The U.S. military is preparing for another major mission in the Northern Marianas called Operation Wellness. They’re back for a third year to provide healthcare services at no cost to the community.

Operation Wellness will bring 150 servicemembers to Rota, Tinian, and Saipan under the Innovative Readiness Training.

Maj. Kelvin Carter, IRT mission planner, said, "We are excited to be able to bring these services to the community at no cost. And I spoke about services. We're providing five areas of care to the community starting specifically with medical care, doing youth physicals and screening. We'll be providing dental care. We'll also be providing veterinary care, behavioral health with counseling and also screenings. And then the last would be optometry.So with eyeglass fabrication."

They’ve expanded their time on island to a month. This year’s mission will run from June 8th to 18th and June 20th to June 28th. The Army Reserve, Air National Guard, Air Force, and Navy are involved.

Maj. Daniel LaVorgna, another IRT Program Manager, shared, "And if the numbers are anything like last year, last year we provided services to over 3,000 patients for it to create a total of approximately 24,000 procedures. So we're hoping to come back and do much the same."

The mission comes at a critical time.

Daniel Aquino, the CNMI Special Assistant for Military Affairs, said, "This is a great opportunity for the people of the CNMI. As you know, we’re experiencing an economic decline. And what this does is that it makes sure it ensures that our community is always healthy. A healthy community will build a healthy economic prosperity."