This blog post is by Captain Lisa Franchetti, commodore of DESRON 21 and mission commander of Pacific Partnership 2010.
Crewmembers of JDS Kunisaki display the abbreviation of Pacific Partnership 2010 as the vessel and crew transit to Vietnam, which is PP10's first host nation visit.
Greetings from USNS Mercy (T-AH 19). As I write, we just transited the San Bernardino Strait en route to our first Pacific Partnership 2010 mission port: Quy Nhon, Vietnam. After many meetings, briefings and months of planning, we are thrilled to be just days away from kicking off this year’s mission.
PP10, as it is affectionately known, is the fifth in a series of U.S. Pacific Fleet-sponsored humanitarian and civic action missions to the Western Pacific. These deployments provide us the opportunity to work together with our host nations, partner nations and both other governmental and non-governmental organizations to provide humanitarian assistance to the area while building relationships that will enable us to respond effectively in the time of natural disaster or other humanitarian crisis. Each visit is conducted at the invitation of our host nation partners and is designed to support the host nation’s efforts and goals for its citizens.
Mercy and the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force ship JDS Kunisaki will anchor in Quy Nhon on May 31 and commence a 13-day visit that will include surgeries on board Mercy, medical/dental primary health care outreach, subject matter expert exchanges and several construction projects.
Unlike a purely military mission, PP10 truly is a partnership. In addition to military medical and engineering professionals from all four U.S. services, for Vietnam we have folks from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Singapore and United Kingdom on board USNS Mercy.
Medical personnel and engineers from Vietnam will work alongside their counterparts throughout the visit. Likewise, non-governmental organizations play a critical role in PP10. Participants include volunteers from East Meets West Foundation, Latter-day Saint Charities, Peace Winds America, Project Hope, UCSD Pre-Dental Society, Vets Without Borders and World Vets.
This marks Pacific Partnership’s third visit to Vietnam. Coincidentally, 2010 marks the 15th Anniversary of Relations, or the restoration of relations between the U.S. and Vietnamese governments, and affords us a tremendous opportunity to reflect on the changes that have taken place in the relationship between our countries over the past 15 years.
A Sailor a part of Pacific Partnership 2010 works with a Vietnamese volunteer to remove debris from an engineering site in Vietnam.
I’m incredibly honored and excited to be part PP10. USNS Mercy’s enthusiasm meter has been on a steady rise since we left San Diego May 1, and I am awed by the assembled talent that is ready to join our advanced Seabee detachment that has been hard at work alongside their Vietnamese counterparts since May 12.
We hope you’ll follow us around the Pacific this summer, and connect with us on our Pacific Partnership Facebook page!
