And more recently in the decade since 9/11?

The Army combat engineers and Navy Seabees have been working in Iraq and Afghanistan for years, alongside Marine combat engineers, and have proven to work very well together because we complement our skills so well.

 

What real changes – mission, structure, equipment, manpower – resulted from the 2002 merger of the Atlantic Seabees of the 2nd NCB and Pacific Seabees of the 3rd NCB under the single global command of the 1st Naval Construction Division – and in what ways was that a reaction to the new war in Southwest Asia?

The 1st NCD was commissioned in August 2002, but in early 2001, we did a study that came up with that concept; so before 9/11, we had determined a division would enhance our construction capability, provide command and control, and coordinate and implement policy and requirements for the Seabees.

So there were a number of structural changes, allying all the forces under those two commands to a single command to globally manage Seabee operations and maintain efficiency across the entire force. And the division deployed an element into Iraq at the start.

 

What are the primary missions of the Seabees today?

We do the full range of operations, from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and building relationships and engaging parts of the world to prevent wars, all the way through to major combat operations.

So when in the building relationships portion, we are building needed facilities such as clinics and schools needed by a developing area. In combat operations, we are constructing advanced base facilities, forward ops, building and maintaining roads and bridges and aircraft runways. Shortly after 9/11, when the Marines went into Afghanistan, the first element had a detachment of Seabees with them to maintain the air bridge at Camp Rhino.

We’ve pulled our last Seabees out of Iraq [December 2011] and have gone from four battalions in Afghanistan to one this year. We see our focus shifting toward shaping humanitarian efforts and relationship-building to create more stability and prevent future wars, in the Pacific and throughout Africa, especially in the Horn, supporting the task force headquartered out of Djibouti [the only U.S. military base in sub-Saharan Africa].

 

How have those missions changed through the past seven decades?

I think that began to evolve in Vietnam, but wherever Seabees have been, they reached out and performed humanitarian duties as needed, although it did not become an assigned mission until Vietnam. Today we are doing that throughout the Pacific and Africa and have found it to be very effective.

My father was one of the original Seabees, requesting that assignment when the first NCB stood up shortly after he enlisted; how have training and employment changed since he went to the South Pacific?

In 1942, we recruited a construction workforce with an average age of 37, and the Navy gave them the military training they needed to defend themselves and what they built. Probably one of the key changes since then is today we balance military and technical skills, so every new Seabee goes through a school and learns the construction trade. They also go through a fair amount of military training to help them defend themselves.

That also has changed since World War II, especially the past 10 years, as we faced an insurgent force employing lEDs and we had to train them in counterinsurgency as well as combat ops in support of an amphibious landing. In a protracted conflict since 9/11, we have seen the veteran force we have today develop finely tuned combat skills. But we need to reinforce the technical side, so we are overhauling our training program to re-emphasize that.

 

Rapidly advancing technology, including automation, has significantly changed almost every job and unit in the military; how has that manifested itself in the Seabees?

Film clips from World War II show the Seabees using bulldozers and steam shovels. Today, we’re seeing the normal advances in construction equipment – hydraulics rather than steam, new water well rigs, etc. Many of the tools today’s Seabees are using are cordless, which makes them a little faster and more mobile. And a lot of our construction equipment now has armor plating.

But a challenge is the installation of more high technology than before, working with solar energy, wind power, etc. In Kandahar, we installed a solar lighting system that would charge during the day and run at night so they did not have to carry fuel out to those generators at night, which was dangerous. And using LEDs rather than regular bulbs.

Another major change is in communications. With the SATCOM [satellite communications] we have today, we can securely communicate back to the U.S. and get support for our Seabees in remote areas, such as having engineers in Norfolk [Va.] or Pearl Harbor help with bridges [downrange].

What is the composition of the Seabees today – active duty, Reserve, Department of Defense (DoD) civilians?

We’re primarily a military organization, with about 7,600 active, 9,000 reserves, and fewer than 200 civilians. It is structured with regiment training groups and then operational units – three active regiments, four Reserve; nine active and 12 Reserve battalions, underwater construction teams and construction battalion maintenance units that support expeditionary field hospitals in the combat zone.