Navy Reservists from the Military Sealift Command Pacific Headquarters Unit have completed the recent Pacific Sentry 19-3 exercise in San Diego.
Eleven members of the unit participated in two weeks of simulated, contingency scenarios during the “Table Top” exercise. The exercise focused on a simulated war scenario, with MSC coordinating combat logistics services to Navy forces.
According to Capt. Nikki Phelps, MSCPAC HQ’s commanding officer, exercises like this provide an ideal training environment for members of the unit to learn, ask questions and interact with civilian team members within MSC who they would work with in a real operation.
“We ran a real-world scenario during this exercise, which gives our Sailors the opportunity to learn and grow, and how to support a real world scenario,” explained Phelps. “We have a lot of Sailors (in the unit) who are new to MSC, so this exercise gave them the opportunity to see what it’s like to be in an operation support position with MSC and Commander Third Fleet.”
For Hospital Corpsman Chief Petty Officer, Mario Diaz, one of the unit’s newest members, the experience of participating in the Pacific Sentry exercise was an indoctrination into the mission and working structure of MSC.
“Coming here and picking up things quickly and working and supporting each other really gives a sense of supporting a mission in the future,” he said. “It really gave me the chance to see and understand the big MSC mission and how we would support the fleet in a combat scenario. If we were to ever get activated, we will be comfortable and ready to support a mission.”
Following completion of the exercise, Capt. Gabe Varela, Military Sealift Command Pacific’s commanding officer, took a few moments to publically recognize the MSCPAC HQ Unit’s hard work and dedication to the team.
“It’s been great to have you all here, participating in this exercise. Your commitment and dedication to your roles as Navy Reservists and your participation in this exercise allowed the MSCPAC operations team to focus on their mission of daily support to the Navy.”
Pacific Sentry 19-3 is one exercise in a series of training exercise that focus on joint training integration among U.S. forces. It was designed to exercise U.S. Pacific Command headquarters staff and command components in a real world, operational level of war scenario.