Samoans Making the Most of Pacific Partnership

A recent Samoa Newsline article provides some examples of the impact of the Pacific Partnership mission on individuals there.

Hundreds of people have been receiving free, basic medical services each day this week as part of the mission that has also included a number of engineering, dental and veterinary civic action programs.

Samoa is the first stop on the four-month Pacific Partnership mission, operating from USNS Richard E. Byrd. The ship arrived July 1.

Mirroring U.S. Pacific Command’s emphasis on collaboration across multiple agencies and organizations, as well as multilateral cooperation, the team for Pacific Partnership 2009 includes military and government personnel from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States, as well as civilian volunteers from organizations such as Project Hope, the Loloma Foundation, International Aid and the Shriners.

The Pacific Partnership website includes news and photos, and links to the mission’s several social media sites and blog.

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Pacific Partnership Mission Reaches First Stop in Samoa

Pacific Partnership, an annual humanitarian assistance-focused training mission sponsored by U.S. Pacific Fleet is underway in Samoa, the first of five Oceania locations the mission will visit over the next several months.

USNS Richard E. Byrd, the mission’s enabling ship, arrived off the coast of Samoa July 1. A ceremony to mark the opening of the mission there is scheduled for July 3.

Since arriving, the focus has been logistics as materials have been moved ashore to the locations where engineering and medical civic action projects will take place. One such location is Sasina Village on Savail’l Island, where a group of U.S. Navy civil engineers began work on a project to renovate a community hall there as medical professionals prepared to provide services in partnership with a local clinic. A ‘host nation’ section on the Pacific Partnership website provides a brief overview of the locations and nature of the various projects that will take place in Samoa and other mission locations, including the Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Tonga.

Pacific Partnership, in its fourth year, works by, with and through partner nations, non-governmental organizations and other U.S. government and international agencies to conduct a variety of humanitarian civic assistance missions.

In line with the U.S. Pacific Command strategy, Pacific Partnership is designed to strengthen regional partnerships and improve multi-national readiness.

Keep up with the mission on the Pacific Partnership website, which includes news, photos, and links to a variety of social media sites and networks dedicated to the mission.

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