Charles Blankenship News

Nearly 100 Sailors regularly assigned to the National Naval Medical Center deployed to Navy Hospital Ship USNS COMFORT (T-AH 20) Sept. 15-16 for a regular pierside practice exercise. The training is necessary to teach the new Comfort crew members shipboard safety, and ship and workplace orientation. The training focused on various topics, including mass casualty and abandon ship drills; lifeboat and litter bearer training; Chemical, Biological and Radiological defense training; repair locker training, and finally, life raft commander training for officers. According to Capt. Charles Blankenship, commanding officer of the Comfort’s Medical Treatment Facility, this year’s Comfort Exercise training is different than previous training periods.