The Source for Navy News
Naval Reserves, Health Professionals Team for Operation Arctic Care
Story Number: NNS020423-04
Release Date: 4/23/2002 1:32:00 PM
By Sgt. Sam Kille, Marine Force Reserve Public Affairs
COLD BAY, Alaska (NNS) -- Nearly 70 Naval Reservists joined 160 reserve and active duty Marines, Sailors, soldiers, and airmen in Operation Arctic Care 2002 (AC02). The annual humanitarian mission involving all military branches, military and civilian health professionals provided medical, dental, optometry, and veterinary services to Native Alaskans living in remote areas of the Alaskan Peninsula, Pribilof and Aleutian Islands.
Fourth Force Service Support Group (4th FSSG), Marine Forces Reserve, led the annual joint-forces operation.
"The mission was a cooperative venture...," said Navy Capt. Karen Trueblood, the commanding officer of 4th Medical Batallion, 4th FSSG, and officer-in-charge of the exercise. "The underserved communities received free services, while the military deployed into an area of 230,000 square miles. It was an excellent training opportunity."
The free medical care potentially saved lives and was an opportunity to educate the public about the military. Above all, the importance of any exercise - including humanitarian missions - is the way it prepares service members, especially reserves, for "real world" contingencies.
"This was truly a joint-forces operation," said Brig. Gen. Cornell A. Wilson, Jr., commanding general of 4th FSSG. "This will play into operations in the future, whether joint or coalition, [and] expand the scope of knowledge - not just for 4th FSSG, but for the other services as well," said Trueblood, a native of Pittsburgh.
Ensuring equipment reached its destinations relied heavily on air crews from Company A, 4/123 Army Aviation Regiment and its five UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters; two C-23 Sherpa transport planes from 1/207 Alaska National Guard Aviation Batallion.; and two C-130 transport planes from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak.
The fixed wing aircraft were used to reach locales, such as, Adak, 1,500 miles from Anchorage, while the Blackhawks were used to transport personnel from Anchorage to Cold Bay, site of the Arctic Care command element. From Cold Bay, Blackhawks, often hampered by the elements, flew gear and personnel to nearby locations. The logistics took planning and hard work, but the challenges were faced head on.
"We had nearly 24,000 pounds of cargo to move in and out of the villages," said Marine Staff Sgt. James Franklin, logistics chief for 4th Med. Batallion. "There was everything from personnel, rations, general cargo, hazardous cargo, to bonded cargo [with] certain time frames for shipment."
The medical personnel performed valuable services for 1,613 patients treated in 11 separate villages. Services included $900,000 of free dental care, simple medical screenings, eye exams, vaccinations and root canals.
"Before coming here we didn't know what to expect; we assumed we would be doing a lot of extractions. Yet, we ended up doing a wide variety of general dentistry which saved a lot of teeth," said CDR Todd Allen, a dentist from 4th Dental Batallion, 4th FSSG, assigned to the village of Sand Point.
HM1 Heidi Amato, a corpsman from 4th Medical Batallion and native of San Diego, who worked at the operation command center, said, "The logistical, medical and operational techniques gained here will help us in the event that we are, one day, mobilized to support the 4th FSSG team in either combat or future humanitarian missions."
For more information on the 4th FSSG, go to http://www.marforres.usmc.mil/4thFSSG. For more news about reservists in action, go to the Naval Reserve Force NewsStand page at http://www.news.navy.mil/local/nrf/.
E-mail this story to a friend | Send a comment about this story
|
All Any Exact |
|
