MPS-3 commander says Saipan ‘is sweet deal job’

The commander of Maritime Prepositioning Squadron Three on Saipan said she is lucky to have been assigned in the Northern Marianas and feels as if her posting is “a sweet deal job for a U.S. Navy captain.

Speaking at the Saipan Chamber of Commerce meeting yesterday at the Saipan Grand Hotel’s Seaside Hall, U.S. Navy Capt. Deidre L. McLay said that the military staff that oversees the MPS-3 squadron is actually very small and are only aboard the flagship, USNS 1st Lt. Jack Lumnus.

“We oversee the readiness of the 10 ships that are part of the squadron and then if there’s a mission, we help coordinate all the other military entities that have to come together the prepositioning assets,” she said.

McLay, who came to the meeting in aquaflage—slang for the U.S. Navy’s new work uniform—said that since taking charge of the squadron in May 2011, she has pretty much enjoyed her tour of duty in the CNMI.

“I have enjoyed Saipan very much. This a sweet deal job for a U.S. Navy captain. It’s a one-year assignment and essentially as long as North Korea doesn’t invade South Korea or China doesn’t attack Taiwan, it usually is a very enjoyable year. We have time to take advantage of the recreational facilities. I’ve taken up scuba diving. I’ve learned to take up golf and I’m a huge history buff so the chance to visit the park locations and other historic sites…has been very special to me,” she said.

McLay said the main purpose of prepositioning ships is to solve the U.S. military’s timeline problem in the event of war.

“Basically you have floating warehouses of war-fighting material so in case you have a problem in the Western Pacific, the stuff will come to the scene of action faster than if you had ships coming from the continental U.S.,” she said.

She said five of the ships that are usually assigned off the Saipan Lagoon are laden with U.S. Marine Corps prespositioning material.

“Five here are full of Marine Corps stuff. Every ship is full of deck after deck of tanks, Humvees, refueling ships, Seabees equipment, almost anything you can imagine to support a full expeditionary brigade, which is a whole lot of Marines,” she said.

Three of the squadron’s ships, meanwhile, are full of U.S. Army prepositioning material and “they usually hang out in Korea,” while the rest are for the U.S. Air Force and a special offshore patrol and discharge ship, also often detailed in North Korea, according to McClay.

While she joked about the U.S. Navy’s new camouflage uniforms and how easy it is to get a driver’s license on Saipan, McLay also took the opportunity to clarify some misconceptions about her squadron’s mission. “Sometimes people think during humanitarian or disaster assistance missions, we can just take one of these ships and do something. Not really. Only if the Joint Chiefs of Staff authorize that deployment and then also send all the people that are able to do it,” she said.