At the end of January three Military Sealift Command ships discharged hundreds of pieces of US Marine Corps equipment, containerized supplies and personnel in support of exercises Freedom Banner and Cobra Gold at Chuk Samet, Thailand.

Freedom Banner 2011 brought together multiple commands to offload Maritime Prepositioning Force ships USNSs 1st Lt Jack Lummus and 1st Lt Harry L Martin while both ships were anchored three miles offshore.

A powered lighterage module is offloaded from the Maritime Prepositioning Force ship USNS 1st Lt Jack Lummus more than three miles off the coast of Chuk Samet, Thailand, on 20th January, while conducting Exercise Freedom Banner 2011. The module is powered by a jet propulsion system and attaches to two other modules which are then used to ferry cargo ashore. The equipment offloaded from Lummus will be deployed by Marines for their portion of Exercise Cobra Gold 2011, scheduled to be held in early February.

(US Navy photo by Ed Baxter, SEALOGFE Public Affairs.)