As the U.S. military conducts disaster response operations in flood-stricken Pakistan, it's also engaged in major humanitarian and civic assistance missions in the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean. The hospital ship USNS Mercy, for example, is in Timor-Leste wrapping up the last leg of its four-month Pacific Partnership mission, according to a navy spokesman.
Since May 1, when it left San Diego, its home port, the 894-foot-long, 69,000-ton floating hospital also has visited Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia. The Mercy's crew includes about 800 military medical, dental and engineering specialists and civilian volunteers that have worked closely together to accomplish myriad outreach projects, treating more than 95,000 patients, conducting more than 700 surgeries and completing 26 construction projects.
