Black Sea port provides MTMC many advantages
The 953rd Transportation Co., Piraeus, Greece unloaded the ships were unloaded using a mix of contracted Bulgarian labor and American military equipment operators.
"It is very challenging conducting port operations in Bourgas, Bulgaria," said George Kokonos, Terminal Manager, 953rd Transportation Co.
"The port stevedores don't have the experience in handling U.S. military equipment and our techniques for lifting vehicles and lashing them to rail cars. It took a couple of days before they understood that this was not Russian equipment."
Use of a large, experienced deployment support team helped the process.
"This has been a fast indoctrination into MTMC, said Sgt. 1st Class Terry Allen, a marine cargo specialist with the 953rd Transportation Co.
"The image some people have of MTMC as being in exotic lands holed up in a hotel could not be farther from the truth. We work and live side-by-side with the warfighter in places I could never have imagined being when I joined the Army," said Allen.
Sgt. 1st Class Delenor Wilson, a marine cargo specialist with the 839th Transportation Battalion, Livorno, Italy, agrees.
"I am deployed many times," said Wilson. "No deployment is the same - each one is different ... the common goal is to complete the mission."
The work on the Black Sea was another whistle stop for Michael Pittas, system administrator/shipment clerk with the 953rd Transportation Co.
"It is just another temporary duty for us in the documentation world," said Pittas. "The work is the same whether it is Greece, Bulgaria, Albania or one of a dozen other ports we might find ourselves in.
"Different faces, and different places, and new challenges to overcome," he said.
The 14th Movements Control Team, Livorno, Italy, handled the onward movement by rail of supplies and equipment from the port to Camp Able Sentry, Macedonia, where American soldiers picked up their vehicles for the motor movement to Kosovo.
It was another story for the helicopters. Military and contract personnel under the supervision of the 2/502 Aviation Battalion, Mannheim, Germany, reassembled the helicopters. The helicopters then flew into Kosovo.
After several port actions on the Black Sea, the temporary port organization is now called Task Force Bourgas. The team works with the Military Sealift Command and, the 29th Area Support Group, Kaiserslautern, Germany to accomplish the mission. The latter handles housing, meals and force protection.
"Bourgas provides the Army with another choice in the Balkan Area of Operations," said Lt. Col. Tom Boyle, Task Force Commander. "It provides us the flexibility and an opportunity to have multiple choices in how we deploy and redeploy forces to and from Kosovo."
Use of the Bourgas port provides another entry into the
Balkans. In addition, the use of Bulgarian military and civilian personnel reduces the size of the American port presence.
The first ship to arrive was the MV Merlin on April 30. The MV Project Arabia arrived May 7 and the MV Scanderborg on May 8.
The equipment came from several Army units to include the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky. This is the first time the majority of an American peacekeeping force to Kosovo has come from the U.S.
(FROM MILITARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).
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