RABAUL, Papua New Guinea (July 8, 2015) Navy Lt. Junior
Summary
RABAUL, Papua New Guinea (July 8, 2015) Navy Lt. Junior Grade Jonathan Yaede, from Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, with Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21, sits in the pilot seat of an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter after flying during Pacific Partnership 2015. Yaede was the copilot for a patient transport mission where his helicopter picked up six stranded Papua New Guinea passengers, including one infant, on June 30, 2015 and brought them to the hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) for evaluation and treatment. Mercy is at its second mission port of Papua New Guinea for Pacific Partnership 2015. Pacific Partnership is in its tenth iteration and is the largest annual multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. While training for crisis conditions, Pacific Partnership missions to date have provided real world medical care to approximately 270,000 patients and veterinary services to more than 38,000 animals. Additionally, the mission has provided critical infrastructure development to host nations through more than 180 engineering projects. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Valerie Eppler/RELEASED)