Marines, sailors, Coast Guardsmen and civilian personnel with Combat Logistics Regiment 25, Naval Beach Group Two, Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island and U.S. Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville will begin operations for the Maritime Prepositioning Force Exercise at the Michael B. Scanlan Boat Ramp tomorrow morning from Aug. 11-13.

Military personnel are working with the local authorities to ensure the in-stream offload and any exercise related activity will cause little to no disruption of normal commercial or private traffic.

Residents and travelers in the area may notice an increase of military personnel operating in the Jacksonville, Mayport and St. Johns River areas. There will be one to three daily delays of 45 minutes each at the boat ramp during the identified dates. The Coast Guard will escort Navy vessels moving on the river.

An In-Stream Offload, or an offload of materiel from an MPF ship anchored off the coast, is ongoing from outside the mouth of the river to Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island and will continue until Aug. 15. There will also be a “splash” of amphibious assault vehicles into the river from ship in port at Blount Island on Aug. 14. The naval services began the exercise at the onset of August.

The MPF supports the National Military Strategy by increasing the military’s forward presence and crisis response capabilities. The exercise, led by the 2d Marine Expeditionary Brigade and Expeditionary Strike Group Two, is one part of Bold Alligator 2014, the year’s largest amphibious exercise on the East Coast with Navy, Marine Corps and multinational participants.