Free Republic

BETHESDA, Md. (NNS) -- National Naval Medical Center staff and the crew of USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) will team up with the Canadian navy in April for a medical training mission along the East Coast. British and Canadian military medical personnel will accompany crew members on the transit from Baltimore to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. "The exercise with the Canadians is an international training opportunity where we will work on our interoperability with foreign nations’ organic medical operations," said Chief Hospital Corpsman (AW) Richard Gotautas, Bethesda Contingency Department’s leading chief petty officer. Comfort’s reduced operating crew, along with Military Sealift...

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (NNS) -- USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) Sailors have teamed up with Salvation Army volunteers to prepare care packages for residents of the Gulf Coast affected by Hurricane Katrina. Crew members sifted through hundreds of bags and boxes filled with donations to ensure each care package was filled with the necessary supplies. “Our first goal is to meet the immediate needs of the people affected by this hurricane, such as providing food and water,” said Salvation Army Warehouse Supervisor Perry Balcom. Balcom and many of the other volunteers are part of an organization known as Hope Force International. They...

Story Number: NNS040305-05 Release Date: 3/5/2004 12:26:00 PM By Journalist 1st Class (SW/AW) AnTuan Guerry, National Naval Medical Center Public Affairs BALTIMORE (NNS) -- Surgeon General of the Navy Vice Adm. Michael Cowan and more than 40 staff members from various congressional offices visited hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) March 1. Congressman Benjamin Cardin of Maryland’s Third Congressional District also paid a surprise visit to the ship and its crew. Comfort’s primary mission is to provide an afloat, mobile, acute-surgical medical facility for the U.S. military to support expeditionary warfare. The visit allowed the staffers to view firsthand the...