SDDC shifts cargo management for Iraq, Afghanistan to Hawaiian command

SDDC shifts cargo management for Iraq, Afghanistan to Hawaiian command    The U.S. Surface Deployment and Distribution Command announced that its command in Hawaii would temporarily take over cargo logistics management for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
   The Army’s 599th Transportation Group, based at Wheeler Army Air Field in Hawaii, will deploy to Kuwait’s port of Ash Shuaiba for the next six months to “give a break” to the 598th Transportation Group from Rotterdam.
   This will be the 599th Transportation Group’s first wartime deployment since its formation in 1991. The group’s normal mission is management of SDDC ports in Okinawa and Yokohama, Japan, and Pusan, South Korea.
   During Operation Iraqi Freedom II, the SDDC (formerly the Military Traffic Management Command) directed the movement of more than 330 vessels of cargo to and from Southwest Asia. In the next rotation, SDDC will move replacement units into the area starting in September as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom III.