Military

22nd Naval Construction Regiment

Following the commissioning of the 1st Naval Construction Division, the 22nd NCR was relocated from Little Creek to Gulfport, Miss.

The Joint and Multinational Forces of 22nd Naval Construction Regiment (NCR) (Forward) improved the quality of life for 22,000 Cuban migrants and 18,000 Haitian refugees during deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 1995

In support of "Operation Sea Signal," 22ND NCR constructed 29 migrant villages arranged in nine village clusters at two locations, Radio Range and McCalla Field. These sites are located approximately seven miles apart.

Each village consists of approximately 50 strongback tents, one tension fabric recreation building, and concrete masonry bathrooms, laundry facilities and showers. Each village cluster (two to four villages) includes a chapel and a messing facility.

Infrastructure support includes production of electricity to each building and strongback tent, water distribution, sewage treatment, roads and sidewalk construction and erecting recreation facilities.

The $35 million project was simultaneously designed, planned, estimated and constructed within a seven-month deployment. More than 1,300 strongback tents were constructed in only four months; 17 miles of piping was laid; 53 miles of electrical cable was installed; 67 concrete block structures were built; 43 tension fabric structures were erected; and 4 pre-engineered buildings were assembled.

The 22nd NCR forward originally consisted of 450 Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 and Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7. As work progressed, members from all four services increased the number of members to more than 700. Approximately 300 Cuban migrant workers also worked as part of 22nd NCR.