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USTRANSCOM leads major logistics exercise Turbo Patriot on west coast

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CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (USTCNS) --- U.S. Transportation Command sponsored a major exercise involving all components of the Department of Defense here last week.

The exercise, known as Turbo Patriot, included participation of more than 1,100 soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen from active and reserve forces. Pre-exercise activities began last month and the culminating events took place 13-16 Sept. on this installation north of San Diego.

Turbo Patriot provided units the opportunity to practice skills necessary to move equipment from ship to shore in areas that do not have sufficient port facilities.

The process, known as joint logistics over the shore, or JLOTS, takes place in areas where ports may either not exist at all, may have been damaged, or are insufficient for the amount of materials being moved.

To facilitate the exercise, USTRANSCOM and the Joint Staff established Joint Task Force Turbo Patriot.

Army Reserve Maj. Gen. Richard O. Wightman Jr., commander of the 143rd Transportation Command, headquartered at Orlando, Fla., was selected as the joint task force commander.

The JTF-TP constructed a temporary tent encampment near Camp Pendleton's Red Beach. The encampment housed service-members participating in the exercise and included all support systems.

Army and Navy units constructed a temporary port facility by building a 1,000 foot elevated causeway, a floating 1,500 foot pier, and an underwater fuel delivery system connected by a sunken hose to fuel bladders on the beach.

For this exercise, fresh water was used in place of fuel in order to ensure meeting training requirements while eliminating potential environment problems.

Equipment was unloaded from the Military Sealift Command ship, USNS Seay, which is crewed by civilian merchant mariners.

USNS Seay is one of 20 large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off ships that will join the MSC fleet by 2002. It is almost 950-feet long and can travel at a speed of 24 knots.

USNS Seay can carry approximately 380,000 square feet of cargo --- an area equivalent to eight football fields.

The ship is crewed by 30 merchant mariners employed by a private company under contract to MSC. More than 50 military cargo supervisors can go aboard to monitor and maintain military equipment on board.

Other ships supporting the exercise included Cape Mohican, SS Grand Canyon State, and SS Chesapeake. These ships were called into use from the ready reserve fleet, which is maintained by the U.S. Transportation Department's Maritime Administration.

Cape Mohican is an 876-foot ship and is one of three sea barge clippers (SEABEE) maintained by MARAD. It is useful to the military because of its ability to lift outsized objects, such as 90-foot causeway sections.

Cape Mohican's 35-person crew loaded the Navy Amphibious Construction Battalion One's elevated causeway system, later assembling its 12 sections at Camp Pendleton. It then sailed to Port Hueneme, Calif., picked up additional sections, sailed to Coronado, loaded a roll-on, roll-off discharge facility and returned to Camp Pendleton.

SS Grand Canyon State is a 669-foot auxiliary crane ship. During Turbo Patriot, it's crew provided support by lifting containers from a non-self sustaining containership over her own hull to floating platforms.

SS Chesapeake is one of four MARAD operated offshore petroleum discharge system tankers. Navy amphibious construction personnel deployed in utility boats to pull a flexible pipeline to shore.

When the pipeline was established, the tanker launched its single anchor leg mooring. The SALM is a 730-ton submersible barge that acts as an anchor for the ship. Once submerged, it provides a conduit through which fuel is sent to shore.

When called into use by the Defense Department, the ships fall under the control of MSC.

Among the equipment unloaded was approximately 185 combat vehicles assigned to the Army's 25th Infantry Division headquartered in Hawaii.

Units from the division will use the equipment during a scheduled training rotation at the National Training Center, Ft. Irwin, Calif.

Truck drivers from the 206th Transportation Company, an Alabama-based reserve unit, will move the equipment to Ft. Irwin.

The Air Force's 18th Weather Station, headquartered at Ft. Eustis, Va., and the Marine Corps' 7th Engineer Support Battalion provided support to the exercise --- making this an all-service training event.

The 7th ESB set up and operated the Marine Corp's version of a fuel farm - the Amphibious Assault Bulk Fuel System - which was connected to the off-shore petroleum distribution system and the Army's in-shore petroleum distribution system.

Other Army units which participated in the event included the Army's 7th Transportation Group, with its 24th and 53rd Transportation Battalions.

Three California-based Army Reserve units also provided support: 481st Transportation Company (Heavy Boat); 478th Transportation Company; and the 801st Engineer Company (Port Construction).

Navy units participating included: Amphibious Group Three; Naval Beach Group One; Amphibious Construction Battalion One; Assault Craft Unit One; Underwater Construction Teams One and Two; Cargo Handling and Port Group; Beach Master Unit One; Amphibious Construction Battalion One (SEEBEES); and Military Sealift Command Pacific.

The 143rd Transportation Command's primary mission is to set up a theater level transportation system, by establishing aerial and sea ports of debarkation and inland motor and rail operations.

USTRANSCOM is one of nine unified commands. Its mission is to provide air, land, and sea transportation for the Department of Defense both in time of peace and time of war.

Ft. Irwin is approximately 35 miles north of Barstow. It serves as a major training center for brigade-sized units to "fight" an opposition force under realistic conditions using state-of-the-art simulation devices.

Office of Public Affairs - transcom-pa@mail.mil
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