SEALOGCENT: Keeping an MSC presence in the Middle East

By Gillian Brigham
SEALOGEUR Public Affairs

Outlined in black is the SEALOGCENT area of responsibilty. Red circles identify the important shipping choke points, where narrow waterways are flanked on both sides by land, increasing a ship's vulnerability.

Pick a day, any day. Walk into the operations office at Sealift Logistics Command Central, and you will be overcome by the sound of constantly ringing phones and furiously clacking computer keys. Chaos it is not. Welcome to the nerve center of U.S. Navy logistics operations in the Middle East.

SEALOGCENT is Military Sealift Command's 5th Fleet-based area command.

It is responsible for moving millions of tons of U.S. military combat equipment in and out of the region in support of U.S. forces engaged in operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom and the global war on terrorism.

The command was initially established as Military Sealift Command Southwest Asia in 1992 after the first Gulf War proved the value of having MSC logisticians permanently based in the Middle East.

Fifteen years later, SEALOGCENT has gone through a variety of name and organizational changes though its mission remains the same — to provide logistics support to U.S. and coalition forces operating in this increasingly turbulent global hotspot.

Today, the command is housed in a couple of trailers and a dust-colored stucco bunker at U.S. Naval Support Activity in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

SEALOGCENT is also co-located with Commander, Task Force-53.

CTF-53 handles all of 5th Fleet's logistics aircraft as well as MSC's oilers, tugs and other re-supply vessels refueling combatant ships in theater. The two commands work in tandem under a single commander, Navy Capt. Glen Sears II, sharing office space and the incredible task of keeping the supply chain running in the U.S. Navy's busiest theater of operations.

Multitude of Missions

"We've got three wars going on right now," said Sears of his commands' burgeoning workload. The ‘three wars' are operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom and the far ranging, many-fronted global war on terrorism.

Here's a snapshot of what some of MSC's operations in the Middle East and in these conflicts looks like today: - In the North Arabian and Red Seas, MSC's re-supply ships are supporting U.S. and coalition combatant forces conducting maritime security operations.

These operations help set the conditions for security and stability in the maritime environment, as well as complement the counter-terrorism and security efforts of regional nations.

They deny international terrorists use of the maritime environment as a venue for attack or to transport personnel, weapons or other material.

- Off the coast of Iraq, MSC ships deliver equipment and supplies to the U.S. servicemen and women guarding Iraq's two off-shore oil platforms, which generate a significant portion of the country's income.

- MSC ships ferry food, mail and spare parts to the USS Eisenhower and USS John C. Stennis carrier strike groups operating in the Persian Gulf.

- Ninety percent of all the combat equipment being used in Iraq and Afghanistan comes into theater on MSC strategic sealift ships.

Meeting the Department of Defense's logistics needs in each of these situations requires speed, flexibility and great multi-tasking skills — for the ships in theater and the shoreside personnel coordinating their movements.

In this vein, SEALOGCENT's close partnership with CTF-53 has significantly aided the overall coordination of U.S. Navy logistics in the Middle East.

"I can sit here as head of both organizations, look at the theater's air and sea logistics assets and figure out how they link up with each other to make sure our customers get what they need on time," said Sears.

"For example, I have the ability to make sure my CTF-53 aircraft link up and deliver cargo and stores to USNS [John] Lenthall during the small window of time the ship is scheduled to be in, say, Djibouti, before she heads out to refuel the combatants at sea that have been waiting for supplies. To have that kind of oversight is a real benefit."

Challenging Geography

The 5th Fleet area of operations covers 7.5 million square miles, 27 countries and three critical choke points at the Suez Canal, the Straits of Hormuz and the Strait of Bab al Mandeb off the southern coast of Yemen.

These narrow waterways are flanked by land on each side, which increases a ship's vulnerability to attack.

"The big challenge with this AOR is that our customers [combatant ships] are distributed over what, on the surface, is not a big geographical area, but one that has a lot of branches," said Cmdr. Bert Yordy, SEALOGCENT's operations officer. "The day-to-day business of keeping things moving through these choke points and branches takes a lot of coordination." This coordination includes the deployment of security teams aboard MSC ships making their way through the region. This effort, dubbed Operation Vigilant Mariner, was ordered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in February 2003 and has kept MSC's ships, mariners and sailors safe as they navigate the region's choke points ever since.

Rapid Pace

Working in an AOR prone to fastbreaking regional crises and having to adapt their missions accordingly is another challenge faced by the command on a regular basis. Last summer's Israeli- Lebanon conflict, the current violence in Somalia, Iran's increased nuclear posturing: These situations significantly affected and continue to affect the issues SEALOGCENT/CTF- 53 staffers deal with at the office every day.

"The velocity of change here is incredible," said Yordy. "For instance, a few months ago the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower was in the Arabian Sea supporting air operations over Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Then, the ship got called to the Horn of Africa and our whole scheme of how we were moving supplies to her had to be adjusted by thousands of miles overnight.

"Our schedules and the schemes of maneuver in how we route ships, airplanes, supplies, fuel and parts change daily and change dramatically. It's a very dynamic environment." "Its definitely edge-of-your-seat logistics out here," agreed Cmdr. Jim Smart, SEALOGCENT/CTF-53's deputy commander.

SEALOGCENT maintains a sevenday workweek to keep up with the pace. For the command, this means that weekends are not marked by days off but by military personnel working in civilian clothes instead of their uniforms and the staff indulging in an extra hour or two of sleep before showing up at the office.

It is a punishing pace. Still, morale is high.

"Everyone recognizes the importance of the mission," said Smart. "It's on the news. It hits you in the face everyday.

The staff knows the support they are giving is the support they'd want to get if they were out there on the ships. So, it's that rush of adrenaline and sense of ‘mission accomplished' that keeps us going."

The Road Ahead

The command's workload doesn't look like it will be lightening any time soon. In fact, it will be just the opposite.

"Looking toward the events of the future," said Sears, "with the second carrier strike group arriving and the president sending 20,000 more troops, we are getting even busier." How exactly it will all play out and what new missions SEALOGCENT will be called to support are questions yet to be answered — not that Sears and his staff have any time to worry about it beforehand.

"What's going to happen next?" asked Sears. "We don't know. We take each mission as it comes. The important thing is this: We're here, and we're ready to respond."