everybody can do something in the States by giving money. But, we're here doing our Navy jobs."

Sailors also move supplies from other countries.

"We received a shipment from the Colombian Red Cross, with mattresses, cots and dry goods," said Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Yvonne Macias. "There was even a pallet with a small bike. That was nice to see."

In the short amount of time CTF 48 has been established, the Joint Logistics Hub has been the focal point for the receipt and transfer of more than 1.86 million bottles of water, 962,000 individual meal rations, 52,000 bedding cots, 850 temporary tent shelter units and 850 Navy pallets filled with urgent medical supplies and equipment to the Haiti joint area of operations.

"What I've touched here will go directly into the hands of a Marine and then into the hands of a person in need," Shy said. "That I can visualize."

"I absolutely believe that this is an important mission," said Chief Yeoman Tracey McDonald, leading chief petty officer at the air terminal ticket counter at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. "I am certain that in my time of need, that the Navy would be there for me as well."