Carrier under
isle command
joins relief

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, destroyers, cruisers, cargo airplanes and helicopters under the authority of the Hawaii-based Pacific Command are heading to Southeast Asia to aid earthquake and tsunami victims.

The relief effort is considered the largest in history, and Pacific Command personnel expect to be busy. Its relief operations will be conducted out of Thailand under Marine Lt. Gen. Robert Blackman, who normally heads the Marine's 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa.

Almost all of the military aid at this point have involved troops, vessels and aircraft from Japan and the West Coast. So far, no units or military personnel from Hawaii have been requested.

Helicopters under the Pacific Command will be key assets in the search and rescue operations because all the roads have been wiped out in many areas, a Camp Smith official said.

So far, military aid has included six Air Force C-130 cargo aircraft from Yokota Air Base in Japan loaded with relief supplies and sent to Utapao, a Thai air base where the Air Force ran much of its operations during the Vietnam War. Three additional C-130 transports are on call, the Pacific Command said.

The Pacific Command's area of responsibility includes the Indian Ocean.

Joint Task Force 536, which will be supported by Blackman's 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, will be the "regional support center for emergency and medical personnel providing assistance throughout the region."

"It will also be a staging area for U.S. military and rescue aircraft, forensic experts, and other relief assistance," according to a Pentagon release.

Col. Mark Tapper, commander of Pacific Air Forces' 502nd Operations Group, will direct the air operations for Joint Task Force 536.

The relief effort involves one aircraft carrier strike group, which includes the carrier Lincoln and destroyers USS Shoup and USS Benfold, cruiser USS Shiloh, and supply ship USS Rainer.

The USS Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group, which includes the amphibious landing ship USS Duluth, amphibious transport ship USS Rushmore, frigate USS Thach, nuclear attack submarine USS Pasadena, and Coast Guard cutter Munro, was diverted from Guam.

The Bonhomme Richard strike group includes Marines and helicopters from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which made a three-day visit at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 13 -- the first stop of a scheduled six-month deployment to the Western Pacific.

But no decisions had been made on their role in relief efforts or on how many Marines aboard the ships might be used on the ground.