Honeywell contractors with Military Sealift Command's (MSC) USNS 1st LT Jack Lummus (T-AK 3011) and Marine Corps personnel from Blount Island Command (BICmd), out of Jacksonville, Florida, began conducting a joint Limited Technical Inspection (LTI) at a Royal Thai Marine Corps Base, Feb. 20.

The joint LTI examined 129 pieces of equipment offloaded from the Lummus in support of Exercise Cobra Gold 2016 (CG-16).

CG-16 is an annual, multinational, joint-theater security cooperation exercise co-sponsored by the Kingdom of Thailand and the United States. The inspection ensures the equipment meets the standards necessary to be reloaded onto the ship and ready to deploy at a moment's notice.

"What we are doing today is a regeneration of all the gear," said Staff Sgt. Ricky Collins, motor transport maintenance chief with BICmd. "Once the gear has been used in an exercise, it has to get washed down, inspected, and undergo any required maintenance so that it can get repositioned on the ship. This is to ensure the gear is ready to go at all times."

The Lummus' mission as an MPS is to deliver ready-to-use military cargo and supplies at a moment's notice, regardless of circumstances. The Honeywell contractors' role in the joint LTI is to insure that all equipment used in CG-16 is mission-ready prior to its repositioning aboard the ship.

"The reason we do these inspections is to make sure the Marines are ready to go to combat, all the time," said Honeywell supervisor Lorenzo Townsend. "These ships are prepositioned around the world, that way there is a rapid deployment process. Instead of having the Marines bring the equipment with them, the equipment will be aboard the ships, and we will meet the Marines in whatever theater they are at, and provided them with the support that they need."

For more information, photos, and stories about the Cobra Gold exercise, including past iterations, please visit the official Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ExerciseCobraGold

For more news from Military Sealift Command, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/MSC

For more news from Commander, Task Force 73, visit http://www.navy.mil/.