Southern Partnership Station Begins Aboard Swift
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Daniel Ball, Southern Partnership Station Public Affairs
MORGAN
CITY, La. (NNS) -- Military Sealift Command-chartered high speed vessel
HSV-2 Swift (HSV 2) along with various embarked Navy, Marine Corps and
Air Force units departed Louisiana Nov. 25 for a five-month deployment
in support of Southern Partnership Station (SPS).
Southern Partnership Station is an annual deployment of various
specialty platforms to the U.S. Southern Command area of focus in the
Caribbean and Latin America. The mission's primary goal is information
sharing with navies, coast guards and civilian services throughout the
region.
"Southern Partnership Station provides an excellent opportunity to
facilitate cooperation, interaction and communication between regional
partners' civil and maritime services," said Rear Adm. Joseph D.
Kernan, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and U.S. 4th
Fleet. "Working together alongside our partner nations, sharing
knowledge and experiences through joint, multinational and interagency
exchanges will help to build strong relationships, improve
interoperability and enhance regional maritime security."
Military training teams and subject matter experts embarked on Swift
will provide partner nations with classroom and hands-on training in a
variety of subjects.
"SPS provides us an opportunity to work with our friends, build
partnerships and train together," said Cmdr. Christopher K. Barnes, SPS
mission commander.
The ship is scheduled to visit El Salvador, Panama, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Barbados and Colombia.
The mission is coordinated through U.S. Naval Forces Southern
Command/U.S. Fourth Fleet (NAVSO/ 4th Fleet) with partner nations to
meet their specific training requests. Swift embarked elements of the
Navy Expeditionary Training Command from Naval Amphibious Base Little
Creek, Va., Marine Corps Training and Advisory Group from Fort Story,
Va., and Naval Criminal Investigative Service Security Training
Assistance and Assessment Team.
Members of the Navy Expeditionary Training Command will provide
instruction in small boat operations, maintenance and repair, boarding
techniques, armed sentry, search and rescue, combat lifesaving,
leadership principles for junior and senior partner nation enlisted
service members, and instructor training.
The Marine Corps Training and Advisory Group will advise partner nation
servicemembers on a variety of different topics including marksmanship,
martial arts, and non-lethal weapons tactics.
Naval Criminal Investigative Service Security Training and Assessment Team will provide port security instruction and advice.
Information systems technicians will help install and instruct partner
nation servicemembers on the use of Integrated Automatic Identification
Systems (IAIS). IAIS is a computer based vessel identification program
that provides ports and other ships with real-time location and
information on friendly vessels within their region.
"This is a great system, I really like the way it works," said
Information Systems Technician 2nd Class German Rodriguez, IAIS
instructor. "I'm excited to interact with our friends and show them the
great things this system can do."
As the Naval Component Command of SOUTHCOM, NAVSO's mission is to
direct U.S. Naval Forces operating in the Caribbean, Central and South
American regions and interact with partner nation navies within the
maritime environment. Various operations include counter-illicit
trafficking, Theater Security Cooperation, Humanitarian Assistance and
Disaster Relief, military-to-military interaction and bilateral and
multinational training.
Fourth Fleet is the numbered fleet assigned to NAVSO, exercising
operational control of assigned forces in the SOUTHCOM area of focus.
Swift is under long-term charter to the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift
Command. A crew of civilian mariners working for a private company
under charter to MSC operate and navigate the ship.
For more information on U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command / U.S. Fourth Fleet, go to http://www.cusns.navy.mil.
For more news from Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/cusns/.
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