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Final Group of Expeditionary Logistics Support Force Troops Return
Story Number: NNS040929-04
Release Date: 9/29/2004 1:28:00 PM
By Lt. Karin R. Burzynski, Naval Expeditionary Logistics Support Force Public Affairs
NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- The final group of Naval Expeditionary Logistics Support Force (NAVELSF) Forward ALPHA returned from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) to Norfolk Sept. 25.
Rear Adm. John G. Debbout, commander, Navy Reserve Forces Command, was on hand to greet the Sailors as they departed the two Navy C-40s Saturday afternoon.
“I believe it is important to welcome our troops back home,” Debbout said. “NAVELSF Forward ALPHA was at the heart of the largest military logistics operation since World War II, the Operation Iraqi Freedom II troop rotations.”
“In addition to the superb operational achievements, these Sailors accomplished a remarkable mission in an arduous environment, under combat conditions in many cases, in high-risk industrial areas in other cases, without a single personnel loss or serious injury,” Debbout said.
One of the 84 returning Sailors, Fireman Jamie Badger, who was a little weary from the 15-hour flight from Kuwait, said he was ready to get home.
“I’m tired, but glad to be here,” Badger said.
Also in attendance, Rear Adm. Robert R. Percy, who was Commander, NAVELSF, when ALPHA departed in January, said he believes it was important to be there to welcome them back home safely.
“There was no way I was going to miss this homecoming,” Percy said.
NAVELSF handled four primary missions in Iraq and Kuwait: Cargo Handling/Stevedores at the port in Kuwait; Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants unit in Iraq; Mobile Mail Postal Unit in five locations; and Mobile Air Cargo Handling unit working with the Marine Corps in six locations in Iraq and Kuwait.
Forward ALPHA’s statistics include: unloading and loading 66 cargo vessels at the Port of Ash Shuaiba, Kuwait; managing more than 280,000 pieces of combat equipment in the Port’s marshalling yards; serving more than 52,000 postal customers, handling more than 2 million pounds of mail, rebuilding or renovating more than 70 fuel bladders and berms at three different Forward Operating Base bladder farms in Iraq; and handling more than 60 million gallons of fuel in Iraq.
Among the returning troops was Group Commander Capt. Ray English, who said he is proud of the way the Navy was represented by NAVELSF Forward ALPHA.
“Ready and fully integrated never meant more or applied more than to NAVELSF Forward ALPHA," English said. "It was not support to the fleet, but it was direct support of the joint and coalition warfighter in OIF and the global war on terrorism - just as important."
Several family members traveled to Norfolk for the welcome home. Also greeting the troops were Rear Adm. Fenton Priest, director, Reserve Readiness; Rear Adm. David O. Anderson, director of Force Integration, Fleet Forces Command; and Rear Adm. Maurice B. Hill, deputy director of the Dental Corps.
The returning Sailors will be demobilized as Reservists through the Naval Mobilization Processing Site Norfolk and return home over the next several days.
These Reservists are from Naval Supply Support Battalion in Phoenix and Navy Cargo Handling Battalions 9, 11 and 14 from Columbus, Ohio, Jacksonville, Fla., and Port Hueneme, Calif., respectively.
NAVELSF Forward ALPHA’s first two groups returned Sept. 7 and 11.
For more news from around the fleet, visit the Navy NewsStand at www.news.navy.mil.
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Navy Cargo Handlers Return Sept. 11 - 9/13/2004
Navy Cargo Handlers Prepare to Deploy for OIF - 2/3/2004
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