Seahawk ’02 takes off in Washington

By Larry E Crutchfield

An Army landing craft (foreground) from the 385th Transportation Battalion heads for shore with it’s cargo as it passes SS Cape Intrepid anchored in Port Townsend Bay, Wash., during exercise Seahawk ’02.

They traveled from as far east as Florida. They traveled from the south of Texas and California, and west across the Pacific from Hawaii to the beautiful, but remote Naval Magazine Indian Island, Port Hadlock, Wash. All came for one purpose — to hone their military skills in logistics force protection and homeland defense of military and commercial ships and port facilities both at home and abroad.

In all, nearly 700 reservists, active duty military and civilians from the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Maritime Administration, Coast Guard Auxiliary and Civil Air Patrol, as well as a small contingent of Canadian military members, participated in the Maritime Defense Zone Pacific or MARDEZPAC exercise, Seahawk '02.

According to Cmdr. Ron Savage, USNR, the MARDEZPAC representative to Military Sealift Command Pacific, "This is the eighth exercise in the Seahawk series and the fourth held at Indian Island. We started in 1997 with a handful of reserve units tasked with providing force protection, and have since expanded the exercise's scope to more than 50 civil and military organizations. This year we've got Army transportation and medical units; Navy Seabees; cargo handlers; harbor defense and explosive ordnance disposal personnel; diving and salvage units; Coast Guard port security units, etc. Seahawk is truly a joint training exercise."

For many participants, it was their first Seahawk. For MSC Pacific's contingent, it was a Seahawk full of firsts.

A 57th Transportation Battalion truck rolls off a 385th Transportation Battalion landing craft after being transferred from SS Cape Intrepid (background) during the off-load portion of exercise Seahawk ’02.

"This was the first time we had a dedicated ship for the exercise — the Maritime Administration's SS Cape Intrepid," said Cmdr. Gene Dawydiak, a merchant marine naval reserve officer commanding MSC Pacific Staff 222 and the civilian MSC sealift representative in Alameda, Calif.

"We used her roll-on capabilities pierside in Tacoma, Wash., to load about 70 pieces of equipment from the Army's 57th Transportation Battalion out of Ft. Lewis; and her cranes to lift it onto the Army's 385th Transportation Battalion landing craft. It wasn't very much stuff, but we had to think about all the things we would need, or had to do, as if we had been fully loaded and underway for a lengthy period of time. From a force protection standpoint . . . it was a textbook example of how our ships should be protected."

Intrepid's master, Capt. Maik Darley, shared Dawydiak's excitement.

"This is my first Seahawk," said Capt. Darley. "Intrepid is part of the Ready Reserve Force Fleet. For most of the year, she's in reduced operating status in Tacoma, Wash., so there's very little opportunity to train directly with the military. Getting out here . . . was really valuable training for us."

Lt. Cmdr. Joe Allen, USNR, has attended several Seahawk exercises.

"As MSC's ocean transport representative on the ground, we serve a number of liaison functions ranging from force protection to husbanding of ships," said Allen. "To do that effectively requires communication with many different folks around the world."

"This is the first year we put every piece of equipment in the mobile sealift operations center or MSOC to the test," added Allen. "It was challenging at first, but in the end, we were one of the first units to go up on the (communications) net. We even used the high frequency equipment to talk with the Coast Guard down at Point Reyes, Calif."

One of more than 70 pieces of equipment belonging to the Army’s 57th Transportation Battalion is lifted off SS Cape Intrepid and loaded onto a 385th Transportation Battalion landing craft during the exercise that took place off the coast of Washington state.

It was also the first exercise for several members of the MSC team.

"Being new to the MSC organization and finding yourself waist deep in the middle of the action was a challenge for many of us. There was plenty of catching up to do," explained Lt. Cmdr. Angus McKay, USNR, MSC officer-in-charge of Seahawk and a member of MSC Office Seattle Detachment 122. "We gelled-up quickly thanks to exercise old-timers like Lt. Cmdr. Allen, Dave Ohlemier, Gene Dawydiak, and Rick Appling, the MSC Pacific deputy operations officer, sharing their knowledge and experiences. There was plenty of good training, not only on the operation of the MSOC and the specifics of this exercise, but on the MSC big picture as well."

"The exercise taught me plenty," said IT2 Tammy Trent, USN, from MSC Pacific's communications department. "I think I learned more in these past two weeks working with the MSOC in a field environment than I got from all the textbooks. I mean, getting to really use the equipment — all the equipment — was the best."

Exercise sponsor Rear Adm. Marke Shelley, USNR, Deputy Commander, MARDEZPAC, and former deputy commander of MSC, wrapped it up this way, "Last September's terrorist attacks really bring home the importance of the work we're doing here. Units trained in past Seahawks are now being called upon to defend our forces around the globe. It is great to know that the folks here today, thanks in part to the training they received at Seahawk '02, will be ready if and when it's their turn."