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Pacific Partnership 2009 Concludes Its Journey
Posted by: Thomas E. Weinz
About the Author: Tom Weinz served as the Foreign Service Liaison Officer (FSLO) aboard the USNS Richard E. Byrd for Pacific Partnership 2009 (PP09).
Pacific Partnership has officially come to an end. The final projects were carried out in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), a group of 29 coral atolls and five single islands with a land area of just 70 square miles spread across 750,000…
Pacific Partnership Builds Bridges in Kiribati
Posted by: Thomas E. Weinz
About the Author: Tom Weinz served as the Foreign Service Liaison Officer (FSLO) aboard the USNS Richard E. Byrd for Pacific Partnership 2009 (PP09).
From May 4 to 8 of this year the United States and the Republic of the Philippines co-sponsored an ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) disaster response exercise. Twenty-six ARF countries joined in a civilian-led, military supported activity involving the demonstration…
Pacific Partnership in Kiribati
Posted by: Thomas E. Weinz
About the Author: Tom Weinz served as the Foreign Service Liaison Officer (FSLO) aboard the USNS Richard E. Byrd for Pacific Partnership 2009 (PP09).
Pacific Partnership (PP09) is in Kiribati (pronounced “keer-ah-bhas”), whose principal atoll, Tarawa, is another infamous name from World War…
Pacific Partnership: Sustainability Key to Success in Solomon Islands
Posted by: Thomas E. Weinz
About the Author: Tom Weinz served as the Foreign Service Liaison Officer (FSLO) aboard the USNS Richard E. Byrd for Pacific Partnership 2009 (PP09).
Early in this series, I reflected on how our best-laid plans often take a detour. My personal detour came in French New Caledonia, when some medical tests prevented my sailing with the USNS Byrd, and I subsequently…
Pacific Partnership En Route to Solomon Islands
Posted by: Thomas E. Weinz
About the Author: Tom Weinz is the dedicated Foreign Service Liaison Officer (FSLO) aboard the USNS Richard E. Byrd for Pacific Partnership 2009 (PP09).
The USNS Richard E. Byrd crew and PP09 personnel, after several days of relaxation in New Caledonia, are now approaching Honiara, Solomon Islands. New…
Pacific Partnership Departs Tonga
Posted by: Thomas E. Weinz
About the Author: Tom Weinz is the dedicated Foreign Service Liaison Officer (FSLO) aboard the USNS Richard E. Byrd for Pacific Partnership 2009 (PP09).
"Synergy" is a word that is often touted, but seldom realized. PP09's final days in Tonga, however, were memorably synergistic. On July 24, much of the community of Faleloa gathered at the newly refurbished primary school for brief speeches, graceful Tongan…
Pacific Partnership: A Day of Rest in Tonga
Posted by: Thomas E. Weinz
About the Author: Tom Weinz is the dedicated Foreign Service Liaison Officer (FSLO) aboard the USNS Richard E. Byrd for Pacific Partnership 2009 (PP09).
During one of our feedback sessions in Samoa, an older gentleman who had lived all over the world suggested that Pacific Partnership personnel should take one day, or at least one afternoon, and just spend time with the people of a village…
Tonga Welcomes Pacific Partnership
Posted by: Thomas E. Weinz
About the Author: Tom Weinz is the dedicated Foreign Service Liaison Officer (FSLO) aboard the USNS Richard E. Byrd for Pacific Partnership 2009 (PP09).
Pacific Partnership's second mission is to the Kingdom of Tonga, approximately 500 miles south of Samoa. USNS Byrd arrived in the early morning…
Pacific Partnership: Acts of Kindness Make the Mission
Posted by: Thomas E. Weinz
About the Author: Tom Weinz is the dedicated Foreign Service Liaison Officer (FSLO) aboard the USNS Richard E. Byrd for Pacific Partnership 2009 (PP09).
“The little unremembered acts of kindness and love are the best parts of a person’s life.”
Samoa’s deputy prime minister quoted these words of William Wordsworth during his dedication speech for work done at the National Hospital.
Pacific Partnership: The Vessels That Carry the Mission
Posted by: Thomas E. Weinz
About the Author: Tom Weinz is the dedicated Foreign Service Liaison Officer (FSLO) aboard the USNS Richard E. Byrd for Pacific Partnership 2009 (PP09).
In a comment last week, one of DipNote's readers, Eric in New Mexico, asked whether a decommissioned aircraft carrier might be converted into a humanitarian mission ship. I put that possibility directly to Captain Jaeger of USNS Byrd, and he responded as follows:
“The total cost to convert an ex-carrier would be roughly triple the…