Deployment of the USNS Comfort.

The day after Christmas 2002, USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) was activated for Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. She left her homeport of Baltimore on Jan. 6 with a crew of 320 military personnel and 60 civilian mariners. For the two peak months of the conflict, the military staff expanded to 1,214 personnel. Hospital ships are essentially a Naval hospital manned by the military and crewed by civilian mariners who work hard maintaining the ship.

What keeps a hospital ready for its mission? As with all ships, the enabler for mission accomplishment is a competent Sup