Photo: A fishing boat is noticeably out of place after being swept ashore during a massive tsunami that devastated Ofunato, Japan. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Matthew M. Bradley.

Chip Sparks, president of the Austin District UM Men, served as logistic planner for U.S. Military efforts to aid victims of the massive tsunami that devastated the eastern shore of Honshu (the main island of Japan).

“In my role as a logistics planner, I was asked to come on duty to assist in the 24 hour manning of the Joint Logistics Operations Center,” Sparks reported at the UM Men Austin District website (http://www.gbgm-umc.org/austinumm/japan.html).

“We were responsible for receiving, validating, scheduling, tracking, and distributing all of the U.S. humanitarian assistance to the citizens of Japan. By the time that I returned home on April 28th, we had shipped over 250 million gallons of water and 100 tons of food, in addition to the fuel, shelters and blankets to the affected areas.”

Service members living near the Fukishima Daiichi nuclear power plant wore personal dosimeters to monitor their radiation exposure The Marine Corps Chemical Biological Incident Response Force was also sent to monitor radiation. Fortunately the situation at the reactors improved and the Marines were able to return home.

There are over 80,000 U.S. military service members and families in Japan.