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NMCB 40 Gives Humanitarian Aide

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS071016-01
Release Date: 10/16/2007 7:13:00 AM

By Engineering Aide Constructionman Travis Meyer, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40 Public Affairs

MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU AIR BASE, Romania (NNS) -- Eleven Seabees from U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 40 headed to Nova Selo Field Training Range, Bulgaria, for two weeks of humanitarian and civic assistance work in the surrounding area.

The jobs were separated into two different locations; a retirement home in Sliven and a kindergarten classroom in Mokren.

The work for the retirement home consisted of taking out three floors of old glass walls that led to balconies and replacing them with higher quality materials. The old window frames in the home let the heat out during the winter making the rooms too cold for the residents. The Seabees do not have the means to fabricate windows so the work had to be contracted out to a local contractor under Seabee supervision and quality control.

After installation, four Seabees worked two days repairing the adjacent walls where the old windows had been anchored. The Seabees finished the wall repair just in time for a ceremony held at the home.

In 12 days time, 86 man-days were put into making a kindergarten schoolhouse a safer learning environment for children. The scope of work at the school included removing flammable interior wall paneling, repairing, and painting ten walls and installing linoleum floors in three rooms.

Working on the kindergarten classroom was a learning experience and an enjoyable time.

“I learned how to do new things such as cutting into a wall in order to put in a new door and plastering,” said Equipment Operator 3rd Class Christopher Mayer.
“Everything turned out to have a great finish. Everybody’s morale was high - we worked together and had fun at the same time. The work that was put in was really appreciated.”

During the project, all expectations were exceeded.

“We would discover a problem, we’d overcome it and we’d complete it,” said Builder 2nd Class Aaron Fontes, the kindergarten project supervisor.