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Native Atlas

The Native Atlas exercise has been conducted annually under various titles.

Native Atlas 2000

The Shuaiba Port Facility, Kuwait, was the site of the Native Atlas 2000 Exercise. This Joint Logistics Over The Shore (JLOTS) operation off Kuwait involved CENTCOM forces. Third Army planned an exercise NATIVE ATLAS in the spring of 2000, in which one battalion set of equipment from APS-3 was scheduled to be downloaded and exercised.

Native Atlas 2002

Native Atlas (NA) 02 (29 March-15 April 2002), a JLOTS exercise, consisted of four phases, Phase 1 (Pre-deployment), Phase 2 (Deployment and build-up), Phase 3 (Operations), and Phase 4 (Redeployment). Phase 3 was held at Camp Pendleton, California, 29 March - 15 April 2002. During this phase, approximately 2,500 service members from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps participated in the largest, most challenging JLOTS operation since Exercise Ocean Venture '93, which included both wet and dry cargo operations. NA02 exercised DOD's ability to deploy, discharge, and conduct Reception, Staging, Onward Movement, and Integration (RS0&I) of JLOTS discharged unit equipment and sustainment. It involved the ship-to-shore discharge of 1,258 pieces of rolling stock, containerized cargo, and 2.7 million gallons of simulated fuel (fresh water). Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships involved in NA02 were the SS Cape Mohican, a sea barge heavy-lift ship (Seabee); SS Keystone State, a crane sip (T-ACS); MV Maersk Arizona, a container ship (Turbo CADS); SS Mount Washington, a common use tanker; and USNS Seay, a large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off, ship (LMSR).

In 2002 the exercise was under the authority of US Central Command. U.S. Transportation Command, along with numerous agencies, participated in a Joint Logistics Over the Shore (JLOTS) exercise as part of exercise Native Atlas 2002. The exercise was directed under the operational command of the 143d TRANSCOM, a U.S. Army Reserve unit based in Orlando, FL.

The exercise highlighted the ability of the U.S. to project power from the sea and sustain forces on the ground. Executing a JLOTS operation is necessary when port facilities are non-existent, denied or inadequate for military operations. In a JLOTS operation, equipment is moved from cargo ships anchored offshore to the shore using a variety of U.S. Navy and Army lighterage. Some equipment is taken to a 1261-foot, semi-permanent pier (known as an elevated causeway) that is constructed by Navy units. Rolling stock was moved directly to the beach.

During the JLOTS, 1258 pieces of equipment were moved from the Military Sealift Command ship USNS Seay. USNS Seay, a large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off (or LMSR) ship is a noncombatant ship operated by a private company under contract to MSC. It has 387,600 square feet of cargo carrying capacity. MSC is the Navy component to USTRANSCOM and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Also as part of the exercise, joint forces exercised strategic offloads of container systems and pumping of simulated fuel (fresh water) from ship to shore using the Navy's offshore petroleum discharge system. The simulated fuel was then moved to storage and distribution systems using the Army's inland petroleum distribution system. Other MSC ships in the exercise included the tanker SS Mount Washington; crane ship SS Keystone State; and sea barge heavy lift ship SS Cape Mohican (all of which were activated from the U.S. Maritime's Ready Reserve Force) and MV Maersk Arizona a contracted container ship.

About 2,500 Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force troops supported Native Atlas 2002, a major logistical exercise at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base for US Central Command. With the help of Navy construction battalions from Coronado, the Army is led the $22 million joint military exercise. This year's exercise was designed around the movement of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade, which flew to San Diego from its Fort Stewart, Ga., home for desert training this spring at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin. Exercise participants helped load and then unload the brigade's equipment from supply ships and helped move the outfit from Camp Pendleton to the Fort Irwin in the Mojave desert.

Native Atlas 2002 was a major exercise for more than 300 Seabees with Navy construction battalions and several hundred Navy cargo handlers, beach masters and divers. They erected a 630-foot administrative pier for easy removal of vehicles from barges and the elevated causeway for heavy containers and vehicles. More than 1,600 soldiers under the 32nd Transportation Group from Tampa, FL, and up to 700 sailors from Coronado's Naval Coastal Warfare and Naval Beach groups and underwater construction and cargo-handling teams participated.

The backbone of the training is a large city of green and olive tents that Navy Seabees built in late February and nicknamed "Camp Phoenix Thunder" to house the 2,500 troops and provide initial support to soldiers with the 2nd Brigade as they moved through Camp Pendleton. The 50-acre camp provides troops some comforts of home not typically found in austere environments: a coffee bar, large-screen TV, Internet cafe, theater, barber shop, phone center, chapel and hot-water showers and laundry services churning 2,000 pounds of dirty clothes a day.

On March 1, 2002 the Petersburg Support Office, part of Radian's Southeast Sector, announced the award of a subcontract with Stanley Associates, in support of the Inland Petroleum Distribution System (IPDS) Joint Training Exercise (JTX) Module for the JLOTS exercise Native Atlas 2002. The award required assisting in site surveys to insure proper interface with the Navy's Offshore Petroleum Discharge System (OPDS) under the Logistics Joint Administrative Management Support Services (LOGJAMSS) suite of contracts. The task award specifically addresses providing technical assistance in site location, IPDS construction and operations, and the recovery of the JTX module in support of JLOTS 2002 pipeline training for Engineer and Quartermaster units tasked with the mission to construct and operate military pipelines. This assistance will ensure proper placement and technical interface of the JTX components with that of the Navy's OPDS which will allow petroleum discharge from Navy vessels into the Army's pipeline and storage system. In addition, this assistance will provide valuable training to the unit staff tasked with the pipeline mission.

The SS Mount Washington, an offshore petroleum discharge system (OPDS) tanker lists in preparation to launch the single anchor leg mooring (SALM) off the coast of Camp Pendleton, CA during JLOTS Exercise Native Atlas, March-April 02. The final element of the Navy LOTS system is the OPDS which delivers fuel to the beach from a specially modified tanker moored offshore which can pump fuel from their own tanks or from follow on tankers. The OPDS mission is to deliver fuel to the beach, up to the high water mark. The SALM is what allows the ship to stay on station and continue pumping to sea state five and survive in up to sea state seven.

On March 22, 2002 a Security Zone for Operation Native Atlas 2002 was established in waters adjacent to Camp Pendleton, CA. United States Navy officials requested that the Captain of the Port, San Diego, California establish a temporary security zone in the area of Camp Pendleton, California. This request was made to improve security of Naval facilities and operations at this location and to protect the public from hazardous operations. Several hazardous or classified Naval operations, including activities related to Operation Native Atlas 2002 will be conducted near this location that are vital to national security and require protection of the public or protection of the operation from compromise and interference. The Coast Guard established a temporary security zone in the waters adjacent to Camp Pendleton, California. This action is taken at the request of the United States Navy and is needed to safeguard U.S. Naval vessels and property from sabotage or other subversive acts, accidents, criminal actions or other causes of a similar nature. Entry into this zone is prohibited unless authorized by the Captain of the Port (COTP) San Diego, or his designated representative. In addition, the U.S. Navy will be installing 1260 feet of elevated causeway pier (ELCAS) at Red Beach, and conducting Offshore Petroleum Discharge System (OPDS) operations offshore from Red Beach. Both operations present a significant hazard to vessel's transiting within the zone. Due to the complex planning, national security reasons, and the coordination involved with Naval scheduling, final details for the Operation Native Atlas 2002 were not provided to the Coast Guard in time to draft and publish a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) or a final rule 30 days in advance of its effective date. This security zone will be in effect from 12:01 a.m. (PDT) on March 22, 2002, to 11:59 p.m. (PST) on April 15, 2002. If the need for this security zone ends before the scheduled termination time and date, the Captain of the Port will cease enforcement of the security zones and will also announce that fact.