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Plans Take Shape for Next Southern Partnership Station

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS141212-29
Release Date: 12/12/2014 1:38:00 PM

From U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet Public Affairs

NAVAL STATION MAYPORT, Fla. (NNS) -- Representatives of more than 20 Navy and Marine Corps commands met Dec. 9-11 at Naval Station Mayport to plan for Southern Partnership Station-Joint High Speed Vessel (SPS-JHSV) 2015, a four-month deployment that will focus on subject-matter expert exchanges with partner nations.

U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) hosted the main planning conference for the mission, which is scheduled to begin in June and include events in Belize, Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras - the same countries that participated in SPS-JHSV 2014.

'We can build on what we did last year and pick up where we left off,' said Capt. Sam Hancock, the commodore of Destroyer Squadron 40, who commanded SPS-JHSV 2014 and whose deputy, Capt. Errin Armstrong, will lead next year's deployment.

In an indication of the importance of integrating Navy and Marine Corps operations, a Marine will be the deputy mission commander.

As it did in 2014, Southern Partnership Station will operate from USNS Spearhead (JHSV 1), a Military Sealift Command ship based at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia.

An important objective of the planning conference was determining what forces and equipment were available and how they would be used on the 2015 deployment, converting general plans into specifics.

'The right people were here, the people who can make decisions and get real-time answers,' Armstrong said.

Southern Partnership Station involves all three of U.S. SOUTHCOM's lines of operation: security cooperation activities, maritime security operations and contingency operations, including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Also as in 2014, Navy and Marine Corps units will join in Tradewinds, a SOUTHCOM-sponsored, multinational training exercise focused on improving cooperation and security in the region.

They also will carry out military construction projects such as building boat ramps, and barracks and outposts for partner-nation security forces that operate in remote areas.

Among those people was Lt.j.g. John Ledford, the officer in charge of a detachment of Seabees from Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 303 in San Diego. At the conference, Ledford and his assistant officer in charge, Chief Equipment Operator (SCW/EXW) Carlos Carruego began working out repairs to a hospital and school in Guatemala, among other projects.

'It's going to be a great mission,' Ledford said. 'Any time you can get down there and work with joint forces and host nations, it's a good time.'

Marine Lt. Col. John Parkinson, the expeditionary operations officer for U.S. Marine Corps Forces South, likewise predicted a successful mission.

'The SPS-JHSV mission is the quintessential example of Navy-Marine Corps joint efforts in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,' he said.