Fleet Logistics Center Yokosuka Completes Talisman Sabre Support Mission

By H. Sam Samuelson, NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka Office of Corporate Communication

YOKOSUKA, Japan (NNS) -- A Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Fleet Logistics Center (FLC) Yokosuka logistics response team (LRT) returned to Japan from multiple sites in Australia and Guam Aug. 2, after providing support for exercise Talisman Sabre 2011.

"This biennial event is one of the biggest exercises in the Western Pacific theater of operations and provides an invaluable opportunity to test force and logistics interoperability with one of our closest allies," said Lt. Anthony Castleberry, NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka officer-in-charge of LRT operations.

Talisman Sabre is jointly sponsored by the U.S. Pacific Command and Australian Defence Force Joint Operations Command to train U.S. 7th Fleet and Australian Deployable Joint Headquarters staffs as a designated combined task force.

More than 22,000 U.S. and Australian personnel took part in the exercise designed to increase both countries' abilities to plan and execute contingency responses, from combat missions to humanitarian assistance efforts, including land, air and sea training.

Dozens of U.S. ships and hundreds of aircraft participated.

"All the operating forces including, of course, our Australian colleagues, needed continuous logistics support to successfully execute all the training elements of Talisman Sabre," said Castleberry. "That's where we came in."

Castleberry said the American-based LRT formed up with an Australian logistics contingent to create a combined logistics support element in Rockhampton, Queensland, including a nearby military airfield and the Shoalwater Bay Training Area.

In concept, Castleberry's team was devoted to U.S. Forces and the Australian team served its forces.

"But that didn't really happen," Castelberry said. "We assisted each other. We worked as a single team and, at times, it wasn't a matter of which country's ship the material was going to; it was a matter of getting it there safely and on time."Still, the LRT arrived and served the exercise successfully."

The LRT concept was designed to more efficiently provide local, on-scene logistics support by logistics representatives who are familiar with the area-in this case the waters in and around Australia.

In years past, ships would establish beach detachments and assign logistics and supply specialists from inside the hulls to staff the detachments. Unfamiliarity would bread inefficiencies.

"The NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka team comes with experience and understanding of the area, of operations, bases, commercial and military support infrastructures," Castleberry said.

During the exercise, material such as parts, equipment, food stuffs, comfort items and even the mail was delivered to Guam and directly to sites within Australia. A NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka team in Guam sorted material and coordinated transportation via the Navy Air Logistics Office for further movement to Australia.

Castleberry and his team received the material from Guam, as well as prioritized supplies directly into Rockhampton via commercial shipping, sorted and coordinated further transportation to the units at sea.

Castleberry said the Guam LRT tracked 26 high-priority requisitions and expedited 90 line items for shipment by commercial air alone. The LRT also assisted with the quarantine and customs clearance of more than 40 personnel transiting to and from the exercise areas.