The Seabees Are Here to Stay

BY ARTHUR G. SHARP

Military experts often use the line “What’s past is prologue” from William Shakespeare’s circa 1610 play The Tempest when discussing the similarities between wars throughout history. It can also be used to show that the Seabees have a bright future based on their ability to apply the lessons of the past (their prologue) to the operations of the future. Their unit designation may have changed to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMBC), and their numbers may fluctuate, but their mission in the contemporary world remains as vital as ever. g

THE SEABEES ARE HERE TO STAY

Commander, US 7th Fleet, Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, stands for a photo with Navy Expeditionary Combat Command and Commander Task Force 75 leadership during exercise Foal Eagle 2016. Foal Eagle is an annual, bilateral training exercise designed to enhance the readiness of US and ROK forces, and their ability to work together during a crisis. US Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Lowell Whitman.

Their role has evolved from building airfields and naval bases into providing complex services for the United States military and its allies. Their services are not restricted to combat situations, as they were at their inception. Contemporary Seabees serve multiple roles such as project managers, customer service representatives, maintenance specialists, and operations technicians in addition to their primary roles of construction and construction management.

Today Seabees are as likely to be engaged in humanitarian projects and coping with natural disasters as they are in warfighting, and that evolution is indicative of their future. As recently as September 2017 Seabees demonstrated that times and world conditions may change, but their overall mission does not – and will not. During Hurricane Irma, they demonstrated their time-proven abilities to adapt to different mission requirements and deliver critical engineering and materiel services when natural disasters occur.

Members of the Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit (CBMU) 202 detachment based in Jacksonville, Florida provided disaster recovery support for civilian agencies in Monroe County, Florida after Irma devastated the area. Their involvement was reminiscent of Seabees’ support after Hurricanes Sandy in 2012, Katrina in 2005, and countless other natural disasters. That is what they train for, and what they learn in their ongoing operations is applied to future assignments.

The Seabees arrived in Monroe County equipped with medium terrain vehicle replacements (MTVR), light service support vehicles (LSSV), high mobility military vehicles (HMMV), forklifts, bulldozers, dump trucks, chain saws, de-watering pumps or whatever they needed to restore services to their assigned area. Moreover, they were self-sustaining. The detachment built generator-powered camps to house more than one hundred Sailors in the field of Naval Air Station Key West for several nights.

Not only was the operation helpful then, but it provided beneficial training for future emergency responses. Granted, there is no way to forecast future disasters of the magnitudes of Irma, Katrina, and Sandy, but it is safe to predict that Seabees will respond to whatever emergencies occur as they have done in the past and will do in the years ahead, especially as technology continues to evolve and new opportunities arise. g

Seabees fix a brick walkway at a local rehabilitation center. ACB 1 is taking part in OPERATION PACIFIC REACH Exercise 2017, a bilateral training event designed to ensure readiness and sustain the ROK-US Alliance by exercising an Area Distribution Center (ADC), an Air Terminal Supply Point (ATSP), Combined Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (CJLOTS), and the use of rail, inland waterways, and coastal lift operations to validate the operational reach concept. US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric Chan.

Seabees assemble the Mabey Johnson Bridge during NMCB-4’s field training exercise. The exercise tests the battalion’s ability to enter hostile locations, build assigned construction projects and defend against enemy attacks using realistic scenarios while being evaluated. US Navy photo by Utilitiesman 2nd Class Jasmine Flores.

The Seabees’ adaptation to technology is an asset that is a major component of their “future building” process. That is evident in some of their current endeavors, such as learning how to repair a damaged airfield more quickly and efficiently through the use of new technology, constructing a maritime center in Ukraine, or installing a 6-kW photovoltaic power system at a school in the remote village of Kontali, Djibouti in Africa. The successful completion of such projects combined form a significant portend of the Seabees’ future.

Such projects not only provide valuable facilities for people in other nations, but they also establish good will among the Seabees and the military personnel and civilians in the areas in which they operate. Those benefits alone assure that the Seabees will be in existence as goodwill ambassadors for years to come. They already have contracts for future projects based on their past successes, adaptability, and application of enhanced technology.

The Seabees’ dedication to new technology was highlighted during a 2017 training exercise at Fort Hunter Liggett, California. Their mission was to repair a simulated damaged

airfield as quickly and as safely as possible through the application of advanced equipment and construction methods and technology while working in a joint operating environment, in this case with the US Air Force.

The one hundred fifty-four Seabees from NMCB 4 worked with an integrated team for three days to search the runway for damage and hidden hazards such as IEDs. Then they filled seventy-nine spalls (small fragments or chips of stone) and nine craters within sixteen hours. Ultimately, they achieved their goals: improve efficiency by reducing the time it takes to complete airfield repairs, advance technologies by providing input and recommendations regarding the use and application of different equipment and materials, gain joint operating experience with elements of other branches of the armed forces – and build for the future. Those are the same goals and outcomes involved in real-life domestic and foreign projects, which will be available as long as the US maintains naval bases worldwide.

The California training exercise experience brings to light an underplayed element connected to g

A Seabee yells out enemy locations to his teammates during a simulated attack during a field training exercise. The exercise prepares and tests the battalion’s ability to enter hostile locations, build assigned construction projects and defend against enemy attacks using realistic scenarios while being evaluated. US Navy photo by Utilitiesman 3rd Class Stephen Sisler.

the Seabees’ mission that affects their future. They are more than construction experts. They are also facilities maintenance managers.

On every Navy base there are facilities galore, e.g., medical/dental clinics, houses, administrative and executive buildings, chapels, warehouses… These buildings are generally maintained and managed by Seabee units that operate just like civilian construction companies. Their workload is determined by work orders submitted by “customers.”

Seabees plan, estimate, and manage these projects. In fact, Seabees assigned to the aforementioned Ukraine project had to establish contracts, obtain construction permits, and perform other logistical necessities needed for long term sustainment of the center a la their civilian counterparts. Similar tasks are assigned to Seabees all over the world, on and off naval bases. There is no evidence that will change any time soon, which is good news for Seabees of the future.

Consider the aforementioned maritime center in Ukraine. NMCB 1 has two more projects there: a boat maintenance facility and entry control points with perimeter fencing. Deployments of this type help Seabees hone their construction skills in preparation for wartime assignments and reductions in force, which will vary as world tensions ebb and flow. That has been highlighted by the force drawdowns associated with the Navy’s decreasing role in ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has resulted in the paring back of Seabees’ numbers.

Vacillating numbers are nothing new for the Seabees. They are, and always have been, dependent on the number of ongoing military and political crises affecting the United States at any given time. That explains why in recent years the Seabees have lost three NMCBs and endured an approximate 25% reduction in their Seabee Enlisted Program Authorization (EPA). Those moves reduced the Seabees’ numbers to under 6,800 active Seabees Navy-wide. As a result, there are fewer Seabees available now than at any other time since World War II. But, they continue to build their reserve, which is an indication that the Seabees are here to stay.

The Seabees offer members leaving active duty several options for reserve duty. They can go to Selected Reserve (SELRES), a program in which they drill – and are paid for – one weekend per month and do two weeks of training during the year. But, deployments may still be required. Or, they can join the Inactive Ready Reserves (IRR), in which they neither drill nor deploy. They still have to keep themselves and their uniforms up to standards in case they are called to serve.

Finally, there exists the Retired Reserve (USNR-Retired) for Seabees who have retired from the Reserves after twenty years or more. They may be recalled to the Reserves when mandated by Congress. The reserve programs ensure that a core group of Seabees will be retained to support humanitarian efforts and combat commanders’ wartime needs in the future – of which the reserves are an integral part.

One example of wartime needs is the Seabees’ ongoing participation in the annual joint US - South Korean operation named FOAL EAGLE. Seabees from both countries work and train together to enhance their readiness and test their abilities to work together in an actual wartime setting. Operations of this type ensure that there will be opportunities for Seabees to refine their individual and unit skills and build international goodwill through g

bilateral efforts with their counterparts in other nations. Those opportunities will continue to arise for the Seabees in the coming years, albeit it with a new focus.

As the war against terrorism continues, with no end in sight, political and military leaders across the globe are seeking innovative ways to prevent wars, rather than engage in them. That means the Seabees will be required to organize and train their units differently. Their primary mission may involve more of the goodwill and cooperative relationship building than before. If so, “Can do.”

The Seabees’ past successes have assured that they will be around well into the future. They are not likely to be disbanded unless peace and harmony take over the earth. Even then there will be a need to rebuild the planet – a job for which the Seabees are well suited. As long as the Navy is called upon to carry out its duties, the Seabees will be a part of its mission.

US Navy Steelworker welds a roof truss at Don Joaquin Artuz Memorial Elementary School during Balikatan 2015. Balikatan is an annual bilateral training exercise aimed at improving the ability of Philippine and US military forces to work together during planning, contingency, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations. US Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Lowell Whitman. 59