Today I met with our deployed forces in the Northern Arabian Gulf, including PSU 311 (and some holdover augmentation personnel from PSU 305), members of our RAID Teams, forward deployed PATFORSWA personnel, and crews from USCGs MAUI, MONOMOY, BARANOFF, and ADAK. We visited the offshore Iraqi oil platforms and received briefs on the transition of security for the platforms to Iraqi forces.
Many of you may not be familiar with our RAID teams. They are Redeployment Assistance Inspection Detachments that inspect material that is being shipped out of the theater. This includes anything from heavy vehicles to personal goods. They insure the materials are safe to be shipped and facilitate the redeployment process. These personnel are in high demand over here and deploy to the most remote and forward deployed units in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Again, we took pictures and recorded some video "shout outs" at each stop. We will post them as soon as we can. LCDR Jo Cousins, my aide, has been working overtime as our videographer and photographer.
We should all be proud of the work our personnel are doing for U.S. Central Command. We work with every service in a joint environment and our performance has received praised from every senior leader in theater, most notably VADM Gortney, Commander, Navy Central Command and Fifth Fleet.
ADM A
