Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Karsten The USNS Comfort, seen here as it pulls into Acajutla, El Salvador, July 25, 2007.

For Navy Cmdr. Lawrence Coleman, chief of the Subsistence Customer Support Division, and Michael O’Connor, a planner for Medical Troop Support stationed here, the support and preparation for the Navy hospital ship’s departure was even more intense.

Coleman and O’Connor were selected to deploy with the Comfort on its humanitarian mission in Haiti.

Both were given one day’s notice of their deployment, so in addition to working to fulfill orders, they were also making preparations for their quick departure.

‘‘I was notified Thursday afternoon and I was on the ship in less than 20 hours ready for duty and [to provide] support to the physicians, nurses and medical technicians on the ship,” O’Connor said.

Coleman said his experience was similar. ‘‘With only one day's notice, there was little time to actually do much personal preparation,” he said.

With sea bag packed, orders cut and a train ticket to Baltimore, Coleman quickly left Philadelphia to board the ship before it set sail for Haiti.

According to Coleman, the ship's supply department immediately dropped hundreds of requisitions through DSCP for food items to arrive at the pier just in time to be loaded onboard before the ship departed in the early hours of Jan. 16.

‘‘The local prime vendor in Baltimore filled as many orders as possible and all other requisitions were diverted to the prime vendor in Norfolk for fulfillment,” Coleman said.

‘‘The prime vendors have been outstanding in providing superb service and high-quality products.

The supply team experienced exceptional fill rates under very intense pressure, he said.

Six-thousand cases of ready-to-eat meals and 100 pallets of bottled water were also loaded onto the ship on the last day for the ship’s crew that would be going ashore during the deployment.

Similarly, medical supply chain personnel worked with prime vendors and suppliers to expedite fulfilling requisitions for pharmaceuticals, vaccines, medical⁄surgical products and laboratory reagents.

Expedited deliveries were arranged to ensure products would be delivered and loaded onboard in time for the ship’s departure.

Once on board, both Coleman and O’Connor said they immediately engaged with shipboard personnel.

‘‘I am working side-by-side with the Comfort’s supply officer, commanding officer and executive officer,” Coleman said.

‘‘This will be a developing assignment and will likely consist of [my] going ashore to work out of the U.S. Embassy.”

O’Connor said that, first and foremost, he is serving as a liaison and as ‘‘eyes and ears” for DSCP medical supply chain leadership, providing them an accurate picture of what is transpiring so they can respond effectively.

‘‘Being directly involved ... with the mission gives me the ability to sense and respond to the requirements,” he said.

Coleman noted that distribution networks for food and medical supplies are being developed and modified rapidly to meet the evolving scale of support coming from the continental U.S. as it reaches Haiti and the ship.

Operations personnel aboard the Comfort are making transportation plans for many supplies, he said.

Logistics personnel are working closely with U.S. Southern Command and the Defense Department’s joint medical logistics community, that Coleman said have the unique resources and technical capabilities to provide medical logistics support to Haiti.

O’Connor said building a responsive supply chain for medical material is challenging because of the unique nature of the products – narcotics must be protected, some material has a short shelf life and other types can only be stored under the strictest of temperature controls.

‘‘It is more complicated than people realize. Our commodity has to be secured, is perishable, requires intensive cold chain management procedures, and hazardous material factors must be considered,” he said.

Coleman and O’Connor said they are honored to be representing the Defense Logistics Agency and playing an active role in such a critical support mission.

‘‘Obviously, this is a very challenging and exciting humanitarian opportunity for me personally.

‘‘I have deployed to many different countries around the world, including a recent DLA assignment to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan in support of the Northern Distribution Network [a supply route] into Afghanistan,” Coleman said.

Coleman will report in June for his next Navy assignment: he will be supply officer onboard the Comfort.

‘‘This is a very fortuitous chance to begin to learn what it takes to operate this department on a unique and fascinating ship,” Coleman said.

‘‘I am very impressed with the professionalism and dedication of the DSCP organization ...”

O’Connor, who served 24 years in the Air Force as a hospital administrator, said he is similarly honored and excited to be part of this deployment.

‘‘Being a medical professional is who I am and what I feel each and every day. To me, protecting and serving our nation while also being in the healing profession is truly the best of both worlds. I consider my profession more a calling than employment.

‘‘I’ve been provided this magnificent gift to deploy on this humanitarian mission to Haiti,” O’Connor said.

He said that although he served on humanitarian missions in Azerbaijan in 1988 and deployed to Diego Garcia in 2002 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, participating in this mission has really made a difference to him.

‘‘I'm on this magnificent hospital ship in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, serving in an awesome role in our nation’s critical diplomatic humanitarian mission that truly has the potential to change the world we live in,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor is emotional about his role and the actions he is witnessing on the hospital ship. He recounted the first day’s activities as the Comfort reached Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.

‘‘Just up the hallway from my tiny little office is the emergency room teeming with desperately injured, critically wounded Haitians [being] cared for by American medical staff.

‘‘Many of these wounded would have died if we Americans did not respond. Today we saw more than a hundred patients in a 'round the clock,'24⁄7 response and we'll see hundreds tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. The sights, the smells, the sounds and the pace are overwhelming, actually staggering, beyond the imagination,” he said.

‘‘This mission is what I dreamed for, for all my life...and I'm here. I'm awestruck. I'm inspired.”