Marines and sailors are used to training with foreign allies, but this week they're training with partners closer to home.
About 500 Marines and sailors are spending a week in San Francisco for Fleet Week, restoring the event that was canceled last year due to budget cuts. The troops are working with the city's emergency responders through Monday, showing how the sea services can assist them with domestic emergencies. It's the only fleet week in the country that emphasizes emergency and disaster response preparation.
The Marines and sailors participating are assigned to: the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit; the amphibious assault ship America; cruiser Chosin; and destroyer Kidd.
On display are assets the Marine Corps and Navy can use to assist local fire departments and police forces in the event of an emergency. The services can use MV-22B Ospreys to move large amounts of relief supplies or ships to make potable water. They can also send in an airborne search and rescue team, and care for injured people either in the field or afloat with their cadre of medical personnel.
All this can be done from a ship that doesn't rely on the city's power, plumbing, transportation system, or other infrastructure that might be destroyed by a disaster, said Maj. Gen. Vincent Coglianese, commanding general of 1st Marine Logistics Group and the senior Marine for Fleet Week.
"The military, if tasked by the Secretary of Defense, can provide support," Coglianese told Marine Corps Times. "We're not the lead role, but we bring certain capabilities."
Throughout the drills, state and local politicians are meeting with civic leaders to identify gaps between what the military and local services can provide, Coglianese said.
"Most importantly you're building relationships, and building those relationships is cash in the bank," he said.
The lessons learned in San Francisco throughout the week can be applied in other cities, too, should a crisis emerge elsewhere, Coglianese said.
The Marines and sailors are focusing their exercises on reacting to a major earthquake that knocks out infrastructure, the type of event most likely to occur in California. Fleet Week falls just a week shy of the 25th anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake, one of the biggest disasters in the region.
This year's event will also include performances from the Blue Angels and the commissioning of the amphibious ship America on Saturday. The ship recently completed a transit from Mississippi, around South America, and to San Diego, its new homeport. It recently arrived in San Francisco, a former Navy-town, for the commissioning ceremony.
