Seabees Pave the Way in Karak
Navy Newsstand
Story Number: NNS030910-06
Release Date: 9/10/2003 8:55:00 PM
By Journalist 3rd Class Shawnee McKain, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, 5th Fleet Public Affairs
AL KARAK, Jordan (NNS) -- "Can do Four!" is the rallying cry of the Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 4. It's helped them through many tough challenges over the years, and most recently helped them as they turned the side of a hill into a helicopter pad in just 40 days.
The Seabees, well known for coming to the assistance of U.S. coalition partners, came here in August to build a helo pad for Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein Hospital to improve its emergency medical services. According to Col. Malik Husein, a Jordanian Army officer, this hospital, like many in Jordan, has a lack of medical services.
"This area is in need of a helicopter pad, because it is in the middle of the country and too far away to drive to Amman," Husein said. "Now the people of Karak will be able to fly to Amman quickly if they still need medical care."
The U.S. Embassy in Jordan works closely with Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, 5th Fleet (COMUSNAVCENT/COMFIFTHFLT) and the Jordanian Army on community relations projects. Two years ago, the Royal Jordanian Health Ministry elected to build a helo pad at a hospital in Al Aqabah.
The helo pad in Karak was built as a humanitarian-aid mission and to provide extra training for the Seabees. It is the second of 12 helo pads planned by the Embassy.
"Right now they're only building helo pads in Jordan, but our design can be built anywhere else," said Lt. Eric Haun, a civil engineer for COMUSNAVCENT/COMFIFTHFLT. "These became a priority, so we wanted to get them finished."
The Seabees began construction in July and have worked nonstop since then to finish the project quickly while maintaining standards.
NMCB 4 came into the project expecting to pour the concrete for a helo pad, help lay surrounding asphalt, add the finishing touches and leave. But as Seabees know, it's rarely that simple. Several challenges arose during the construction phase of the project.
"We had to come in and demolish the two existing buildings on the site and grade everything to elevation, so we could pour the concrete," job supervisor Builder 2nd Class Jose Carrillo said. "Their concrete is a lot different than ours, and it was tricky. We had to work with it to get it right, but it turned out very well."
In addition to laying down the concrete, the Seabees had to install electrical wiring for the helo pad's lighting.
"They had different wire coating than we're used to, and it was really stiff and hard to work with," Carrillo said. "We also had to use transformers to make sure the lights would operate safely."
The Seabees couldn't bring their heavy equipment or supplies due to weight restrictions, so they had to rely on the Jordanians to get them what they needed.
"The city we're in doesn't have a lot of the supplies that we need, so the contractor had to go out of his way to get our stuff from another city about an hour away," Equipment Operator 2nd Class Ethan Townsend said. "That took up a lot of time we didn't really have.
To overcome these challenges, the Seabees utilized the few Jordanians who spoke English to help get the supplies they needed.
"We didn't understand them and they didn't understand us, so we had to use a lot of hand signals, and sometimes it got pretty crazy," Townsend said. "We also couldn't go out in town by ourselves, so we had to try to explain to them what we needed. It was rough at times, but we came through and finished the job."
Even though they had a few obstacles, it was all in a day's work for the Seabees. NMCB 4 will return to Port Hueneme, Calif., in the near future, and other deploying Seabee battalions will finish the rest of the planned helo pads.
"We're really ecstatic about the project and the work the Seabees have done here," Haun said. "They turned the side of a hill into a flat, useful surface. We're really pleased."
"I'm really very thankful to the team, and we really enjoyed working with them," Husein said. "I'm really proud to work more with the Navy. We learned a lot from each other, and the people of Karak appreciate it very much."
"We're just doing what we can to help them out," Townsend said. "They're beautiful people, and overall, we just had a good time out here."
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