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Military transportation and logistics leaders: American mariners are critical to our nation
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Top defense logistics planners have again acknowledged the wartime service of U.S.-flagged merchant ships and civilian American merchant mariners.
The praise this time came from Major Gen. Kathleen Gainey, commander of the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, and Vice Adm. Ann Rondeau, deputy commander of the U.S. Transportation Command, or TRANSCOM. "You are critical to our nation, and you have always been there for us," Major Gen. Gainey said in recent remarks to the executive board of the Maritime Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations in San Diego. "You represent the people, men and women, who are committed to a great cause, and that is the vitality of this nation and the economic engine that runs it," Vice Adm. Rondeau said at the same gathering. "We are partners." Major Gen. Gainey sounded the partnership theme as well. "There's no amount of thanks I can give you," she told the seagoing unions. Major Gen. Gainey said experience had taught her how "critical" U.S. merchant ships and U.S. mariners are. Defense equipment and supplies, she explained, must be delivered "on time, without strings attached - even to those places where you go in harm's way." The Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command - formerly the Military Traffic Management Command - arranges the shipment of military supplies within the United States and overseas. The agency relies heavily on privately owned, operated and crewed U.S.-flagged merchant vessels. "All of us in uniform appreciate you in the maritime trades," Major Gen. Gainey said. "The merchant marine has always been there beside us, always been there when we needed you. You have always delivered. It doesn't matter whether or not in harm's way or in peace. Your partnership has never faltered - you were always there for our service members around the world, no matter what we asked you to do." Major Gen. Gainey said she wants to broaden her agency's partnership with the private sector in such areas as strategic sealift, port development and security and Naval capability. "We know we can count on you," she said. "And we don't even think about it. It's embarrassing. We take it for granted that you will be there." Vice Adm. Rondeau noted that U.S. merchant vessel operators and maritime labor have worked closely with TRANSCOM to apply efficient private sector business practices to military transportation policy and planning. "The men and women of the U.S. military are worth what you give them, worth your investment - and you give them a lot," she said. "Together, we're not just involved - we're committed." |
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