Hospital ship USNS Mercy deploys, represents humanity at its best

Deployments of the United States Naval Hospital Ship USNS Comfort have become one of my favorite topics to cover here. In reverse chronological order over the last year:

• Haitian Mother and Child Reunited Aboard USS Nassau;
• Christopher Albon on “Designing The Next Hospital Ship and Lessons From Haiti”;
• USNS Comfort getting underway to Haiti.

I even cited the Comfort in my closing remarks from Graduation at William and Mary’s Coast Guard Auxiliary Detachment when I was assigned there back in 2009. Indeed, she is a great ship, and such a fine representation of humanity at its best.

So I was therefore excited when I read, once again on Christopher Albon’s great blog, last week that the Comfort’s sister, USNS Mercy, was to deploy on Pacific Partnership on 1 May. The excerpt below is from an article in the Navy Compass.

“The Naval hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) will deploy from San Diego May 1, kicking off Pacific Partnership 2010.

“The fifth in a series of annual U.S. Pacific Fleet humanitarian and civic assistance endeavors, Pacific Partnership 2010 is aimed at strengthening regional relationships with host nations and partner nations…

“The deployment, which is scheduled to take place through late September, is designed to enhance relationships through medical, dental and engineering outreach projects that reinforce the mutually supporting roles between participants.”

I am excited to be following the Mercy through this mission, which is scheduled to last into September. I will discuss here as appropriate, but I encourage you to follow directly as well on the official Pacific Partnership page, and also on Twitter.

Originally posted on www.andrewdwelch.com at http://www.andrewdwelch.com/2010/05/hospital-ship-usns-mercy-deploys.html.