TEGUCIGALPA – Ambassador James Nealon visited Puerto Castilla, Colon, on September 1 to welcome the U.S. Government’s first Joint High Speed Vessel, USNS Spearhead, which is in port so that U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps personnel can conduct counter-transnational organized crime and counternarcotics training, and support humanitarian assistance operations with their Honduran counterparts. Ambassador Nealon was joined by the Inspector General of the Honduran Navy, Captain Jesus Humberto Benitez.
The Joint High Speed Vessel Spearhead is a U.S. military advanced transportation ship. On this trip to Honduras, the Spearhead transported Navy and Marine teams to conduct five weeks of training with personnel from the Honduran Marine Battalion (BIM). A Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit/Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit will conduct four weeks of training with the Honduran Combat Divers. The Navy’s Seabee engineers and the Marines’ Combat Engineer team will carry out five weeks of renovation work on both military and civilian projects, including renovating the barracks on Puerto Castilla naval base, and renovating a regional hospital in Trujillo and a rural health clinic outside of Trujillo.
