USNS Mercy Participates in Disaster Relief Drill

060121-N-1722M-003 San Diego (Jan. 21, 2006) – Commanding Officer, Medical Treatment Facility, aboard Military Sealift Command (MSC) hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), Capt. David Llewellyn, speaks with the San Diego media about an upcoming exercise. Mercy is currently underway conducting routine operations. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Michael Moriatis

Hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) embarked 120 Navy medical personnel and 80 Military Sealift Command civil service mariners for a four-day disaster relief exercise Jan. 21. This is the first time Mercy has deployed since supporting tsunami relief operations as part of Operation Unified Assistance (OUA) in January 2005. “This time last year, we were en route to Banda Aceh,” Capt. David M. Llewellyn, commanding officer of the ship’s medical treatment facility. “We saw destruction that none of us could imagine.” Mercy conducts two underway training exercises a year so the ship's Sailors, doctors and hospital corpsmen can train to provide medical, surgical and humanitarian support whenever and wherever they are needed. Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Jai Velasco said the exercise provides valuable training in rapid response to military mass casualty and humanitarian aid missions. Master Chief Storekeeper (SW/AW) Shannon Williamson, who was the command master chief for the Mercy military treatment facility during OUA, said Mercy’s secondary mission of providing humanitarian support demonstrates the commitment of the United States to international goodwill missions. In addition to supporting tsunami relief efforts in 2005, Mercy treated more than 62,000 outpatients and almost 1,000 inpatients during a 1987 humanitarian aid cruise to the Philippines and South Pacific. By Journalist 1st Class Brian Brannon, Fleet Public Affairs Center Pacific