MDSU-2 Sailors Return from Humanitarian Efforts
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS100224-09
Release Date: 2/24/2010 4:59:00 PM
By Chief Mass Communication Specialist (SW/AW) Katrin Albritton, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command Public Affairs
NORFOLK (NNS) -- Navy divers and support staff from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) 2 returned to Hampton Roads Feb. 5, after deploying to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to offer their expeditionary diving skills to the recovery efforts following the devastating earthquake.
The MDSU-2 divers were accompanied by members of Underwater Construction Team (UCT) 2, whose combined mission was to conduct an assessment of ports and waterways and remove underwater obstructions which could hinder shipboard movement into the port.
"The piers were completely destroyed," said Navy Diver 1st Class (DSW/EXW/SS) Chris Juelsgaard, a MDSU diving supervisor. "There were cranes, conex boxes and vehicles in the water. Basically, the condition of the port was pretty bad."
Along with MDSU-2 Navy Divers and UCT 2, Army divers were on hand to assist with the efforts. Navy Diver 1st Class (DSW/EXW) Eric Riggenbach said that while the mission of the MDSU-2 Sailors centered around salvaging the pier, all divers were able to work together to survey the pier pylons and reach necessary milestones ahead of schedule.
"With us, we're more of a salvage type organization rather than a construction type," Riggenbach said. "There were a lot of conex boxes and debris that fell off a collapsed pier and were blocking the landing craft that were coming up on the beach with the supplies."
Riggenbach said they cleared the area and removed a sunken vessel off the beach so Seabees could bring barges in and conduct surveys to make sure the water was deep enough and nothing was blocking the way.
Even though both Riggenbach and Juelsgaard have approximately a decade between them as Navy Divers, this was the first large-scale humanitarian mission each had participated in.
Juelsgaard said the opportunity to work with other nations, including Sailors from the Royal Netherlands Navy Logistics Support Vessel HNLMS Pelikaan (A804), brought varying experiences to the mission.
"It was a great experience because we did have the opportunity to work with the Dutch," he said. "The Pelikaan, which we rode on, was extremely helpful. We got to work with multi-national forces like the Dutch, the Belgian Marines, and the French - it was a great experience. Everyone down there put in an awesome effort, and there was no line between what type of uniform you wore. We were all on the same team, putting in an effort to take care of each other and fix the country as best as possible."
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jeff Barone, MDSU-2 Company 2-1 Company Commander, agreed, and said the mission always came first with each of the divers.
"The one nice thing about this is that we worked with a lot of different units: the Dutch and the French; it was great to jump in the water and work with them," he said. "We were there together and we wanted to get the job done. Even the Army divers were there, so we got to jump in with them and UCT."
Even though the UCT 2 divers remained in Haiti to continue construction on the piers, Juelsgaard said he felt the effort put in by his team, both Navy and international, went a long way to helping bring some assistance to the ravaged country.
"Just getting the interference out of the way opened up the waterways so the Army and Marines could start moving the heavy equipment in," Barone said. "Also, a lot of the larger ships that needed to come in and unload their MREs that were unable to initially."
Riggenbach echoed the sentiment.
"We were able to survey the one pier they had left and let the engineers know they could pull a ship in," he said. "Days after we were finished, they were able to pull a USAID ship up to the pier. I think that greatly increased their ability to get their supplies on shore."
For more news about relief efforts in Haiti, visit http://www.navy.mil/haiti/index.html.
For more news from Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/necc/.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
