“Nothing is going to happen in this exercise without the people in this room,” said U.S. Navy Capt. Crockett Pavlik, logistics director for the combined coalition task force (CCTF C4) to kick off the workshop.
Multiple agencies presented at the workshop, including logistics representatives from Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Fleet Logistics Center (FLC) Pearl Harbor, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Distribution Pearl Harbor, Hickam Airfield, and the Combined Force Maritime Component Commander (CFMCC).
Topics ranged from the replenishment-at-sea (RAS) plan for the exercise, to how to prepare documents for service agreements between navies in an emergent logistical need, to how to properly bag refuse in accordance with Hawaiian government regulations.
Many presenters shared one common bullet point: coordinate first with the RIMPAC multinational logistics support element (MLSE).
“We are here to support real world logistics above and beyond existing support structures, including a ship’s husbanding agency,” said Royal New Zealand Navy Lt. Cmdr. Fletcher Dunning, officer-in-charge of the MLSE, a rotating team of supporting sailors from the different partner nations. “Making sure everyone was aware of what we can do and how we can help was very important for this meeting. We are sending out representatives to coordinate regularly with the 43 different ships participating in the exercise.”
"It is a real team effort,” said Indonesian navy Ensign Salma Zakaria, supply officer for the Martadinata-class guided-missile frigate KRI Raden Eddy Martadinata (331). “This is my second RIMPAC, and just like last time, all the nations and participants have been great to work with.”
The meeting was organized by U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Nick Deschamps, commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet (C3F) RIMPAC logistics working group lead.
“After 18 months of planning, it was great to meet everyone face-to-face,” said Deschamps. “Getting logistics-minded individuals into a room that spans across the RIMPAC enterprise, including service providers, operational units, and RIMPAC component staffs make it much easier to be able to connect people when time comes to problem solve – which is what logistics is all about.”
Twenty-nine nations, 40 surface ships, three submarines, 14 national land forces, more than 150 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC in and around the Hawaiian Islands, June 27 to Aug. 1. The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2024 is the 29th exercise in the series that began in 1971.