DSC’s Alaskan detachment braves ‘Last Frontier’ moving military equipment through Port of Anchorage

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (USTCNS) --- North to the Future--the motto of our 49th state--could just as easily be the battle cry for the MTMC Deployment Support Command’s Anchorage, Alaska, based 956th Transportation Company which recently utilized the Port of Anchorage for the first time in nearly four years as a strategic port to deploy Army unit equipment.

The lean, four-person 956th team is as versatile and ready for quick 21st Century response as the 21,000 active duty and Reserve military it supports on a daily basis. The March 15 arrival of the Maersk Constellation proved it.

Battling the elements—biting winds, frigid temperatures, an ice-clotted port, and the world’s second highest tide differential--the Army’s 956th, an Elmendorf Air Force Base tenant, coordinated vessel loading on March 15 and 16 for military equipment belonging to units from the 172nd Infantry Brigade at Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

This was just one more example of how the 956th, oftentimes in an unfriendly environment, supports the military’s Alaska-based expeditionary force packages which provide rapid power projection capability and an initial entry force anywhere in the world.

The 956th is an integral part of the DSC, which is headquartered at Fort Eustis, Va. As the Defense Department’s surface transportation expert, the DSC is responsible for all surface transportation of the department’s cargo within the Continental United States, Alaska, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.


DSC’s military transportation partners, the Navy’s Military Sealift Command, contracted the vessel which sailed from the Port of Tacoma, Wash., on March 11, where it picked up an initial shipment of military equipment from nearby Fort Lewis, Wash., according to Maj. Katherine Derrick, commander of the 956th.

Soon after the last piece of Alaskan equipment was loaded, the Maersk Constellation departed for Asia where its cargo will be used in support of a routine military training exercise later this Spring.

"In addition to the great training potential enjoyed overseas, it is a rare training opportunity with tremendous value here as well," said Derrick. "We normally coordinate the movement of Army units into Alaska to participate in exercises here."

According to Derrick, her unit often coordinates those moves entirely through commercial contracts. This time it was different—they used their expertise to deploy unit equipment from the 172nd to Asia aboard a military chartered vessel.

"Along with maintaining readiness at the Port of Anchorage, which could be used by the military anytime needed, we are contracting locally for stevedores from the Anchorage-based Sea Star North to load the Army equipment here," Derrick said.

"A successful port readiness exercise was conducted here in February which confirmed the viability of simultaneous commercial and military activities at the port. This tabletop exercise proved to be a great practice test of the procedures necessary for conducting the actual loadout on a military sealift vessel," added Derrick.

Supporting the warfighters is not a new challenge for the 956th, which routinely coordinates shipments of DoD cargo into and out of three different Alaskan ports to the state’s five major military installations plus many smaller radar sites and Coast Guard stations. These shipments totaled more than 150,000 measurement tons last year alone.

The 956th also coordinates the movement of cargo and large construction equipment destined for the Alaska Road Project on Annette Island. Humanitarian assistance shipments are likewise not beyond the capabilities of the unit.

Twice last year they shipped excess medical supplies that were donated by the Elmendorf Air Force Base Hospital to the former Soviet Union and also deployed to Central America to support hurricane relief efforts there.


Augmenting the 956th was a four-person team from DSC’s 833rd Transportation Battalion headquartered in Seattle, Wash.

Members of the 833rd supervised the loadout at the Port of Tacoma prior to travelling to Anchorage. The 172nd Separate Infantry Brigade from nearby Fort Richardson provided additional support at the port.

Exercises like this one are absolutely crucial to the deployability of our forces, according to Lt. Col. Debbie Bazemore, commander of the 833rd.

"This is very realistic training for all of us--in a real-world situation, two or more ports could be used simultaneously. This exercise allows our team to hone its quick reaction deployment skills to ensure that military equipment reaches its place of business quickly and safely," said Bazemore.

"Although we are loading less than 100 pieces, it is the valuable partnership building, team work, and training that is our real prize here," Bazemore added.

Only two miles from Russia at the Bering Strait, Alaska has 5,580 miles of coastline, 1.5 million acres of ground maneuver area, 62,000 square miles of military training airspace, and 586,000 miles of land mass equivalent to one-fifth the size of the continental United States.

Along with the world’s longest oil pipeline--800 miles—it would stretch farther than from Washington, D.C. to Orlando, Fla., Alaska also holds half the nation’s coal reserves. (FROM MILITARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT COMMAND – DEPLOYMENT SUPPORT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).