Continuing Promise Veterinarians to Provide Vital Training for Jamaican Counterparts

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st (SW) Kim Williams, Continuing Promise 2011 Public Affairs

USNS COMFORT, At Sea (NNS) -- Military veterinarians embarked on board USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), in conjunction with other civilian veterinarians, began facilitating diagnostic parasitology classes for Jamaican veterinary practitioners during a port visit to Kingston, Jamaica, as part of Continuing Promise 2011 (CP11), April 10.

U.S. Army Capt. Rachel Lee and veterinary health care technicians, Army Sgts. Heather Robinson and Bethzabe Delgado, will perform the first study of food animals the island country has had in the last two decades.

"In Jamaica, we are going to be teaching at the national diagnostic lab, so we will probably have a very big influence there since they haven't had a parasitology study in food animals since 1980," said Lee. "These studies are very important for condemnation reasons, because there are a lot of things that animals can get that would prevent people from eating their meat safely."

Lee said that she and her team will teach at least three classes and work one-on-one with the host country animal health practioners.

"I'm excited to be on this mission, because I've only had one other similar mission to the Philippines, which was very small scale, as far as larger animals goes, so working as part of CP11 will be very exciting for me," said Robinson. "I'm very interested in helping the locals learn more about how to better their livelihood and their food because their animals are their lifeline."

The CP11 mission consists of veterinarian care in addition to medical, dental, engineering and subject matter expert exchanges. The mission is focused on helping people and building lasting partnerships with nations throughout the Caribbean, Central and South American regions.

Comfort will also visit Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Peru.

COMUSNAVSO/COMFOURTHFLT supports U.S. Southern Command joint and combined full-spectrum military operations by providing principally sea-based, forward presence to ensure freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain, to foster and sustain cooperative relationships with international partners and to fully exploit the sea as maneuver space in order to enhance regional security and promote peace, stability, and prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South American regions.