PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- 599th Transportation Brigade and partners offloaded cargo and equipment from the M/V Jean Anne here on Oct.10 in support of 25th Combat Aviation Brigade's return from training at National Training Center.

The Jean Anne sailed to Honolulu from San Diego, California, where it had picked up the shipment from the 834th Transportation Battalion, headquartered in Concord, California. The CAB had earlier flown the unit's helicopters down from NTC at Fort Irwin, California, and moved the other cargo and equipment to San Diego via truck, said 599th marine cargo specialist Davey Flores.

599th transporters had last seen this CAB cargo and equipment when they loaded it onto the Jean Anne and shipped it out from here on Aug. 16 for the brigade's NTC rotation.

"Before we began operations, we had a meeting to do a laydown of everything that will happen before we board the ship," said Sgt. Vincent Washington, 599th terminals management NCO.

"We always meet first to discuss the concept of operations, and which deck will we be working on," said Flores. "We also discuss safety and personal protective equipment, along with our hours of operation."

599th personnel also ensure all positions and areas are covered during vessel discharge.

"We make sure all of the Soldiers are in place such as ground guides, drivers, and the people who will untie the equipment," said Washington.

"First of all we make sure that all of the cargo and equipment on board has been unlashed," said Flores. "Fleet Logistics Center Pearl Harbor and the 25th CAB took care of the unlashing."

"We supervise the operation to make sure everything goes smoothly," Washington said.

"We started off on the second deck, where Humvees and trailers, tricons and twenty-foot containers were stored," Washington added. "After we finished the second deck, we worked our way down to the first deck and helped push the last four helicopters."

"We didn't have a deployment and distribution management team to work this move, so we hand counted the equipment instead of scanning shipping numbers," said Flores. "Once all of the equipment had been discharged, we went back through the ship for one last count."

Partners for this move included the 25th Infantry Division, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, Pasha, and Fleet Logistics Center Pearl Harbor.

"Important missions like these help us foster relationships with the division, U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, and units from other service components," said Col. Michael Knapp, 599th commander. "The importance is tangible, making it easy to codify the strong relationships with meaning required to support contingencies."

The first piece of cargo was offloaded at 7:49 a.m., and the last piece was offloaded at 3:56 p.m. on Oct. 10. After delivering cargo to Hilo and making a pick up there, the Jean Anne returned to San Diego, California.