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USS Iwo Jima

Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force 

U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet

U.S. Marine Corps Forces, South

Bureau of W. Hemisphere Affairs (State Dept.)

Global Health Affairs (Dept. of Health & Human Services)

U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps

America.gov Americas section

USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) departed from Norfolk, Va. on July 12 to begin the four-month Continuing Promise 2010 mission.  A crew of about 1,600 Sailors and Marines will conduct humanitarian and civic assistance operations in eight nations: Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Nicaragua, Panama, and Suriname.  The mission aims to foster goodwill and demonstrate U.S. commitment and support to Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

The Continuing Promise missions will provide medical, dental, veterinary and engineering support for the selected communities. Each visit will last about 10-14 days. 

The ship’s mission has been coordinated with partner nations in the region and planned hand-in-hand with a variety of other governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to creatively address the level and scope of care required that will be needed to support regional medical needs

Continuing Promise is an annual humanitarian civic assistance operation supported by U.S. and international military medical personnel, U.S. government agencies, regional health ministries, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and U.S. academic institutions.  U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet (NAVSO/4th Fleet) is the main planning and coordination command for the mission. 

This is the fifth such humanitarian deployment to the region since 2007.

Health Care Teams:

For this deployment, USS Iwo Jima was configured with special medical equipment and manned with a robust multi-specialized medical team of uniformed and civilian health care providers to provide a range of services.

The medical/dental/veterinary crew includes medical professionals from the U.S. military and U.S. Public Health Service, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other international partners.  

Engineering Team:

A team of Navy Seabees from the Norfolk, Va.-based Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit (CBMU) 202, along with detachments from Jacksonville and Key West, Fla., and Kings Bay, Ga. will support community construction and repair projects.  They will provide local communities with building repairs and improvements, new small construction projects, utility system repairs and other projects depending on the host nation's needs.

U.S. Marine Corps support:

About 500 Marines of the Special- Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force (SPMAGTF) from Cherry Point, N.C. are supporting the deployment.  The Marines’ mission is to provide air, ground and logistics support to humanitarian civic assistance activities.  They will also be ready to provide relief to any natural/man-made disaster that may occur in the region.   Learn more about the Marines at http://www.marines.mil/unit/2ndMAW/spmagtf.

Medical /Dental/Veterinary services provided:

The Continuing Promise medical contingent will partner with local health care providers and community officials to provide free medical care to communities with limited access to medical treatment.

The primary focus of the medical teams is to provide a range of health care services ashore.  On a case-by-case basis, select patients will receive medical or dental care on the ship.

The medical contingent aboard USS Iwo Jima is trained to provide general and specialty surgical care, primary and consultative care for children and adults, obstetrical and gynecological consultative care, ophthalmologic services, optometric services, preventative medicine treatment, dental screenings and treatment, optometry screenings, eyewear distribution, public health training, infrastructure support and veterinary services.

Construction/Engineering services provided

The civic action programs are designed to assist each respective host nation in providing local communities with a wide range of construction capabilities.  Projects include building repairs and improvements, new small construction projects, utility system repairs and construction/ technical assistance, pier repair, drainage projects and trenching.  Projects will depend on host nation requests and USS Iwo Jima’s capabilities.

Training:

The personnel involved in CP10 will receive a wide array of training in how to plan and coordinate a broad spectrum of humanitarian assistance and disaster response missions because of the hands-on work they will be doing in each country. By characterizing the mission as training, it in no way questions the credentials of the medical professionals supporting this mission.  In fact, an important objective of this deployment is to capitalize on high-quality medical capabilities by taking these skills to places where they are needed and teaming up with host-nation medical, dental, veterinary professionals. This opportunity is unique and provides training opportunities and venues that are not easily simulated.

Support from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

About USS Iwo Jima:

USS Iwo Jima is an amphibious assault ship.  These large amphibious ships resemble a small aircraft carrier and are typically the cornerstone of any amphibious group.  For this deployment, USS Iwo Jima is outfitted with 10 helicopters (eight CH-46 E Sea Knights & two MH-60S Knighthawks) and 2 Landing Craft Utility (LCUs) which will play a key role in transporting personnel, patients and equipment to and from shore. 

Ships like Iwo Jima are designed with a variety of expeditionary mission capabilities, including rapid, projected humanitarian assistance worldwide.  They also have the physical capacity to transport large amounts of medical and engineering supplies and equipment to most locations around the globe.

Such ships have been involved in most of the Navy’s recent support disaster relief and humanitarian missions, including Tsunami relief in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina relief operations in the Gulf Coast in 2005 (which included USS Iwo Jima).  Two amphibious ships, USS Boxer and USS Kearsarge, combined for the 2008 Continuing Promise mission.

Background:

This is the fifth humanitarian and civic assistance naval deployment to the region, following Comfort’s 2007 deployment, USS Boxer’s (LHD 4) and USS Kearsarge’s (LHD 3) Continuing Promise 2008 deployment to the region, and USNS Comfort’s 2009 Continuing Promise mission.  The previous operations have provided medical care to about 270,000 patients and left behind dozens of construction and infrastructure improvement projects in 27 communities.