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thedrifter
02-02-07, 08:01 AM
Hospital ship earns praise from Pacific commander

By: JOE BECK - Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO -- The USNS Mercy more than lived up to its name on a recent pioneering mission to dispense medical relief throughout Southeast Asia, the Pacific Fleet's commander said during an onboard visit Thursday.

"To be able to see, as I did in the Philippines, the changes in people's lives was absolutely astounding," Adm. Gary Roughead told members of the ship's crew at a ceremony honoring Capt. Bradley Martin and Capt. Joseph Moore. Martin is the skipper and Moore led the medical treatment center on the 69,000-ton, 1,000-bed hospital ship during its five-month mission in 2006.

From April to September, the Mercy visited ports in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia and East Timor, its staff treating 61,000 people with illnesses or injuries, inoculating 20,000 patients, performing 1,000 surgeries and launching hundreds of engineering projects, Roughead said.

He cited several factors that made last summer's mission unique and important for future missions.

Unlike previous humanitarian efforts mounted by the Navy in response to earthquakes, mudslides, tsunamis, famines and other headline-grabbing disasters, the Mercy was dispatched last summer for no reason other than "it was the right thing to do," Roughead said.

For the first time, the Navy worked closely with medical professionals from the Army and Air Force and from foreign countries in delivering help to suffering people, Roughead said. He also cited the heavy involvement of nongovernmental relief organizations, including UC San Diego's free dental society, as another first for the Navy on the Mercy mission.

The result, Roughead said, was a tremendous amount of goodwill earned by the crew members for their ship and the United States among people in the host countries.

"The Mercy took on a name of its own. They call it the Mercy ship. It left a significant impression," Roughead said.

The success of the mission has led the Navy to prepare another humanitarian mission this summer, this one using the USS Peleliu, another San Diego-based ship. The Peleliu's mission will focus on delivering preventive medicine and carrying construction battalions to work on public works projects, Roughead said.

The Mercy's role in providing relief to tsunami victims in Indonesia in 2005 was the catalyst for the changes the Navy adopted for the ship's 2006 mission, Roughead said in a press conference held after his speech.

"We have learned a lot about how to respond to a disaster of that magnitude," he said.

Indonesia has the largest population of Muslims of any country in a part of the world where the United States has sought to limit the influence of Islamic extremists. Asked whether a desire to court public opinion among Muslims figured in the decision to send the Mercy to Southeast Asia, Roughead said the destinations were determined by how many people could be served along the route.

Roughead has just returned from a visit with leaders in Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia that he said focused on keeping sea lanes free from piracy and other hindrances to legitimate shipping in that part of the world. He said statistics from international organizations show that piracy in Southeast Asia has declined in the last several years.

He cited the need to prevent hostile submarines from interfering with shipping as his top priority.

"I spend a lot of time focused on anti-submarine warfare," he said.

Contact staff writer Joe Beck at (760) 740-3516 or jbeck@nctimes.com.

Ellie