SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii (USTCNS) --- When two U.S. Navy units left Guam for an exercise in Korea and Japan, they were in good hands.

Their equipment was efficiently shipped to-and-from the exercise by MTMC's Field Office Guam - which consists of two employees.

In the past, a cargo of this type would go by air. Now, with budgetary pressures, the Navy shipped by sea.

A total of 18 pieces of equipment shipped aboard the Matson Navigation Company vessel Manoa on Sept. 29. The cargoes arrived in Pusan on Oct. 5 and Sasebo on Oct. 11. The cargo was booked under the terms of the Universal Service Contract.

For the members of Naval Special Warfare Unit One and Explosive Ordnance Mobile Unit Five, it was the first step in their successful effort in Foal Eagle 2000.

Effective communication between MTMC and its customers led to the operation's success. MTMC employees Pete Lujan, Chief, and Marjorie Perez, Transportation Assistant, worked hard to ensure the mission's success.

Once the cargo was staged, it was loaded into containers and flatracks by Navy personnel and then trucked to the Matson terminal where it was assembled on flatracks.

"I was extremely satisfied with the services provided by MTMC," said Ensign David Blauser, Commander, Explosive Ordnance Mobile Unit Five.

"The personnel at MTMC went to great lengths to ensure our needs were met both to and from exercise Foal Eagle."

Unlike many military ports operated by MTMC, the U.S. Navy operates the military ports in Guam and Hawaii. Guam, an unincorporated territory of the U.S., is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands covering 212 square miles - about 3,700 miles west of Hawaii and 1,200 miles southeast of Japan.

The office has the distinction of being the first MTMC office open for business on any given day by virtue of the fact that it is on the west side of the International Dateline - 15 hours ahead of Washington D.C.

The office was originally established in 1983 as the MTMC Military Export Cargo Offering and Booking Office as a result of the transfer of the ocean cargo-booking mission from the Military Sealift Command.

It was redesignated in 2000 as the MTMC Field Office Guam to recognize its single port management, cargo booking and contract administration functions.

The office also performs the contracting officer representative function for Guam's Vehicle Processing Center. (FROM MILITARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).