thedrifter
10-13-08, 06:42 AM
CAMP PENDLETON’S RED BEACH SERVES AS THE ONLY SHIP-TO-SHORE VERTREP OPERATIONS FACILITY IN THE U.S.
By PVT. Daniel Boothe
Vertical replenishment, resupplying via helicopter without docking, removed more than 2.4 million pounds of munitions last week from the USS Tarawa, Amphibious Squadron 1, San Diego, after its return from Southeast Asia with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Camp Pendleton’s Red Beach is the only place in the U.S. that the helicopter resupply and unreplenishment operations are conducted, said Gregory P. Town, ordnance quality assurance specialist, NWSF.
This week-long operation is conducted four to five times a year, moving an estimated 5,200 pallets of ordnance to Naval Weapon Station Fallbrook.
‘‘We move everything from Stinger missiles to 1,000 pound bombs,” said Chief Petty Officer Jeffery A. Cogswell, aviation ordnance technician, NWSF. ‘‘All of this takes about 800 helicopter lifts with 4 minute turn around times filling 75 truck loads.”
The technique started being utilized in 1991 and has shown to be extremely beneficial over the years, said Town.
‘‘We are improving methods as time goes on and VERTREP is just another great example of how we are accomplishing the mission,” said Robert K. Chong, ordnance production supply specialist, NWSF.
Prior to 1991, these month-long unloading operations took place in Long Beach Harbor, 85 miles north of Pendleton, where barges hauled ammunition to a docking platform before it was loaded onto a ship.
VERTREP accomplishes the same task in 72 hours with the help of five MH-60S helicopters.
These munitions movements are one of the reasons NWSF is still around, said Town. Some ships are too large for the piers in San Diego and larger piers in San Francisco are too far away.
More than 30 military and civilian personnel from Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, Fallbrook Detachment and Navy Munitions Command, CONUS, West Division, Detachment Seal Beach and Fallbrook Annex are responsible for the success of every VERTREP operation.
The boxed munitions were transported by forklift to the flight deck of the USS Tarawa off the shore of Camp Pendleton and wrapped in cargo nets and harnesses. Large eyelet-shaped fastners, connected to the munitions, were then attached to hovering helicopters. The cargo was then flown 4 miles to shore where Marines from Landing Support Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 17, 1st Marine Logistics Group, quickly detached the munitions on Landing Zone Red Beach.
As the helicopters returned to ship, empty semi-trucks arrived to load up the boxes so the process could begin again.
This was the last VERTREP scheduled for the USS Tarawa due to its planned decommissioning in March 2009.
Ellie
By PVT. Daniel Boothe
Vertical replenishment, resupplying via helicopter without docking, removed more than 2.4 million pounds of munitions last week from the USS Tarawa, Amphibious Squadron 1, San Diego, after its return from Southeast Asia with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Camp Pendleton’s Red Beach is the only place in the U.S. that the helicopter resupply and unreplenishment operations are conducted, said Gregory P. Town, ordnance quality assurance specialist, NWSF.
This week-long operation is conducted four to five times a year, moving an estimated 5,200 pallets of ordnance to Naval Weapon Station Fallbrook.
‘‘We move everything from Stinger missiles to 1,000 pound bombs,” said Chief Petty Officer Jeffery A. Cogswell, aviation ordnance technician, NWSF. ‘‘All of this takes about 800 helicopter lifts with 4 minute turn around times filling 75 truck loads.”
The technique started being utilized in 1991 and has shown to be extremely beneficial over the years, said Town.
‘‘We are improving methods as time goes on and VERTREP is just another great example of how we are accomplishing the mission,” said Robert K. Chong, ordnance production supply specialist, NWSF.
Prior to 1991, these month-long unloading operations took place in Long Beach Harbor, 85 miles north of Pendleton, where barges hauled ammunition to a docking platform before it was loaded onto a ship.
VERTREP accomplishes the same task in 72 hours with the help of five MH-60S helicopters.
These munitions movements are one of the reasons NWSF is still around, said Town. Some ships are too large for the piers in San Diego and larger piers in San Francisco are too far away.
More than 30 military and civilian personnel from Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, Fallbrook Detachment and Navy Munitions Command, CONUS, West Division, Detachment Seal Beach and Fallbrook Annex are responsible for the success of every VERTREP operation.
The boxed munitions were transported by forklift to the flight deck of the USS Tarawa off the shore of Camp Pendleton and wrapped in cargo nets and harnesses. Large eyelet-shaped fastners, connected to the munitions, were then attached to hovering helicopters. The cargo was then flown 4 miles to shore where Marines from Landing Support Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 17, 1st Marine Logistics Group, quickly detached the munitions on Landing Zone Red Beach.
As the helicopters returned to ship, empty semi-trucks arrived to load up the boxes so the process could begin again.
This was the last VERTREP scheduled for the USS Tarawa due to its planned decommissioning in March 2009.
Ellie