Riverines won’t locate at Stennis

By DONNA MELTON - Sun Herald

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HANCOCK COUNTY — The Riverines won’t be making their home at the John C. Stennis Space Center after all.

Rear Adm. Timothy M. Giardina, deputy chief of staff for operational readiness and training at Fleet Forces Command, announced Tuesday that U.S. Fleet Forces will be keeping riverine forces homeported in Virginia.

“USFF has determined that current Riverine Force homeporting in Little Creek and Yorktown using existing facilities meets operational and mission criteria, and there is no significant readiness imperative to collocate Riverine Forces,” he said.

Riverines are a Vietnam-era security patrol brought back after 9/11 and now tasked with securing Iraq’s waterways.

Stennis was one of nine locations examined in a yearlong assessment, which included the two in Virginia, as well as Connecticut, Georgia, Florida, California and Washington.

“This is the most cost-effective solution available to ensure mission and training requirements are met,” he said. “The Navy is committed to producing Riverine forces ready for tasking to meet combatant commander mission requirements.”

U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor supported locating the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command riverine unit in South Mississippi. The Small Boat Team-22 and the Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School already operate at Stennis, Stephen Peranich, Taylor’s chief of staff, has said.

Peranich said last month that Stennis could offer the Navy a unique riverine training environment along the Pearl River, a 5,000-acre live-fire maneuver area and a huge buffer zone to provide security and unencroached access to training areas.

The unit would have brought at least 800 new sailors and their families to the area.