MSC Reservists Support RIMPAC 2024 on Land, at Sea

Navy Reservists from Military Sealift Command (MSC) are on station in Hawaii, providing support to the Navy’s biennial, multinational maritime exercise, Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC) 2024. A Cargo Afloat Rig Team (CART) is onboard MSC’s fleet replenishment oiler USNS Pecos (T-AO 197) in the waters around Hawaii, and ashore, members of the Military Sealift Command Pacific Headquarters Unit are at the Pacific Warfighting Center on Ford Island, providing maritime logistic support.

At sea, an MSC CART made up of Reserve Sailors from CARTS Detachments around the country, are at the center of at-sea logistics operations. These Sailors are in supporting the exercise and augmenting the Pecos crew. Thirteen members are currently working on the decks of Pecos and will swap out with eleven new members for the last two weeks of the exercise. While onboard, the CART works and trains together with the civil service mariner crews in order to meet the huge underway replenishment (UNREP) demands, keeping the 40 ships of the 29 participating nations supplied and moving. The team members provide additional support for the shipboard crew to send and receive underway replenishment equipment for transfer of fuel or cargo at sea by working in positions such as Rig Captain, riggers, signalmen, line handlers and safety observers throughout the UNREP evolutions.

Working on the deck of a ship underway is always a challenging environment. For the CART members at RIMPAC 2024, there is an added challenge of working together for the first time. Of the 13 personnel on the first leg of the exercise, 10 are from different states, geographically dispersed and assigned to different units. For this reason, all CART members receive extensive training, before deploying on an MSC ship.

“Every CART Sailor is required to attend The MSC UNREP Training Center prior to getting underway on an MSC vessel,” explained Quarter Master Chief Petty Officer David Farley, CART officer-in-charge. “We have the training required to build skills while aboard conducting UNREP evolutions. We held virtual refresher training prior to arriving to RIMPAC and continue to hold training on different systems while aboard.”

While structured training like that received in a classroom provides the basics, it cannot replace real-world operations. On Pecos, the CART members working with the CIVMAR crew are getting invaluable training from the professionals.

“There are multiple benefits to working with CIVMAR crew members,” said Farley. “The main benefit being our ability to learn from their experiences and technical knowledge from doing this day in and day out. The Cargo Mate, Cargo Bos'n and Ship's Bos'n haven't missed an opportunity to train CART Sailors ensuring we leave here with a new understanding of the ship and Underway Replenishment evolutions. A few of the Sailors have enjoyed their time enough to consider joining the MSC Team in their civilian careers!”

As the world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity designed to foster and sustain cooperative relationships, and this is front and center for the CART.

“RIMPAC 2024 gives us the ability to get our Sailors together to train together doing the job that we are meant to do. RIMPAC provides a lot of opportunity for more evolutions in a short timeframe as well as experience seeing foreign ships involved with the exercise. The more we operate together, the better we become as a CART,” said Farley.

In addition to the CART, five members of Military Sealift Command Pacific’s (MSCPAC) Headquarters Reserve Unit are serving as watch standers, providing maritime logistics support to Commander, Task Group 173, at the Pacific Warfighting Center on Ford Island. These reservists, alongside their international teammates are providing comprehensive planning and coordination for each replenishment-at-sea conducted during the exercise, including arranging and coordinating rendezvous locations and times for all the logistics ships and two MSC chartered tankers. In addition, the Reservists are coordinating towing operations with the MSC rescue and salvage ship USNS Grasp (T-ARS 51).

Twenty-nine nations, 40 surface ships, three submarines, 14 national land forces, more than 150 aircraft, and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC in and around the Hawaiian Islands, June 27 to Aug. 1. The world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. RIMPAC 2024 is the 29th exercise in the series that began in 1971.