Photo By Lt.Cmdr. Amber Lewis | Norfolk, Va. (August 13, 2020) Sailors from Navy Cargo Handling Battalion Ten...... read more read more
At Pier 8, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Distribution pier, Sailors from Navy Cargo Handling Battalion Ten (NCHB-10) from Yorktown, VA, completed the offload of the Schuyler Line Magothy cargo vessel. The vessel returned from the annual resupply mission known as Operation Pacer Goose to Thule Air Force Base in Greenland earlier this month.
This year, DLA distribution process workers spent four days in July alongside Sailors from Navy Cargo Handling Battalion Eight (NCHB-8) and Navy Cargo Handling Battalion One (NCHB-1) onloading essential supplies needed to sustain operations at the remote base while maintaining a strict COVID-19 screening and mitigation strategy. All Sailors were screened daily for flu-like symptoms, including temperature checks before operations commenced. For the duration of operations, liberty was secured to minimize exposure to possible community transmission. Additionally, all 30 Sailors wore face coverings during all hours of operations.
Thule Air Base lies approximately 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle and 946 miles from the North Pole, with temperatures typically ranging from 30 to 40 degrees below zero in the winter to 30 to 40 degrees in the summer. With a population of U.S., Canadian, Danish and Greenlandic personnel, the base provides security, communications, civil engineering, personnel, services, logistics and medical services, supporting the missile warning and space surveillance and satellite command and control operations missions. Operated by the 821st Air Base Group, Thule Air Base is one of the six installations maintained by the 21st Space Wing.
After dispensing essential supplies to Thule Air Force Base, civilian stevedores loaded obsolete supplies from the base back onto Magothy, where she then returned to Norfolk’s Pier 8 for offload, disposal, and repurposing of the cargo. NCHB-10 assigned 30 Navy Reserve Sailors to support Operation Pacer Goose, where they offloaded 89 lifts worth of cargo, completing the 68th iteration of this mission. According to Lt. Brian Wheelock, the Officer in Charge from NCHB-10, the offload included containers, a rock crusher, and five vehicles. This was his first year participating in Operation Pacer Goose.
A variety of skilled workers including crane operators, stevedores, blockers and bracers, and workers who load containers on trucks on the pier helped to offload the ship.
“All of our Sailors showed tremendous persistence and drive to ensure the mission was done on time” Wheelock said.
NCHB-10 is a Navy Reserve Cargo Handling Battalion, homeported in Yorktown, VA. They specialize in all kinds of cargo handling missions, including surface, air, fuels, ordnance, transport, and camp support functions. They currently have nearly 300 Sailors assigned, who reside all up and down the east coast and beyond. As with most Navy Reservists, many of them balance their Navy responsibilities with full-time civilian employment. The Sailors assigned to the Pacer Goose mission were completing their Annual Training requirements for fiscal year 20 (FY20).
| Date Taken: | 08.13.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 08.17.2020 16:12 |
| Story ID: | 376185 |
| Location: | NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 1,023 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Mission Complete: Navy Cargo Handlers Complete 68th edition of Operation Pacer Goose, by LCDR Amber Lewis, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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