The head of the U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) and the outgoing commander of the U.S. Military Sealift Command (MSC) emphatically and enthusiastically credited the U.S. Merchant Marine for its ongoing role in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom during remarks given at the AFL-CIO Maritime Trades Department executive board meeting Feb. 24-25 in San Diego. Gen. Norton Schwartz, commander, TRANSCOM, and Vice Adm. David Brewer, commander, MSC described not only U.S. mariners but the overall American maritime industry as indispensable partners in protecting national security, wherever the mission occurs.
Schwartz said that MTD and SIU President Michael Sacco is someone “who has excelled as a partner in matters of national defense with us.”
He noted the U.S. Merchant Marine’s centuries of service to the nation and declared that mariners remain vital. “The United States Transportation Command and the defense family depend on your labor. And just as it was true in Roosevelt’s generation, you’re indispensable,” Schwartz said.
Additionally, he provided a basic explanation of TRANSCOM’s mission, noting that the agency oversees distribution in the defense supply chain. Through excellent cooperation between the military, other components of government and private industry, Schwartz said, the distribution process is improving in many ways—not just fiscally, but most importantly in terms of providing materiel where and when needed.
“Working together really is the way ahead for each of us,” he observed. “It’s the Defense Logistics Agency, it’s the Department of Defense, it’s the Joint Chiefs, it’s the combatant commands—one of nine of which we have—and of course it includes you in the commercial enterprises that your labor sustains.
“Fundamentally, it’s bringing everybody’s best thinking together on one goal, and that is a synchronized, totally visible, simplified end-to-end defense supply chain. This may sound like campaign language, but it’s not. It’s real because people depend on bombs, beans, bullets, medical supplies and so on. People in fact that are in harm’s way.”
Turning specifically to sealift, Schwartz lauded the value of the U.S. Maritime Security Program (MSP) and also left no doubt that a strong U.S.-flag fleet is a must.
“For the hundred or so ships that we have under way in a typical week, 40 percent or so and increasingly more are commercial for multiple carriers,” he stated. “Sealift is essential to victory. America’s capacity to engage its enemies at a distance, to provide humanitarian assistance at home and abroad, depends very, very much on your capabilities and know-how. The vast majority of how we get things done is through sealift. My commitment to you today and to Mike Sacco is that we will continue to work with you and with the Maritime Administration, our nation’s shipbuilders and owners to ensure that the nation’s commercial seapower is there for sustained and surge military operations.”
Schwartz was a keynote speaker last year when the Alliance New York reflagged under the Stars and Stripes and enrolled in the MSP. He described the program as “brilliant” and indicated his hope that it may expand “in the not-too-distant future.” He also said that the reflagging ceremony “was truly symbolic of what I think is a rising tide of commitment to further strengthen the American Merchant Marine.”
He concluded, “We’re better working as partners than we are as individuals. America’s capacity to engage our enemies at a distance depends on a strong and viable merchant marine. We need your counsel, your continued commitment and, of course, the able assistance that you all bring with your conviction to the national defense.”
Vice Admiral Brewer was equally passionate in describing the merchant marine’s importance. “I’ve come to love this industry,” Brewer said. “We could not have fought this war without this industry. I tell the American people that all the time. The Transportation Command has moved the equivalent of the state of Utah during this war. That’s every man, woman, child, all their household goods, all their vehicles, and enough fuel for them to survive for 1,000 years. That’s what you all have been doing. And that’s what the American people need to hear.”
Brewer cited a recent trip to Korea and noted the extensive port construction and modernization taking place in that country. “They get it,” he said. “They understand that no nation can be a powerful nation unless you are a powerful maritime nation.”
Like Schwartz, Brewer also indicated that a bigger MSP may be on the horizon. He said the current program—calling for 60 militarily useful, U.S.-flag commercial ships—“is not enough, period. I need more than that.”
Brewer also said, “I have gone to the chief of naval operations and convinced him that civil service and commercial mariners are the answer to creating a stronger and better Navy.” He noted that as MSC gains vessels—including rescue ships, submarine tenders and additional prepositioning ships—it will mean more employment opportunities for civilian mariners (including those on the commercial side). With up to 14 new ships joining MSC’s fleet in the near future, “We’re talking about another 2,000 or 3,000 jobs,” he said.
Finally, Brewer offered perhaps the highest measure of respect that a military officer can extend. He said that when discussing the U.S. military, “I’m not talking about just the Army or the Navy or the Marine Corps or the Air Force or the Coast Guard. I’m also talking about merchant mariners because merchant mariners are the ones who are carrying the freight. This country does not win wars without merchant mariners. They may take you for granted, but they can’t fight without you…. The maritime industry and the sailors who sail on my ships are just as powerful and just as important to the security of this nation as anybody else.”
###
Printer Friendly Page