MTMC ADJUSTS LOGISTICS OPERATIONS TO HELP FIGHT WAR ON TERRORISM

MTMC ADJUSTS LOGISTICS OPERATIONS TO HELP FIGHT WAR ON TERRORISM    The U.S. Military Traffic Management Command, the surface transportation logistics unit of the armed forces, has made many adjustments to its operations in recent months to help in the war against terrorism.
   Special freight moves have been conducted by MTMC since early December as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
   “Our team is leaning forward and looking to future operations for an even greater role in getting equipment, sustainment cargo and ammunition to the war fighter on the ground,” said Brig. Gen. Barbara Doornick, MTMC deputy commanding general and director of operations. “The support of the nation’s ocean, surface and rail carriers has been superlative.”
   So far, MTMC has managed about 20 freight moves by ocean transport to Southern Asia. “There is a real range in our cargoes. One shipment was over 870 containers, while another shipment was a single container,” said Valerie Foye of MTMC’s Command Operations Center at Fort Eustis, Va.
   For security purposes, MTMC would not identify the specifics about the moves. But in a recent humanitarian move, MTMC moved a container of bottled water by rail to Uzberkistan, which arrived at its destination on Jan. 4.
   “It was a real test,” Foye said. “We wanted to determine the feasibility of rail shipments to the region.”
   MTMC’s Command Operations Center has also acquired additional liner service into the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The added transportation supports the operations at Camp X-Ray, a detention area for terrorists captured in Afghanistan.
   “The service is now available once a week from a stateside port,” said Lori Starke, chief of daily operations East team at MTMC’s Command Operations Center. “Our first shipment consisted of a hospital and some buses used to transport the detainees to Camp X-Ray.”