USNS Mercy Deploys in Support of Pacific Partnership 2018

Photo By Sarah Cannon | A Navy crew member of Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) says good by to family members, as the ship prepares to leave the pier at Naval Station San Diego to begin its deployment in support of the humanitarian mission to Southeast Asia, Pacific Partnership 2018. The ship’s crew, composed of MSC civil service mariners, who operate the ship, and Navy medical and support personnel who staff and oversee the ship’s hospital, will visit countries throughout Southeast Asia to include Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. In addition to the U.S Navy and CIVMARs non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and regional partners that providing maritime security, conducting humanitarian assistance, and strengthening disaster response preparedness.  

UNITED STATES

02.23.2018

Story by Sarah Cannon 

Military Sealift Command Pacific

Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) departed San Diego today in support of the humanitarian mission to Southeast Asia, Pacific Partnership 2018.

The ship’s crew, composed of MSC civil service mariners, who operate the ship, and Navy medical and support personnel who staff and oversee the ship’s hospital, will visit countries throughout Southeast Asia to include Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. In addition to the U.S Navy and CIVMARs non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and regional partners that providing maritime security, conducting humanitarian assistance, and strengthening disaster response preparedness.
Mercy will provide medical, dental, veterinary, public health services, engineering and disaster response to host countries who have invited the ship to visit and provide services to the local population.

Mercy is joined on the Pacific Partnership mission by MSC expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Fall River (T-EPF 4). Fall River 2018will make separate mission stops in Yap, Palau, Borneo-Malaysia, and Thailand, supporting public diplomacy, community outreach, and theater security cooperation initiatives.

“Being a part of the Pacific Partnership mission is really an amazing experience,” said civil service mariner Barron Garvey, Mercy’s cargo officer. “What we do touches so many lives and you can’t walk away from this deployment without having been impacted by the people we help and the experiances of the mission. People always talk about making a difference, but this is where that really happens; on a Pacific Partnership mission. I think about the other PP missions I have been on, and I look forward to the next one. This really is one of the best things I have been a part of since coming to MSC.”

Following its four month deployment, Mercy will return to San Diego.
Pacific Partnership is the largest annual multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Pacific Region. Now in its 13th year, the missions have included medical exchanges, veterinary exchanges, and engineering projects while working side by side with partners in Cambodia, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Indonesia, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea and the Bougainville Autonomous region, Philippines, Marshall Islands, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Vietnam. Pacific Partnership 2018 includes more than 800 military and civilian personnel from the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, France, South Korea, Singapore, and Japan, and is scheduled to make mission stops in Micronesia, South and Southeast Asia from February through June, 2018.

• Date Taken: 02.23.2018
• Date Posted: 02.23.2018 14:58
• Story ID: 267018
• Location: US