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NMCB 4 Provides Expertise in Joint Airfield Construction

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS070720-12
Release Date: 7/20/2007 12:14:00 PM

By Air Force Master Sgt. Rickie Bickle, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4, Public Affairs, Det. Guam

BRADSHAW FIELD TRAINING AREA, Australia (NNS) -- Thirty-one Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 4 personnel returned to Guam on July 8 after participating in the combined Joint Rapid Airfield Construction (JRAC) element of Exercise Talisman Saber 2007.

JRAC was a training exercise conducted at Bradshaw Field Training Area near Timber Creek. The JRAC Task Force comprised of U.S. and Australian personnel were challenged to construct a C-17 airfield with turning aprons in less than 25 days.

NMCB 4 personnel, along with other Task Force members, completed the runway in 16 days, leaving behind a airstrip for future use by other units exercising in the Bradshaw Training Area capable of landings by C-17s.

After completion of the runway project, JRAC Task Force members hosted a VIP day June 29 officially opening Nackaroo Airfield at Bradshaw Field Training Area. Distinguished guests from the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps and the Australian Army, Air Force and Australian legislature arrived via a C-130.
The JRAC Task Force demonstrated the technologies they used during the project through briefs and presentations.

Airfield operations included the arrival of two C-17 aircrafts, one from the U.S. Air Force landing first followed by one from the Royal Australian Air Force. Both aircraft carried armored vehicles and demonstrated the ability to off-load on the airfield.

After presentations and briefs, guests mingled with personnel and talked with construction crews.

Vice Adm. William Douglas Crowder, Commander U.S. 7th Fleet, talked with Equipment Operator 2nd Class Francis J. Villareal about the airfield construction.

“I was excited and intimidated at the same time because that was my first time talking to an admiral. It was a pretty good experience; he was very interested about the Seabees and our accomplishments in Talisman Saber,” Villareal said.

All of the distinguished visitors were impressed with the work accomplished and the technology used to complete the task.