MSC reservists test their skills in SFOR equipment rotation

RIJEKA, Croatia (USTCNS) --- It’s what they train for all year… the opportunity to go where the action is, and complete a real-world military mission in the former Yugoslavia.

For four naval reservists on a two-week training mission with Military Sealift Command, Europe, the opportunity to support U.S. forces in an ongoing peacekeeping operation—loading a cargo ship laden with U.S. military hardware returning from Bosnia and Herzegovina—was the opportunity they had been waiting for.

“This makes the long days in the reserve center really pay off,” said Lt.Cmdr. Loren Shipley, USNR, of Military Sealift Command Office, or MSCO, Reserve Unit Eastern Mediterranean Unit 106, based in Baltimore, Md. Shipley commanded the naval reservist on-site for this Stabilization Force, or SFOR –11, equipment rotation at the northern Croatian port of Rijeka.

Along with Shipley were Chief Boatswain’s Mate, BMC John Walsh, USNR, Master Chief Boatswains Mate, BMCM Jesse Whetstone, USNR, and Storekeeper Second Class petty officer, SK2 John Salazar, USNR. Military Sealift Command hired the ship to move 139 pieces of cargo from Rijeka to Texas and Hawaii.

Among the first aboard when the Scan Bothnia docked on Sept. 14, the reservists’ mission is to perform a pre-inspection of the ship—to ensure it can safely transport the cargo—review the cargo stowage plan, and serve as the intermediary between the ship’s civilian captain, or master, and the Army’s Military Traffic Management Command’s 839th Transportation Battalion based in Livorno, Italy—responsible to perform the actual load of the vessel.

“Our reservists need this type of hands-on training because in a crisis naval reservists are key players in meeting sealift requirements,” said Cmdr. Keith Kowalski, USN, MSC Europe’s operations and readiness director, based in Naples, Italy. “When mobilized, [they] quickly take charge of running port offices anywhere in the theater.”

MV Scan Bothnia, an Isle of Man-flagged, German-built cargo vessel completed the load of 35,000 sq.ft. of SFOR U.S. Army equipment in just nine hours on Sept. 15, including 11 OH-58 Kiowa Warrior and 19 UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, 50 containers, 12 trailers, and five wheeled vehicles.

Ship’s cranes carefully lowered the multi-million dollar Kiowa Warrior helicopters into the cargo holds while Blackhawks were inched up the ship’s side ramps by commercial tractors.

Once all documentation was completed, it was time to get the ship underway. “Time is critical in port operations, said Boatswain’s Mate First Class petty officer, BM1 Tyrone Graves, USN, an active-duty member of MSC Europe’s sealift operations division, and fifth and final member of the MSC party in Rijeka. “Our job is to get the ship loaded and underway as quickly as possible.” Graves, an ocean transportation specialist, who also served as an advisor to the reservists throughout the cargo load, was speaking of port costs, which can total thousands of dollars daily if the ship sits at the pier.

By 6 p.m. the same day, the last helicopter was loaded aboard. Commercial stevedores from the port of Rijeka worked furiously to lash the cargo safely into place, ensuring the cargo does not move in the rough waters of the north Atlantic.

At 9 p.m., the ship was inched from the pier by commercial tugs and it moved forward to the open waters of the Adriatic Sea.