US 4th Fleet announces Continuing Promise 2024 deployment

Jamaica is among the scheduled visits for United States (US) Navy expeditionary fast transport USNS Burlington, which is set to deploy this July and August to the US Southern Command area of operations as part of US Naval Forces Southern Command/US 4th Fleet’s Continuing Promise 2024 mission.

After several months of detailed planning, USNS Burlington is scheduled to visit Jamaica, Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, and Panama during the nearly two month-long mission.

According to a statement from USNAVSOUTH/4th Fleet, Continuing Promise 2024 marks the 14th mission to the region since 2007 and the second aboard USNS Burlington. The mission is aimed at fostering goodwill, strengthening existing partnerships with partner nations, and encouraging the establishment of new partnerships among countries, non-government organisations, and international organisations.

“The focus during each mission stop will be working alongside partner nation medical personnel to provide direct patient care and technical expertise in community clinics to improve medical readiness, strengthen partnerships, and enhance the combined capabilities of the US Navy and partner nations to respond to public health disasters and humanitarian crises,” the statement read.

Thirty US Navy medical professionals, including general practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, radiologists, dentists, optometrists, and biomedical technicians from Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC Portsmouth, NMRTC Jacksonville, NMRTC Great Lakes, NMRTC Pensacola, NMRTC Camp Lejeune) and Naval Medicine Readiness and Logistics Command bring their expertise to this year’s iteration of Continuing Promise.

“During Continuing Promise 2024, we’re working side-by-side and step-by-step with our partners,” said Rear Admiral Jim Aiken, US Naval Forces Southern Command/US 4th Fleet commander. “Our investment into the region is our enduring relationships, and we are committed to ensuring improved interoperability and collaborative regional security together. We gain so much by this opportunity to serve alongside true professionals.”

The Continuing Promise team includes a US Navy veterinary team from the 248th Medical Detachment (Veterinary Service Support), which will collaborate with host nation colleagues to provide direct public health education and animal care at local veterinary organisations in-country. U. Navy Seabees from Navy Mobile Construction Battalion 1 will assist in host nation-led community engineering projects. US Navy experts will host seminars and training exercises with host nation civilian officials and military professionals, covering disaster preparedness and response. These exchanges aim to support host nation facilities, improve readiness, and empower local and national officials with the knowledge and experience to act with confidence during emergencies.

“Actions certainly speak louder than words and Continuing Promise 2024 will certainly demonstrate that,” said US Navy Captain Scott Maloney, Continuing Promise 2024 mission commander. “It is a way for us to collaborate and work alongside our partners in the Caribbean, Central and South America and make a positive impact in local communities at each stop.”

Continuing Promise will also continue its popular series of seminars on the prevention of gender-based violence in support of the mission’s Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) initiative.

WPS is a United Nations (UN) initiative that started with UNSCR 1325 signed in 2000. The UN resolution is a public acknowledgement that women are more adversely impacted by conflict and crisis, and including women in security planning will lead to a more peaceful world.

Continuing Promise will feature the US Fleet Forces Band, Uncharted Waters. The band will embark on USNS Burlington to conduct classes at community schools, collaborate with military and civilian musical organisations in partner nations, and entertain local communities with concerts at each mission stop. This cultural exchange aims to strengthen community ties and foster goodwill.

USNS Burlington is an expeditionary fast transport operated by Military Sealift Command and crewed by 26 civil service mariners, led by shipmaster Captain Tyler Driscoll. The crew composition follows a commercial model of bridge and engineering watches. The ship is a shallow draft, all aluminum, commercial-based catamaran capable of regional transport of personnel and cargo lift, providing combatant commanders high-speed sealift mobility with inherent cargo-handling capability and agility to achieve positional advantage over operational distances.

Burlington will bring the personnel, equipment and supplies necessary to conduct the Continuing Promise mission, as well as act as the mission’s logistics and command hub.