MANAGEMENT ON THE MOVE
LOCATIONS
LAND
30 Mar 09. Belize: Training Continues. The International Defence Minister said (30 Mar 09) that there are no plans to close the British Army Training Support Unit Belize (BATSUB). A recent review of overseas training for Light Forces concluded that there is a continuing requirement to train in Belize.
Comment: There has been a British military presence in Belize, formerly British Honduras, since the late
17th century. The BATSUB Permanent Staff, numbering about 40, co-ordinates jungle warfare training for visiting units/sub-units.
A British recruiting team spent a month in Belize during 2008, evaluating 700 Belizean applicants for the British Army. About 130 of the 700 were successful. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 09/16, 20 Apr 09)
17 Apr 09. The Department of Defense announced today the United States will return a vacant portion of the Mark Twain Housing Area in Heidelberg, Germany, to the host nation in 2009. The return involves eight vacant buildings, each with 24 military family housing units. The affected buildings are collocated in a separate area of Mark Twain Village and have been determined excess by the Department of Defense. The return of this site will have no impact on U.S. military personnel or employees. Installation Management Command Europe will begin the process of returning the housing area to the host nation. Current annual operating costs of these buildings are approximately $1.6m.
20 Apr 09. Lockheed Martin today unveiled a new facility in Baltimore County, Md., to support its federal contract work with the Social Security Administration. The new offices at 1506 Woodlawn Drive in Woodlawn will house 278 information technology professionals who will be supporting a broad spectrum of services related to agency systems modernization efforts. These efforts are prompted by health IT needs as SSA responds to the service demands of the many people it serves – retirees, disabled Americans, Medicare recipients, and the increased number of aging baby boomers entering the system.
MARITIME
10 Apr 09. HMS ENDURANCE: Back Home. The News reported that HMS ENDURANCE finally returned to Portsmouth, carried by MV Target, on 10 Apr 09. A repairs assessment is to be carried out but a Naval spokesman anticipated that the Ice Patrol Ship would be ready to return to the South Atlantic in September 2010.
Comment: HMS ENDURANCE’s difficulties started with an engine room flooding in the Magellan Strait on 16 Dec 08. The vessel (often referred to as ‘Red Plum’) was due for two sessions of repair and maintenance during the Summers of 2009 and 2010 and the costs are already budgeted. It is thus hoped that the costs of the repairs now required can largely be covered. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 09/16, 20 Apr 09)
22 Apr 09. Navy To Commission Guided-Missile Destroyer Truxtun. The Navy’s newest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, Truxtun, will be commissioned Saturday, April 25, 2009, during an 11 a.m. EDT ceremony at Charleston, S.C. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead will deliver the ceremony’s principal address. Carol Leigh Roelker and Susan Scott Martin, descendants of the ship’s namesake, will serve as sponsors of the ship. The ceremony will be highlighted by a time-honored Navy tradition when they give the first order to “man our ship and bring her to life!” Designated DDG 103, the destroyer honors Commodore Thomas Truxtun (1755-1822) who embarked upon a seafaring career at age 12. When the Navy was initially organized, he was selected as one of its first six captains on June 4, 1798. Assigned command of the USS Constellation, one of the nation’s new frigates, Truxtun put to sea to prosecute the undeclared naval war with revolutionary France. On Feb. 9, 1799, Truxtun achieved one of his most famous victories when Constellation battered the French warship L’Insurgente into submission in one of the most illustrious battl