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Unified Charger

Unified Charger is an annual exercise that allows U.S. Navy reservists to activate, deploy and support Military Sealift Command [MSC] Europe as they would during a contingency. The exercise was developed to meet the growing need for experienced and qualified reservists to augment both headquarters and port operation staffs. Unified Charger is a two-week exercise designed to prepare reservists for real-world scenarios and to enhance their knowledge of Military Sealift Command operations in Europe.

On May 13, 2002, the Navy's Military Sealift Command Europe began the ninth Unified Charger -- an exercise simulating the movement of heavy combat equipment and supplies at four commercial ports throughout Europe. MSC Europe personnel and 40 reservists from five stateside reserve units simulated moving military cargo by sea to meet a mass mobilization of armed forces to continental Europe. In the event of a major mobilization of U.S. military cargo overseas, 95 percent would be deployed by sea.

At MSC Europe, naval reservists support sealift requirements throughout the year and are key players during wartime or other contingencies. When mobilized, reserve personnel quickly take charge of establishing and running MSC port offices anywhere in the theater to assist with sealift operations wherever needed. During this exercise, port offices were established at Rota, Spain; Bremerhaven, Germany; Augusta Bay, Italy; Livorno, Italy; and Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Port offices coordinate a wide-variety of functions to support MSC ships, such as on-load and off-load operations, shore services, ship repairs and on-site personnel support.

At MSC Europe headquarters, Naples, Italy, reservists established a crisis action team, which served as the operations center, handling the increased communications and information exchange necessary to run multiple ports and manage increased cargo operations. MSC worked with one of its partners under the U.S. Transportation Command, the U.S. Army's Military Traffic Management Command, to coordinate activities at the port. MSC moved cargo by sea, while MTMC loaded and unloaded the ships, and moved cargo to and from the port.

Unified Charger provides reservists with valuable hands-on experience with dock and cargo operations at European commercial ports in various scenarios. Reservists spend two weeks learning the variety of challenges that would exist in a real-world situation. The exercise also includes the set-up and staffing of MSC's Mobile Sealift Operations Center -- a cargo container configured as an office with advanced communications capability, including global satellite communications. The MSOC is fully self-sustained, can be operational in just a few hours and can be deployed to ports where the infrastructure, such as local telephone lines and power, is not available.