The amphibious dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall operates off the coast of Killick, Haiti. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Kristopher Wilson

Chance often plays a large role in the lives of our military’s men and women. The sailors and service members aboard the USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44) recognize that fact of life all too well today.

LSD 44 was supposed to be off the west coast of Africa today, working with partner navies and providing security and stabilization instruction and assistance to the nations and peoples in that region as the sea base for Africa Partnership Station (APS) West . Instead, they find themselves off the coast of Haiti, uniquely staffed and provisioned for a relief mission they could have never imagined.

British Royal Navy Cmdr. David Salisbury, right, the director of staff for Africa Partnership Station West, embarked aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall, helps deliver donated goods from Mexico to more than a thousand people in a school yard in Killick. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Martine Cuaron

On board the ship are a number of officers from various navies in West Africa as well as officers from European militaries. Officers from nations as diverse as Gabon, Senegal, Ghana and Italy were part of the APS staff but have transitioned to being an integral part of Gunston Hall’s relief efforts. The ship also carried a Maritime Civil Affairs Team (MCAT) which has worked to allow closer cooperation with local leaders and NGO’s in the area.

Maritime Civil Affairs Team 203, along with Sailors from the amphibious dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall and the Mexican navy ship ARM Huesteco deliver donated goods from Mexico to more than a thousand people in a school yard in Killick. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Martine Cuaron

The ship is working through the Haitian Coast Guard (HCG) base on the outskirts of the devastated city of Carrefour. Killick Base was badly damaged by the earthquake on January 12 but the first U.S. ships on scene found the Haitian Coast Guardsmen at work. USCGC Forward was met by their small craft and their aid parties welcomed ashore.

HCG Killick Base has become an active relief center for the region. Large amounts of supplies have been offloaded for distribution by the HCG and local Haitian police. A medical clinic has been created and staffed, and medical evacuations to ships offshore such as USS Bataan and the hospital ship Comfort are carried out as necessary.

Petty Officer 1st Class Christine Perez, information systems technician, left, from Elgin, Texas, Nicole Lozano, chief Navy counselor, center, from Salt Lake City, and Seaman Nicole Worthy, from Vallejo, Calif., comfort a crying baby after a medical examination at Killick Haitian Coast Guard Base. All three Sailors are stationed aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall, which is assisting in Operation Unified Response following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, Jan. 12. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Martine Cuaron

Gunston Hall arrive January 18. It has been on station since then. Forty man work parties are going ashore every day to provide assistance in and around the medical clinic. The Mexican Navy is supplying medical personnel to the clinic.

Sailors deliver an injured American citizen to USS Carl Vinson's (CVN 70) Health Services department for medical care. USS Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing 17 are conducting humanitarian and disaster relief operations in Haiti in response to the recent earthquake disaster. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Adrian White)

Vinson Helicopters Perform Medical Evacuations

U.S. Navy helicopters operating from the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) rescued two American citizens in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Jan. 15.

An SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter, from the “Tridents” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 9 responded to a MEDEVAC call from the Air Force 23rd Special Tactics Squadron. An Air Force pararescueman (PR) on the scene had just freed a man from the rubble of the Hotel Montana, but his legs below the knee were lost. The helicopter’s aircrew airlifted the man to USS Carl Vinson for emergency medical care. Vinson doctors treated his injuries. The man is in stable condition in the ship’s medical ward.

Carl Vinson responded to a second distress call a couple of hours later, sending an MH-60 Knighthawk from the “Chargers” of HSC-26 to evacuate an American woman. The woman, a 55-year old Christian missionary, said a wall collapsed on top of her when the earthquake struck. She is also in stable condition, undergoing further evaluation by Navy doctors aboard the carrier.

“It looks as though our aircrews may have saved lives,” said Rear. Adm. Ted Branch, Commander of the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group and Task Force 41, the U.S. Navy’s sea-based humanitarian support mission of Haiti.

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Marines Embark on Haiti Response Mission
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, American Forces Press Service

The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) will bring a multi-mission capability to Haiti to provide disaster relief and, if necessary, security assistance, a spokesman for the unit said during a telephone news conference Jan. 15 from Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The Marines expect to provide direct support for the ongoing relief efforts there, although they haven’t been given a specific mission yet. But they’re well prepared for any number of challenges, said Marine Corps Capt. Clark Carpenter.

“We foresee this mission as however our assets can best be applied to the situation,” said Carpenter. “We will be able to support any number of things that will be asked of us. I think the key is to get down there and figure out how our assets are going to best support the mission.”

B-roll of 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit amphibious assault vehicles being driven across Onslow Beach aboard Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The AAVs have embarked aboard the USS Gunston Hall to go to Haiti for disaster relief. Produced by Staff Sgt. Jayson Price. Haiti relief

Carpenter said the 22nd MEU is well suited for this type of operation because of its amphibious capability – supplies, aid, equipment and manpower can be moved by sea and air. And while the infrastructure in Haiti already is under stress, the Marines can base their operations from the sea, getting their food, water and shelter from ships rather than tapping into the limited supplies ashore, he added.

“We don’t know if we’re going to sea-base or not, [but it] reduces the strain on an already strained infrastructure,” he explained. “We have a great flexibility from those ships. We can sea-base, push people to shore and run operations.”

The force is deploying aboard three Navy ships – USS Bataan (LHD 5), USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) and USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) – with CH-35 Chinook and UH-1 Huey helicopters. They’re leaving their tanks and artillery equipment at home for this deployment, but will bring additional trucks and earth-moving equipment, the captain said.

Also, the 22nd MEU will deploy with additional French- and Creole-speaking interpreters, public affairs specialists and possibly more medical personnel and engineers from other Marine units. Carpenter praised the support the 22nd MEU has been given from fellow Marine units at Camp Lejeune and throughout the Marine Corps.

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Marine Assault Amphibian Vehicles Join Haiti Relief Mission
Story by Master Sgt. Keith Milks

Long before the sun crested the horizon over the Atlantic Ocean, Marines from the 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, were plowing through the surf toward waiting amphibious assault ships to join the Marine contingent heading to Haiti, Jan. 16.

An assault amphibian vehicle splashes through the surf of Onslow Beach on Camp Lejeune, N.C., Jan. 16. A platoon of AAVs left Camp Lejeune in the pre-dawn hours to join the 22nd Marine Expeditionary embarked aboard the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group as it prepares to deploy to the Caribbean island nation of Haiti to provide sea-based disaster relief and humanitarian assistance in the wake of an earthquake that devestated the country on Jan. 12. Photo by Master Sgt. Keith Milks

The platoon of vehicles crossed Onslow Beach in pairs to embark aboard the USS Gunston Hall, a recent addition to the amphibious ready group carrying the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit to Haiti. In addition to the Gunston Hall, the USS Bataan, Carter Hall and Fort McHenry spent two days embarking the personnel, vehicles and equipment of the 22nd MEU at the port in Morehead City, N.C.

The amphibious assault ships and the embarked MEU were ordered to deploy to Haiti to support ongoing disaster relief and humanitarian assistance efforts in Haiti, which was ravaged by a massive earthquake, Jan. 12. The AAVs give the MEU commander the option of delivering supplies and personnel ashore from offshore shipping, and enhances the unit’s ability to provide much-needed humanitarian assistance to the Haitian people.

The 22nd MEU consists of its Command Element; Battalion Landing Team 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment; Combat Logistics Battalion 22; and Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 461 (Reinforced).

The embarkation of the AAVs is among the final steps before the ships and embarked MEU can set sail for Haiti for a humanitarian mission expected to last at least 30 days.

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B-roll of U.S. citizens boarding a Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules fixed-wing aircraft in Port-au-Prince, Haiti to return to the United States. Scenes include passengers walking to the aircraft and boarding. Produced by Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Mariana O’Leary, Seventh Coast Guard District Public Affairs – Miami. Haiti relief

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B-roll of a Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules fixed-wing aircraft crew transporting U.S. citizens from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Scenes include passengers walking through the cargo bay of the aircraft after boarding. Produced by Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Mariana O’Leary, Seventh Coast Guard District Public Affairs – Miami. Haiti relief