FReeper Canteen ~ Road Trip: Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island, Florida ~ 16 FEB 2021

Serving The Best Troops And Veterans In The World!! | The Canteen Crew

[laurenmarlowe]

 

 

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~

Road Trip: Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island, Florida

Blount Island Command (BICmd) is responsible for the United States Marine Corps' Maritime Prepositioning Ships (MPS) Maintenance Cycle operations and oversight of the Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway (MCPP-N). It is located on the east side of Blount Island.

The concept of a Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF) was first envisioned during the late 1970s. The initial program, established in 1979, was called the Near Term Prepositioning Force (NTPF). NTPF used existing operational force equipment and supplies to load on available ships belonging to the Military Sealift Command (MSC).

These ships were based in Diego Garcia and initial equipment and ship maintenance was done in Naha, Okinawa and Subic Bay Naval Base. The Marine Corps immediately recognized the advantages of prepositioning equipment and seized the opportunity to improve combat readiness.

The base falls under the command of the Marine Corps Logistics Command located at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Georgia. The portion of the Blount Island currently occupied by Blount Island Command began transitioning to become a Marine Corps Logistics Base in 2005.

As of 2010, $55 million had been spent on projects to expand capabilities and improve security, including better fencing and gate access. Blount Island offered a variety of advantages not available at any other site, including:

A private slipway with 5 large vessel berths located only 7 nautical miles from the St. Johns River outlet

Proximity to Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Georgia

Access to a large industrial base and Navy support structure in Jacksonville, Florida.

Over 33 acres of staging immediately adjacent to the 1,000-foot pier and maintenance area.

Each Maritime Prepositioning Ship (MPS) can supply a Marine Expeditionary Unit (2,200 members) for 30 days. Ships are loaded with thousands of different items required for logistical support. The vessel then departs Blount Island and journeys to an assigned ocean location, where they await a destination. If the ship is utilized in a mission, it will return to Blount Island to be resupplied and the cycle begins again.

Every 36 months, all cargo is offloaded and the ship goes into dry dock. Every piece of equipment is inspected, cleaned and tested. Vehicles are repaired and painted. If upgrades are available, they are applied or items are swapped out. The work is performed by 250 military/government employees assisted by 1,000 civilian contractors.

Learn More About Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island HERE!!

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT~Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allies military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before. 

Please remember: The Canteen is a place to honor and entertain our troops. The Canteen is family friendly. Let's have fun!

We pray for your continued strength, to be strong in the face of adversity.

We pray for your safety, that you will return to your families and friends soon.

We pray that your hope, courage, and dignity remain unbroken, so that you may show others the way.

God Bless You All ~ Today, Tomorrow and Always

 

 

[luvie]

I’m guessing they did since he probably had to take an ambulance since he has no car. Hubby goes and gets him for church. We haven’t heard anything else since that call that I know of.

[E.G.C.]

A very pleasant good Tuesday morning and ((HUGS)) to everyone at the Canteen and to all our military at home and abroad. Thanks for your service to our country and thanks Lauren for this morning's thread.

How's everyone doing this morning?

[luvie]

Well, she prissed in, got under a table, Ginger saw her and we had to warn her off. Now hubby is waiting till he can pick her up and bring her to that bathroom. What a mess. LOL!

[radu]

I’m glad he was able to get help. He sure didn’t need to be left at the house with such a serious issue going on. It would have just gotten worse.
I hope y’all hear from him tomorrow so you’ll know how he’s doing.

[radu]

Howdy, E.G.C. ((HUGZ))

Glad to see you haven’t lost power like so many people have.
I imagine you have to force poor Gizmo out the door to take care of his business. Who wants to potty in the cold? LOL

[radu]

I figured she’d want in before much longer. LOL
Poor little girlie having to deal with Ginger in her face. I hope she’s in the bathroom now so she can relax.

[luvie]

Yes, there alone with no power and not enough bed covers. We gave him some, but I’m sure it wasn’t enough. He has lots of health issues, too, and I hope he’ll be all right. He has kids living in central Texas, but they want nothing to do with him. Sadly.

[E.G.C.]

Yep, this looks to be the worst of the cold this morning. Right now it's -6. Gizmo did go outside to do his business. He actually seemed more eager then I was to go out.

I did do some snow shoveling work yesterday. Gizmo of course wanted to be in the picture.

This is how the driveway looks after all of the work:

We'll see how today goes. There is more snow in the forecast.

[radu]

A rough position for him to be in. At least he has friends he can call on for help but this time the weather just wasn’t going to allow your hubby to be there for him.

[luvie]

Brrrrr...looks very cold. Stay warm and stay safe. Hope you don’t lose power like 4M+ have in Texas!

[radu]

Silly pooch must have a little Huskey or St. Bernard in his genetic makeup. LOL

Whew, my bum back screams at seeing how much shoveling you did. How much Icy Hot or Aspercreme have you used since then? :-)

Yes, one more round of snow coming through. It isn’t going to snow in our area, thank goodness but northern TN will get a dose. We’ll be warm enough to just get rain.

[luvie]

It is rough. One of our friends works in the heart monitor room at the hospital and said he’s on a monitor right now. So...stroke or heart attack? We’re not sure.

Li’l Bit is in. The bad news is that she strutted in while I had my hands full with her fresh water. Now we can’t find her. LOL! I think we sort of know where she is in the living room and I hope hubby finds her before Ginger does. That will be a rude awakening...and I’m going to bed very soon. I’m really sleepy tonight for some reason. I think watching Steve’s stream of bad news here in Texas has worn me out. LOL!

See ya mañana!

[radu]

Ah, so you managed to get a little update on him. At least you have some idea of what’s going on and know he’s ok for the time being. It’s a really good thing an ambulance was able to get to him.

You still haven’t gotten Li’l Bit into the bathroom? Uh oh. Could be exciting before long.

That was a long stream, no doubt. At least they’re slowly getting power back on but there’s a long way to go. They’ve gotten it under 4 million at this point.

There are outages in the counties bordering us on the north and west. Almost 100 out in our county and I assume that’s on the mountain at Sewanee. The mountains “look like Russia” with 2 inches of ice hanging off trees and powerlines according to the Republican women’s president. She lives up there behind the military museum and said it’s a mess.

We are so grateful for our good luck.

Sleep well. Let’s hope for good news out of TX in the morning.

[luvie]

Yep...it's still frozen tundra here.
So far, we have our electricity.
Prayers for those who don't.
Won't start warming up till Friday.
I know the whole country is a mess.
Anyhoooo....on that cheerful note
Y'all have a Terrific Tuesday!
...and stay warm!
((((hugs))))