By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Tyler Jones

USNS Comfort Public Affairs

USNS COMFORT, At Sea (NNS) -- Five officers embarked aboard the Military Sealift Command (MSC) hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) promoted to ranks ranging from lieutenant to captain in the U.S. Public Health Service´s (USPHS) first at-sea promotion July 3.

Ceremony participants and guests gathered on the flight deck for the ceremony despite high winds and rolling seas.

“When the pictures from today make it back to Washington, there will be no doubt that this ceremony was held at sea,” said Capt. Bob Kapcio, Comfort’s humanitarian assistance mission commander.

Kapcio praised the USPHS members for their dedication to Comfort’s four-month humanitarian assistance deployment to Latin America and the Caribbean, saying he was proud to work alongside Public Health Service members.

“I have never been as impressed with an organization as I have with the Public Health Service,” said Kapcio. “They have absolutely astounded me with their can-do attitude, their spirit and their enthusiasm for this mission.”

Capt. Craig Shepherd, a USPHS environmental health officer and officer in charge aboard Comfort, said he hopes the partnership between the Public Health Service and the U.S. Navy can be the beginning of a more far-reaching relationship.

“We (USPHS) have an on-going and closely-linked relationship with other services,” he said. “We hope to be involved in more missions like this one in the future."

USPHS personnel are embarked on Comfort during its 120-day humanitarian assistance deployment to Latin America and the Caribbean providing medical treatment to patients in a dozen countries.

During the deployment, Comfort is under the operational control of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, and the tactical control of Destroyer Squadron 24.