AMO Currents - Kuwait-based sealift office changes command, staff

AMO Currents - Posted: August 15, 2008

Kuwait-based sealift office changes command, staff

The Kuwait-based U.S. Navy command responsible for managing nearly 90 percent of all U.S. military cargo being shipped to and from the Middle East held a change of command ceremony at the Port of Ash Shuaybah, Kuwait, Aug. 10, Military Sealift Command reported.

Navy Reserve Capt. John Cochrane and his 10-person unit were relieved by Navy Reserve Capt. David Lehman and members of Military Sealift Command Expeditionary Port Unit 101, based in Quincy, Mass., MSC reported.

MSC Office Kuwait, or MSCO Kuwait, plays a strategic role in ongoing U.S. and coalition operations in the Persian Gulf, orchestrating the loading and offloading of U.S. military equipment and supplies aboard Navy and Navy-contracted ships at the Port of Ash Shuaybah. This equipment includes Humvees, tanks, trucks and helicopters, and is primarily destined for U.S. forces stationed in Iraq, MSC reported.

During their time in the Gulf, Cochrane and his team coordinated more than 100 missions that deployed nearly 4 million square feet of cargo to U.S. and coalition forces in the region and redeployed another 3.5 million square feet of cargo to the U.S. The reservists also assisted the Kuwait Port Authority and Kuwait Coast Guard in rescuing four Kuwaitis whose boat sank 16 miles from Ash Shuaybah, and developed more than 110 standard operating procedures for the MSCO Kuwait operations centers, equipment, watches and base requirements, MSC reported.

“I am proud of what my team did here in Kuwait and Bahrain,” Cochrane said. “They stood the MSC watch and stood it well. MSC should be proud of the sailors that represented them here in MSCO Kuwait.”

Incoming commander Lehman said he and his staff are ready to pick up where their predecessors left off, MSC reported.

“I look forward to leading my team as we continue to enhance our relationships with the host nation’s port agencies, as well as with our military counterparts at the port,” Lehman said. “The deployment and redeployment of cargo through Kuwaiti ports is vital in meeting the logistics needs of our troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.”