As the U.S. Military Sealift Command (MSC) began mobilizing civilian-crewed ships for the second phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom, SIU members expressed the same determination to deliver the goods that they demonstrated throughout the mission’s all-out combat phase.“It’s our job. This is what we do for a living,” stated David Dunklin, an unlicensed junior engineer sailing in support of military operations aboard the USNS Altair. “I was over there in the first part of the war, and it went very well. We made several trips to Kuwait and delivered a lot of equipment. We’ll get the job done this time, too.”
“We’re always ready and up to the task,” said AB Eugene Tuggle, also sailing aboard the Altair. “We have to bring equipment as needed and bring stuff back, also. We have a very good relationship with the military personnel, and that’s part of what keeps me coming back.”
MSC last month announced that sealift operations for OIF2 “will occur at several U.S. and overseas ports over the next few months as approximately 240,000 U.S. military personnel rotate into and out of the Middle East. An estimated 23 million square feet of cargo will be moved by sea to support those troops over the next four and one-half months. That amount of cargo equates to more than 243,000 sport utility vehicles, which, if placed end-to-end would equal 710 miles, approximately the distance from Washington, D.C., to St. Louis. Roughly 21 million square feet of cargo was delivered to U.S. forces ashore in support of OIF from Jan. 1 to May 1, 2003.”
The agency added that much of the cargo in OIF2 is needed to help stabilize and reconstruct Iraq.
“Obviously it means jobs, and that’s always a good thing,” noted QMED-Electrician Taylor Clear. “We’re going to get the job done, regardless of whatever it takes—whether we have to do it all at once, or three or four ships a month.”
AB Jim Romeo described the new mission as “mandatory. It’s important. I was in the Marine Corps at the end of Vietnam, so I appreciate the need to get supplies and personnel over there. People don’t always think of logistics, but without it, we’d be in trouble.
“You do whatever you’ve got to do,” he added. “We’ve got enough guys to crew up all the ships.”
Unlicensed Junior Engineer Woodrow Smith said the opportunity to continue supporting U.S. troops “is good for the membership. To me, it’s a good thing we’re out there together with the armed forces.”
Dunklin mentioned that his father sailed during World War II and that, because of U.S. Mariners’ high casualty rate during that war, “I can’t equate what I’m doing with what my father did.”
But SIU New Orleans Port Agent Steve Judd said that Dunklin and other Seafarers who expressed similar sentiments “are being modest, which says a lot about the membership. They’re every bit as much the nation’s fourth arm of defense today as during earlier times. The only difference is we have much greater security today.”
During the first phase of OIF, more than 2,000 SIU members crewed 100-plus vessels in support of U.S. troops.
U.S. Maritime Administrator Captain William Schubert described OIF as the most efficient sealift operation in history.
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