48] Demobilization At the San Diego conference on 14-15 March 1979, arrangements were to made with the Naval Supply Center to provide port handling services augment ships’ crewsin offloading retrograde from the Navy ships and to provide freight forwarding services. It was agreed that United States Army equipment operators via western Command (WESTCOM) would deploy at San Diego. The ships the the Navy ships to drive the equipment off Commander, Naval Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMNAVSURFPAC) representatives at the conference advised that their sealift support for the Enewetak Cleanup Project was considered a COMNAVSURFPAC mission rather than an opportune sealift and that the sealift scheduled for April 1980 would bea dedicated sealift with enough capacity to removeall remaining retrograde. !3 DEMOBILIZATION BEGINS Within 2 weeks after the retrograde planning conferences, the first significant demobilization sealift was accomplished. On 26 March 1979, an Amphibious Squadron (PHIBRON)returning to the United Statesafter a Western Pacific tour of duty, met with the westbound squadron which was to relieve it in the Enewetak lagoon. This rendevous, called a PHIBRON turnover, involved 13 ships. The cargo planning officer for the convoy, Captain Terrance Labar, USMC, had arrived byaircraft 6 days earlier to work with the JTG Logistics Officer, J-4, Lieutenant Colonel James H. Rogers, USA, and the H&N Supply Officer, Mr. Jack Livingston, in planning the loading operation. This on-site planning preceded each Navy sealift of retrograde material and was essential to assure safe, efficient loading of the Navy vessels. The cargo planning officer knew exactly what space was available for loading on which ships and any height or load limits. Enewetak logistics personnel provided the dimensions, cube, and weight for each piece of cargo to be loaded. Based on this information, the loading sequence andlocation for each item could be preplanned. Several lessons were learned on the March 1979 sealift. An attempt was made to begin loading cargo before offloading was complete. Facilities and manpower on Enewetak could not support simultaneous operations, requiring some lighters to circle in the lagoon until they could be offloaded. Since they were unfamiliar with JTG decontamination and certification procedures, one ship’s crew felt it necessary to remonitor each item before it was loaded aboard the ship. A total of 531 measurement tons (M/T = 40 cubic feet), weighing 83 long tons, was retrograded on this convoy. !4,15