Navy program article

2005 press releases

U.S. Navy Dive Team Conducts Humanitarian Mine Action Program at Jounieh Naval Base

August 25, 2005

The U.S. Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) will host a ceremony Saturday 27 August at the Jounieh Naval Base to recognize the completion of the latest phase of a U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) training program designed to assist with the expansion of Lebanon’s demining and explosive ordnance disposal capacity. The ceremony will include remarks from the U.S. Ambassador, the Honorable Jeffrey Feltman and be attended by several representatives of the Lebanese and U.S. armed forces.

Twenty-one Lebanese soldiers completed five weeks of rigorous dive training at Jounieh and in Lebanon’s coastal waters on Monday, 22 August 2005. This dive training is the first phase of a multi-phased effort to develop an underwater unexploded ordnance disposal capability. The soldiers will be presented with graduation certificates on Saturday and recognized for their professionalism and dedication to the mission of the elimination of landmines and unexploded ordnance in Lebanon.

The Dive and SCUBA training at Jounieh was conducted by an eight-man team from the United States Navy Dive Schools of Panama City, Florida and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This training has been unique in multiple ways. Lebanon is the first country to work with the U.S. to set up an underwater unexploded ordnance disposal mission within their Humanitarian Mine Action program. This training also marks the first time that the U.S. Navy has provided a Mobile Training Team for SCUBA instruction to another nation. This program is a benchmark for removing the underwater hazards of ordnance here and throughout the world

Initiated in Lebanon this year, this new underwater training program aims to strengthen U.S.-Lebanese cooperation to make Lebanon’s harbors, coast and waters safe from unexploded ordnance. The U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Mine Action Program funded the training and is also providing $350,000 dollars of equipment, to include Zodiac boats, SCUBA gear, and various technical equipment, to be used for the underwater unexploded ordnance disposal mission. The U.S. government is providing approximately three million dollars of equipment and training to the Lebanese Armed Forces in 2005 for humanitarian mine action through the Department of State and Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Mine Action Programs.

This training course is just a small part of the Office of Defense Cooperation’s ongoing programs to assist the Lebanese Armed Forces. In addition to managing the Department of Defense’s and Department of State’s Humanitarian Mine Action programs, the Office of Defense Cooperation also assists the Lebanese Armed Forces with programs in Foreign Military Sales, the International Military Education and Training (IMET) Program, the Counter-Terrorism Fellowship Program, Traditional Commander’s Activities, and Humanitarian Assistance.