U.S. Navy delivers water filters to Dominican Republic, Haiti
March 22, 2009
Santo Domingo.– The U.S. Navy is working with U.S.-based nonprofit International Aid during February, March and April to transport household drinking-water filters to the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Ghana.
On February 27, Navy personnel delivered 100 filters from the USS Swift to Santo Domingo, for use in homes and schools. Since 2002, the Children’s Safe Water Alliance –founded by Rotary District 4060 and U.S. nonprofit Project Las Americas– has installed nearly 4,500 plastic filters and 14,500 of the original concrete biosand filters in more than 300 rural communities covering all of the provinces.
“Each day, nearly 100,000 Dominicans drink safe water from these filters,” Robert Hildreth, Children’s Safe Water Alliance founder, told America.gov. More than 150 U.S. and Canadian Rotary clubs and the Rotary Foundation have donated almost $1 million toward clean-water projects in the Dominican Republic, he added.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
In the News: Finishing Project Handclasp
Southern Partnership Station Makes Final Project Handclasp Delivery
Story Number: NNS090312-36
Release Date: 3/12/2009 11:13:00 PM
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Daniel Ball, Southern Partnership Station Public Affairs
BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS (NNS) -- High speed vessel Swift (HSV 2) completed its final Southern Partnership Station (SPS) Project Handclasp delivery here today with a shipment of walkers and bed sheets to a home for elderly retired nurses and boxes of medical supplies to a local military clinic.
Project Handclasp is a Navy program that uses space available on Navy ships to transport privately donated humanitarian good to foreign ports.
Today's delivery of supplies capped off an SPS community relations project during which team members spent two days refurbishing the Born Haven nursing home. In two days, they were able to paint and clean the interior of the house and provide some safety improvements such as rope fancywork on stairwell handrails.
"They made the place look great," said Sherry Ann Babb, a caretaker at the home. "Everything looks so much brighter and welcoming. The residents love it."
SPS team members have delivered Project Handclasp items in nearly every port. In Panama, Sailors delivered 22 pallets of medical supplies and handed out stuffed animals to orphans and patients in local children's hospitals. Team members delivered thousands of textbooks and five dialysis machines in Jamaica and distributed medical supplies in Colombia. Sailors also brought 100 water filtration systems to the Dominican Republic.
During the SPS mission, team members delivered more than 27,000 lbs. of Project Handclasp items valued at more than $300,000.
"The Project Handclasp events provide a lasting impact to the communities of the partner nation sailors and marines we have visited," said Cmdr. Chris Barnes, SPS mission commander. "Though Southern Partnership Station is primarily a training mission, these community involvement opportunities enable a greater return on investment for the time spent conducting them. We are making lasting friendships with the civilian leaders of these communities as well as the soldiers and sailors we teach."
Southern Partnership Station is an annual deployment of various specialty platforms to the U.S. Southern Command area of focus in the Caribbean and Latin America. The mission goal is primarily information sharing with navies, coast guards and civilian services throughout the region. SPS is comprised of Navy training and support teams, Marine Corps training teams, foreign naval officers and civilian contract mariners on a Military Sealift Command platform.
For more information on SPS, go to www.navy.mil/local/cusns.
Story Number: NNS090312-36
Release Date: 3/12/2009 11:13:00 PM
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Daniel Ball, Southern Partnership Station Public Affairs
BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS (NNS) -- High speed vessel Swift (HSV 2) completed its final Southern Partnership Station (SPS) Project Handclasp delivery here today with a shipment of walkers and bed sheets to a home for elderly retired nurses and boxes of medical supplies to a local military clinic.
Project Handclasp is a Navy program that uses space available on Navy ships to transport privately donated humanitarian good to foreign ports.
Today's delivery of supplies capped off an SPS community relations project during which team members spent two days refurbishing the Born Haven nursing home. In two days, they were able to paint and clean the interior of the house and provide some safety improvements such as rope fancywork on stairwell handrails.
"They made the place look great," said Sherry Ann Babb, a caretaker at the home. "Everything looks so much brighter and welcoming. The residents love it."
SPS team members have delivered Project Handclasp items in nearly every port. In Panama, Sailors delivered 22 pallets of medical supplies and handed out stuffed animals to orphans and patients in local children's hospitals. Team members delivered thousands of textbooks and five dialysis machines in Jamaica and distributed medical supplies in Colombia. Sailors also brought 100 water filtration systems to the Dominican Republic.
During the SPS mission, team members delivered more than 27,000 lbs. of Project Handclasp items valued at more than $300,000.
"The Project Handclasp events provide a lasting impact to the communities of the partner nation sailors and marines we have visited," said Cmdr. Chris Barnes, SPS mission commander. "Though Southern Partnership Station is primarily a training mission, these community involvement opportunities enable a greater return on investment for the time spent conducting them. We are making lasting friendships with the civilian leaders of these communities as well as the soldiers and sailors we teach."
Southern Partnership Station is an annual deployment of various specialty platforms to the U.S. Southern Command area of focus in the Caribbean and Latin America. The mission goal is primarily information sharing with navies, coast guards and civilian services throughout the region. SPS is comprised of Navy training and support teams, Marine Corps training teams, foreign naval officers and civilian contract mariners on a Military Sealift Command platform.
For more information on SPS, go to www.navy.mil/local/cusns.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
In the News: Swift in Barbados
Swift and Southern Partnership Station Returns to Barbados Story Number: NNS090310-04
Release Date: 3/10/2009 12:40:00 PM
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Daniel Ball, Southern Partnership Station Public Affairs
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Daniel Ball, Southern Partnership Station Public Affairs
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (NNS) -- High speed vessel Swift (HSV 2) returned to Barbados March 9 to begin a 10-day training mission and complete the Barbados portion of Southern Partnership Station (SPS).
Southern Partnership Station is an annual deployment of various specialty platforms to the U.S. Southern Command area of focus in the Caribbean and Latin America. The mission goal is primarily information sharing with navies, coast guards, and civilian services throughout the region. SPS is comprised of Navy training and support teams, Marine Corps training teams, foreign naval officers and civilian contract mariners on a Military Sealift Command platform.
SPS's return was marked by an opening ceremony aboard Swift. Afterwards, instructors set out to various classrooms located on Swift and in local military facilities to begin instruction.
"We came out to teach them how to drive the boats and because of the training from our last visit here they were ready for the next course," said small boat instructor Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Albert Perret, from Franklin, La. "This time around, we are teaching waterborne security which focuses on formations and patrol geared toward how to protect their home port and ships.
They were very motivated about the class and eager to learn. I think they will take away a lot from this course."
Training teams from Navy Expeditionary Training Command, Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Marine Corps Training and Advisory Group began their courses today with 127 students from the Royal Barbados Defense Forces and member nations of the Regional Security System (which includes Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines). The courses provide instruction in waterborne security, port security, leadership, instructor training, generator maintenance, search and rescue planning, combat patrol and urban raid tactics.
The final SPS visit to Barbados comes on the heels of an eight-day training evolution in the Dominican Republic. While there SPS instructors trained 80 students in a variety of topics including small boat operations, Marine Corps martial arts and port security.
The return to Barbados is the ninth stop for SPS. Afterwards SPS is scheduled to visit Colombia, Nicaragua and Jamaica.
The mission is coordinated through U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. Fourth Fleet (NAVSO/ 4th Fleet) with partner nations to meet their specific training requests. As the Naval Component Command of SOUTHCOM, NAVSO's mission is to direct U.S. Naval Forces operating in the Caribbean, Central and South American regions and interact with partner nation navies within the maritime environment. Various operations include counter-illicit trafficking, Theater Security Cooperation, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, military-to-military interaction and bilateral and multinational training.
Fourth Fleet is the numbered fleet assigned to NAVSO, exercising operational control of assigned forces in the SOUTHCOM area of focus.
For more information on U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command / U.S. Fourth Fleet, go to www.navy.mil/local/cusns.
Monday, March 9, 2009
In the News: Translated article from Panorma Diario (Santo Domingo)
This reads a bit rough, but it is a translated (Spanish to English) front page article from the Panorama Diario of Santo Domingo:
9 March 2009
Santo Domingo. The Staff Directorate of Navy military informs us that they concluded successful military exercises onboard the Catamaran HSV-2 Swift of the United States Navy on Friday 6 of March, in which they participated a group of listed officials and of Navy military.
The training exercises were made from 22 February to March 7, with one active and outstanding participation of listed officials and of Navy military. The event closing took place in the Don port Diego, with a speech of order pronounced by Rear Admiral Luis R. Lee Ballester, in representation of the Chief of Staff of Navy military, Homero Vice-admiral Luis Single Lajara.
In his brief speech, Rear Admiral Lee Ballester, Assistant Manager of General Staff of Navy military, emphasized the skill, capacity and professionalism observed by the members of the naval institution that participated. He also had words of praise for the instructors and the personnel onboard the ship, especially for the gentlemen Rolland Bullen, Michael Shimez and the Lieutenant Colonel Jerharld Burgoa, Ordered of Businesses, General Consul of the United States and Comandante of the Consultative Group of Asistencia Militar (USMAA), in the country, respectively.
Rear Admiral Lee Ballester said that these periodic trainings the Dominican military are put under, especially those of Navy military on the part of North American instructors, “they will serve so that the personnel of our military institutions obtain the necessary capacity and knowledge, to be able to also face the threats that not only set a trap to us as a country, our region”.
Also present was the Vice-admiral Julio Caesar Ventura Bayonet, Undersecretary of State of the Armed Forces, Navy military, in representation of the Secretary of State the Armed Forces, General Lieutenant Piloto Pedro Rafael Rock Antonio, F.A.D., (DEM). Also in attendance in the closing of the training on board of the HSV-2 Swift were Lieutenant Colonel Fred Fagan, Military attache' of the United States and the Commander Christopher Barnes, Commander of the mission.
9 March 2009
Santo Domingo. The Staff Directorate of Navy military informs us that they concluded successful military exercises onboard the Catamaran HSV-2 Swift of the United States Navy on Friday 6 of March, in which they participated a group of listed officials and of Navy military.
The training exercises were made from 22 February to March 7, with one active and outstanding participation of listed officials and of Navy military. The event closing took place in the Don port Diego, with a speech of order pronounced by Rear Admiral Luis R. Lee Ballester, in representation of the Chief of Staff of Navy military, Homero Vice-admiral Luis Single Lajara.
In his brief speech, Rear Admiral Lee Ballester, Assistant Manager of General Staff of Navy military, emphasized the skill, capacity and professionalism observed by the members of the naval institution that participated. He also had words of praise for the instructors and the personnel onboard the ship, especially for the gentlemen Rolland Bullen, Michael Shimez and the Lieutenant Colonel Jerharld Burgoa, Ordered of Businesses, General Consul of the United States and Comandante of the Consultative Group of Asistencia Militar (USMAA), in the country, respectively.
Rear Admiral Lee Ballester said that these periodic trainings the Dominican military are put under, especially those of Navy military on the part of North American instructors, “they will serve so that the personnel of our military institutions obtain the necessary capacity and knowledge, to be able to also face the threats that not only set a trap to us as a country, our region”.
Also present was the Vice-admiral Julio Caesar Ventura Bayonet, Undersecretary of State of the Armed Forces, Navy military, in representation of the Secretary of State the Armed Forces, General Lieutenant Piloto Pedro Rafael Rock Antonio, F.A.D., (DEM). Also in attendance in the closing of the training on board of the HSV-2 Swift were Lieutenant Colonel Fred Fagan, Military attache' of the United States and the Commander Christopher Barnes, Commander of the mission.
In the News: Swift in DR
Southern Partnership Station in Dominican Republic
Release Date: 2/27/2009
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Daniel Ball, Southern Partnership Station Public Affairs
SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (NNS) -- High speed vessel Swift (HSV 2) arrived in Dominican Republic Feb. 25 for a ten-day training mission during Southern Partnership Station (SPS). Southern Partnership Station is an annual deployment of various specialty platforms to the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) area of focus in the Caribbean and Latin America. The mission goal is primarily information sharing with navies, coast guards, and civilian services throughout the region. SPS is comprised of Navy training and support teams, Marine Corps training teams, foreign naval officers and civilian contract mariners on a Military Sealift Command platform.
Training teams from Navy Expeditionary Training Command (ETC), Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Marine Corps Training and Advisory Group began their courses today with students from the Dominican Republic Navy and Marines. The courses provide instruction in small boat maintenance and repair, small boat coxswain, port security and martial arts.
The first mission of the day was to do a complete turnover of ETC and Swift military support team personnel. Swift has two military crews, blue and gold, that rotate duty aboard the ship every four months. After all the new members of the SPS team were settled in, an opening ceremony was conducted and training began in classrooms set up on Swift and at local military facilities.
"The mission has been outstanding, we've trained hundreds and hundreds of students, learned a great deal about our partner nations and their militaries, and we have forged strong relationships that will last well into the future." said Cmdr. Chris Barnes, SPS mission commander. "I think it's important to change out the training teams from time to time as it allows us to bring in fresh instructors with new excitement about their opportunities to train and learn from our partner nations."
The Dominican Republic training evolution comes after the first SPS stop to Nicaragua. During a weeklong visit to El Bluff, Nicaragua the SPS team trained with Nicaraguan sailors in port security, waterborne operations, martial arts, small boat repair and maritime interdiction. They also enjoyed a visit and question and answer session with Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter and U.S. Southern Command Deputy Director Air Force Lt. Gen. Glenn Spears.
The Dominican Republic is the eighth stop for SPS. Afterwards SPS is scheduled to visit Barbados, Colombia, Nicaragua and Jamaica.
The mission is coordinated through U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet (NAVSO/ 4th Fleet) with partner nations to meet their specific training requests. As the naval component command of SOUTHCOM, NAVSO's mission is to direct U.S. Naval Forces operating in the Caribbean, Central and South American regions and interact with partner nation navies within the maritime environment.
Various operations include counter-illicit trafficking, theater security cooperation, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, military-to-military interaction and bilateral and multinational training.Fourth Fleet is the numbered fleet assigned to NAVSO, exercising operational control of assigned forces in the SOUTHCOM area of focus.
Release Date: 2/27/2009
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Daniel Ball, Southern Partnership Station Public Affairs
SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (NNS) -- High speed vessel Swift (HSV 2) arrived in Dominican Republic Feb. 25 for a ten-day training mission during Southern Partnership Station (SPS). Southern Partnership Station is an annual deployment of various specialty platforms to the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) area of focus in the Caribbean and Latin America. The mission goal is primarily information sharing with navies, coast guards, and civilian services throughout the region. SPS is comprised of Navy training and support teams, Marine Corps training teams, foreign naval officers and civilian contract mariners on a Military Sealift Command platform.
Training teams from Navy Expeditionary Training Command (ETC), Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Marine Corps Training and Advisory Group began their courses today with students from the Dominican Republic Navy and Marines. The courses provide instruction in small boat maintenance and repair, small boat coxswain, port security and martial arts.
The first mission of the day was to do a complete turnover of ETC and Swift military support team personnel. Swift has two military crews, blue and gold, that rotate duty aboard the ship every four months. After all the new members of the SPS team were settled in, an opening ceremony was conducted and training began in classrooms set up on Swift and at local military facilities.
"The mission has been outstanding, we've trained hundreds and hundreds of students, learned a great deal about our partner nations and their militaries, and we have forged strong relationships that will last well into the future." said Cmdr. Chris Barnes, SPS mission commander. "I think it's important to change out the training teams from time to time as it allows us to bring in fresh instructors with new excitement about their opportunities to train and learn from our partner nations."
The Dominican Republic training evolution comes after the first SPS stop to Nicaragua. During a weeklong visit to El Bluff, Nicaragua the SPS team trained with Nicaraguan sailors in port security, waterborne operations, martial arts, small boat repair and maritime interdiction. They also enjoyed a visit and question and answer session with Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter and U.S. Southern Command Deputy Director Air Force Lt. Gen. Glenn Spears.
The Dominican Republic is the eighth stop for SPS. Afterwards SPS is scheduled to visit Barbados, Colombia, Nicaragua and Jamaica.
The mission is coordinated through U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet (NAVSO/ 4th Fleet) with partner nations to meet their specific training requests. As the naval component command of SOUTHCOM, NAVSO's mission is to direct U.S. Naval Forces operating in the Caribbean, Central and South American regions and interact with partner nation navies within the maritime environment.
Various operations include counter-illicit trafficking, theater security cooperation, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, military-to-military interaction and bilateral and multinational training.Fourth Fleet is the numbered fleet assigned to NAVSO, exercising operational control of assigned forces in the SOUTHCOM area of focus.
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