The Transportation Command's latest over the shore exercise --
[from TRANSCOM Newsletter]

MARAD key participant in JLOTS exercise

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (USTCNS) --- U.S.
Transportation Command, along with
numerous agencies, participated in a Joint Logistics
Over the Shore (JLOTS)
exercise as part of exercise Native Atlas here this
month.

More than 2500 military and civilian personnel,
representing all U.S. forces
and the U.S. Maritime Administration, were part of the
exercise that
highlighted the ability of the U.S. to project power
from the sea and
sustain forces on the ground. U.S. Central Command
sponsored the exercise.

Executing a JLOTS operation is necessary when port
facilities are
non-existent, denied or inadequate for military
operations.

In a JLOTS operation, equipment is moved from cargo
ships anchored offshore
to the shore using a variety of U.S. Navy and Army
lighterage. Some
equipment is taken to a 1261-foot, semi-permanent pier
(known as an elevated
causeway) that is constructed by Navy units. Rolling
stock was moved
directly to the beach.

During the JLOTS, 1258 pieces of equipment were moved
from the Military
Sealift Command ship USNS Seay.

USNS Seay, a large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off (or
LMSR) ship is a
noncombatant ship operated by a private company under
contract to MSC. It
has 387,600 square feet of cargo carrying capacity.

MSC is the Navy component to USTRANSCOM and is
headquartered in Washington,
D.C.

Also as part of the exercise, joint forces exercised
strategic offloads of
container systems and pumping of simulated fuel (fresh
water) from ship to
shore using the Navy's offshore petroleum discharge
system. The simulated
fuel was then moved to storage and distribution
systems using the Army's
inland petroleum distribution system.

Other MSC ships in the exercise included the tanker SS
Mount Washington;
crane ship SS Keystone State; and sea barge heavy lift
ship SS Cape Mohican
(all of which were activated from the U.S. Maritime's
Ready Reserve Force)
and MV Maersk Arizona a contracted container ship.

USTRANSCOM's air component, Air Mobility Command,
headquartered at Scott Air
Force Base, Ill., also participated in the exercise by
contracting
commercial airlift for more than 1500 military
personnel.

The exercise was directed under the operational
command of the 143d
TRANSCOM, a U.S. Army Reserve unit based in Orlando,
Fla. commanded by Brig.
Gen. William S. Crupe.