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NMCB 4 Completes Historic Deployment

Navy Newsstand

Story Number: NNS030911-09 Release Date: 9/11/2003 5:01:00 PM

By Journalist 1st Class Kate Roberts, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 Public Affairs

CAMP COVINGTON, Guam (NNS) -- As exciting as a deployment can be in the beginning, nothing compares to returning to homeport and the arms of friends and families waiting there. That's exactly what the Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 4 are looking forward to in September, as the Battalion returns to its homeport in Port Hueneme, Calif., completing a historic deployment after distinguishing itself during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).

NMCB 4's latest deployment slipped from routine into contingency somewhere in the basement of the Pentagon late last year. Seabees, thinking they were deploying to Guam for six months of regular construction projects, began to get the feeling their plans would change last December while at Fort Hunter-Liggett conducting a homeport field exercise.

"I got a call in the middle of the exercise," stated Cmdr. Jim Worcester, the battalion commanding officer. "I was told to finish the exercise, take a good Christmas break, and prepare the battalion to move out after the first of the New Year. This meant deploying the battalion three months earlier than scheduled."

The Seabees soon found themselves clad in desert battle dress uniforms and clutching M-16 rifles, ready to fly to the Middle East in support of OIF. Their surprise melted into dogged determination, as the battalion prepared for the possibility of conflict with Iraq.

The battalion's Seabee Engineer Reconnaissance Team, or SERT, was the first to deploy. In late January, the 10-man team, along with an advanced planning cell of battalion staff left March Air Force Base for the Kuwaiti desert. This team would later take part in the most significant combat action involving Seabees during the war.

The battalion's air detachment left soon after, but not for the desert. Instead, they were called on to support the Army's 4th Infantry Division in Turkey, which was developing plans for northern operations.

"When I heard we were going to Turkey, I knew this was no ordinary deployment," said air detachment member, Builder 3rd Class Andre Zapata. He and the detachment began to build living and working spaces for the 4th Infantry Division there. The air detachment would later move south into Iraq to help rebuild schools and other community infrastructure in An Najaf and Karbala.

The battalion's main body finally left homeport March 1 and hit the ground running in Kuwait. The battalion was quickly divided into two groups; the command element, which would participate in the initial ground combat phases of the operation, and the rear echelon, which provided critical logistics support from the rear area.

The command element directly supported 1st Marine Division as they charged through Iraq to Baghdad. Along the way, the Seabees built five bridges and numerous roads. They built three of the five bridges in the Baghdad suburbs crossing the Diyala River, a tributary of the Tigris River.

For most of the war, NMCB 4 followed closely behind Marine combat operations, but often found themselves in harms way in order to complete their bridge projects. NMCB 4 was the first Seabee battalion to reach Baghdad and the only west coast Seabee battalion to play an active role in the war.

As NMCB 4's command element moved north, the rear echelon worked hard to keep it supplied with food, spare parts, mail and other essential supplies. They spent their days in long convoys traveling through Iraq, always at risk of ambush in support of their shipmates.

"We simply could not have survived without the support we received from our rear echelon in Kuwait," asserted Worcester. "The role they played was critical to the battalion's overall success. Without them, we would have died on the vine."

As offensive combat operations came to a close, the command element relocated to Ad Diwaniyah, Iraq, approximately 100 miles south of Baghdad to begin humanitarian operations.

Seabees there worked closely with local Iraqi contractors using seized money for rebuilding the infrastructure of the community. They rebuilt 18 schools, a courthouse, a police station and a jail. Additionally, they partnered with families and friends in the states to bring school supplies to the children in Ad Diwaniyah.

In May, a detail of 20 Seabees was sent from Iraq to Bahrain. They completed projects there and in Al Karak, Jordan, where they finished a helicopter pad. Also in May, a small Civil Action Team was sent from Iraq to the island of Palau, in the Philippine Islands where they handled humanitarian projects.

In July, the command element and rear echelon reunited in Kuwait, and redeployed by the end of the month to Camp Covington, Guam, to put the final touches on its long, distinguished deployment. Soon after, they turned the camp over to NMCB 28, a reserve battalion based at Barksdale Air Force Base, La.