United for Peace of Pierce County, WA - We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy.

The U.S. military appears to have decided last November, after large protests tied up military equipment moving through the Port of Olympia for three weeks, to use an “exercise” as a reason to build a temporary pier and elevated causeway on the California beach at Camp Pendleton, CA, in order to move ashore equipment for Stryker brigades. -- Last week the North County Times (Escondido, CA) reported on the “exercise.”[1] -- Bill Wechter’s article says that the equipment is headed for Fort Irwin, CA, near Barstow, and we don’t know what to make of Lt. JG Jim Johncock’s statement recorded on video that the military is “putting [the equipment] on the back of a tractor-trailer, and then hauling it, ready to transport, up north to Washington.” -- The military press also reports the destination of the equipment is Fort Irwin.[2] -- Meanwhile, “[m]ilitary equipment is being unloaded at the Port of Tacoma, and anti-war activists in Olympia and Tacoma are planning their response,” the Olympian reported Wednesday evening.[3] -- “The USNS Brittin arrived at the Tacoma port early Tuesday, according information by Drew Hendricks, a member of Olympia Port Militarization Resistance, posted on OlyBlog,” Christopher Hill said. -- A photo of a Stryker rolling off the USNS Brittin at the Port of Tacoma Wednesday was published on Mike Gilbert’s FOB Tacoma blog on the web site of the News Tribune (Tacoma, WA); Gilbert said that “Local authorities are bracing for a repeat of the March 2007 demonstrations that accompanied the departure of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division's rolling stock for its combat deployment to Iraq. The brigade's Strykers, trucks, and Humvees — more than 900 vehicles in all — arrived at the Port of Tacoma yesterday aboard the USNS Brittin.”[4] -- Gilbert noted that “The Olympia Port Militarization Resistance objects to public ports in Washington being used to ship military cargo to and from the war in Iraq on the grounds that it believes the war to be immoral and illegal.” -- BACKGROUND: The Titanic-dwarfing 950-foot USNS Brittin is the same ship that docked at the Port of Olympia on Nov. 5, 2007. -- According to Global Security, “General Dynamics operates [the USNS Brittin] for Military Sealift Command.” -- General Dynamics is the sixth-largest defense contractor in the world. -- LMSRs, or Large, Medium-Speed Roll-on/Roll-off Ships, are "among the largest cargo ships in the world and can carry up to 380,000 square feet of combat cargo — the equivalent of more than six football fields of wheeled and tracked vehicles — at speeds up to 24 knots. They are equipped with on-board ramps and cranes to assist in loading oversized cargo including helicopters, M1A1 tanks, and Bradley Combat Systems vehicles," according to Global Security....

** Exercise at Camp Pendleton involves 3,000 troops and equipment for two Army brigades **

CAMP PENDLETON -- About 3,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are taking part in an exercise that focuses on moving vehicles and support gear from sea to land in a scenario where port facilities have been damaged or destroyed.

The exercise, which includes building a temporary pier and elevated causeway on a Camp Pendleton beachfront, has real-world implications:

The equipment being moved comes from two Hawaii-based Army brigades scheduled to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming months, said an Army spokesman, Sgt. 1st Class David Gillespie.

"That's one of the unique things about this exercise," Gillespie said. "It has a real practical purpose because we're moving all of that equipment through Camp Pendleton to Fort Irwin."

Located near Barstow, Fort Irwin is a major Army installation. The Army's 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division involved in the training is deploying to Iraq in the fall while the 45th Sustainment Brigade, also taking part in the exercise, is being sent to Bagram Airbase in northern Afghanistan early next year.

Included in the exercise are four ships operated by the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, including the USNS Pililaau, which can carry 380,000 square feet of cargo.

Cargo will be off-loaded from the Pililaau around the clock from three points on the ship, according to Laura Seal, a Navy spokeswoman.

That includes 450 Humvees, 249 semitrailers, trucks, artillery pieces and 555 containers holding supplies.

Troops are moving the material from the barge to a temporary, elevated causeway or pier that Seabees constructed in recent days.

"It allows us to move any type of equipment into an area that does not have a port," Seal said.

The same material can be used whenever the military is called to deliver humanitarian aid to an area hit by a natural disaster.

The other ships taking part in the exercise are the Cape Mohican, Flickertail State and Chesapeake.

Motorists driving along Interstate 5 north of Camp Pendleton also can see a large tent encampment housing many of the troops taking part in the exercise. Checkpoints for convoys moving the heavy rigs from the base to Fort Irwin also have been set up at several locations.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Hundreds of Army trucks, Humvees, and other vehicles have continually rolled through the Pacific surf and onto the beach here over the past week, just as they did more than 60 years ago during the D-Day invasion of Normandy and 50-some years ago during MacArthur's invasion of Inchon, Korea.

The vehicles and their drivers were participating in Joint Logistics Over the Shore, a joint training exercise involving landing and transporting vehicles without a fixed port and about 2,500 servicemembers are participating, including a 50-50 ratio of Soldiers and Sailors, many reserve-component, as well as about 50 Marines.

Their mission is to move about 1,800 pieces of equipment from the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division from Hawaii to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., in preparation for the unit's upcoming deployment to Iraq.

"In the war plans that we've got for the United States military, JLOTS plays an important roll," said Maj. Gen. Raymond V. Mason, commander of the personnel performing the exercise, known as Joint Task Force 8, as well as the 8th Theater Sustainment Command. "It's a strategic roll. The ability to move large amounts of forces behind an enemy to a strategic geographical location, perhaps behind the enemy lines where the enemy doesn't suspect it, because there's no port there and all of a sudden we're able to get in behind the enemy and change the tide of a battle."

He added that the operation can also be used in humanitarian situations, such as when a tsunami or hurricane destroys a port and the military needs to quickly get a lot of relief supplies into a location.

According to the commander, it's the largest JLOTS ever in terms of personnel and equipment -- the exercise has been taking place for about 15 years in different locations, sponsored by different combatant commands.

In the planning stages since November 2007, this year's JLOTS, "Pacific Strike," kicked off June 12 when Navy Seabees began construction of a large base camp, complete with hundreds of tents, post exchange, barber shop, and even a Morale, Welfare, and Recreation facility.

The Seabees went on to construct a 1,200-foot pier in just two weeks. A 24-foot wide elevated causeway stretches out into the ocean like any pier, but is wide enough to act as a two-lane road for trucks and other vehicles, although according to Navy Lt. Atiim Senthill, drivers must stay to the left so they can see the ocean below.

A huge turn-table and crane assists in unloading large containers from small ships called lighterage and loading trucks, which move the containers to the shore.

"It's like building a bridge that you see across a river with the ability to turn that bridge around and download vehicles," explained Lt. Col. Rod Honeycutt, chief of operations for JTF 8.

"It's the only system like this in the world. There's not another ELCAS," said Senthill, the ELCAS officer in charge.

In a real-life situation, he said, the pier would be able to stay up indefinitely if properly maintained, as long as the weather and sea didn't cause any damage.

Nature, officials said, is actually a huge factor. They learned this from experience as the sea damaged a second, roll-on, roll-off pier, called the Trident Pier, and rendered it unusable for the exercise.

Small craft also ferried vehicles from the roll-on, roll-off U.S. Navy Ship Pililaau to the beach. An amphibious vehicle carrying Soldier drivers met the craft and Soldiers drove the Humvees and trucks onto the beach.

"Just hope you don't get stuck," said Spc. Joseph Synor, one of the drivers. "Where the ramp's out now, it's deep. You've got to go fast. If you don't go fast, you get stuck."

A number of the vehicles did get stuck, but other heavy equipment was on hand to tow them out of the water to a chorus of catcalls from the shore.

Synor's next stop was the Receipt, Staging, and Onward facility, where about 300 Soldiers prepared the vehicles and other equipment for convoys to Fort Irwin by both commercial and military trucks. Many of the drivers, according to 1st Lt. David Goforth, will have made three or four convoys by the time all the equipment is due at Fort Irwin Aug. 3.

It involves "lots of coordination, organization, making sure the Soldiers are in the right place and that they know their job," said Goforth. "Lots of training and practice to make sure everything's done right and nobody gets hurt."

The exercise has given him an opportunity to learn new jobs and he said he's been especially impressed by his first exposure to the Navy.

"I think it's absolutely amazing and I think it's really good for the military in general to do operations such as this, to work with other branches of service," said Goforth. "We're all in the military, but we don't usually work together too often. The Navy has been great . . . Anytime I needed assistance with anything, they've been a big help."

"I think the Soldiers and Sailors who are involved in this, number one, want to recognize the capabilities that are out there. That's important, just being knowledgeable about that, particularly at the leadership level. Down at the Soldier and Sailor level, it's that the Army and Navy can get together and work as a team and put in a great capability like JLOTS and bring combat power to bear, or if it's humanitarian operations," he said.

"The United States military has great young men and women in it that can make something like this, with as many moving pieces that are out there, and all that complicated piece, and make it happen. It's just a great team effort," the commander continued, adding that "It really gives a workout to the Army and Navy folks out here to get all the equipment off the ships and across the shore . . . what we're doing right now is as real as it gets."

Military equipment is being unloaded at the Port of Tacoma, and anti-war activists in Olympia and Tacoma are planning their response.

The USNS Brittin arrived at the Tacoma port early Tuesday, according information by Drew Hendricks, a member of Olympia Port Militarization Resistance, posted on OlyBlog, a local community blog.

A spokeswoman at Fort Lewis confirmed military equipment is being offloaded at that port.

Military shipments at the Port of Olympia in May 2006 and November resulted in protests that lasted for days, and dozens were arrested. Charges are pending against some of the protesters arrested in November. In both cases, the equipment being loaded and then unloaded belonged to 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), which served 15 months in Iraq.

There had been some speculation in the local peace community that more military equipment might be unloaded at the port again.

Equipment belonging to 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) was loaded at the Port of Tacoma in March 2007, leading to another round of protests. The brigade returned home after serving 14 months in Iraq. Its formal welcome-home ceremony was July 1.

Christian Hill covers the Port of Olympia and Lacey for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5427 or at chill@theolympian.com.

[PHOTO CAPTION: A Stryker armored vehicle rolls down the ramp of the USNS Brittin at the Port of Tacoma on Wednesday. It's one of an estimated 900 Strykers, Humvees, trucks, and other vehicles back from the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division's nearly 15-month deployment in Iraq.]

Local authorities are bracing for a repeat of the March 2007 demonstrations that accompanied the departure of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division's rolling stock for its combat deployment to Iraq. The brigade's Strykers, trucks, and Humvees -- more than 900 vehicles in all -- arrived at the Port of Tacoma yesterday aboard the USNS Brittin.

Fort Lewis officials said soldiers will be moving them back to the post during non-peak traffic hours. Otherwise, they're not saying much about it.

Tacoma police and 10 other public safety agencies said they spent a total of $1 million on staffing and overtime during the 12-day loadout last time.

The Port of Tacoma billed the Army about $324,000 in wharfage fees and another $204,000 in longshore worker labor for the March 2007 loadout, according to port billing records.

Olympia and Tacoma-based anti-war activists say they are preparing to demonstrate at the return of the vehicles, just as they did at the brigade's departure.

The Olympia Port Militarization Resistance objects to public ports in Washington being used to ship military cargo to and from the war in Iraq on the grounds that it believes the war to be immoral and illegal.

The group has organized protests at all of the recent military shipments into and out of the ports of Tacoma, Olympia, and Grays Harbor.

"If there are any demonstrations we are hopeful that the demonstrators will conduct themselves lawfully," said Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek, ". . . and that we can complete the mission in a safe and secure manner."