NMCB 74 Perfects the Basics During Field Exercise
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS081231-01
Release Date: 12/31/2008 10:19:00 AM
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class John Hulle, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74 Public Affairs
CAMP SHELBY, Miss. (NNS) -- Chiefs and officers assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 74 conducted a field exercise Dec. 13-20.
The khaki FEX helped senior Seabees and Sailors at the Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, Miss., prepare for an upcoming battalion-wide field training exercise in March.
"In order to appreciate what the junior Seabees go through, it's important that the senior leaders understand the same frustrations," said NMCB 74 Command Master Chief Brian Farricy, a Syracuse, N.Y., native. "We are putting people in positions they might not be familiar with."
"This is absolutely a new experience," said Chief Career Counselor Surgann Coker-Bello, NMCB 74 command career counselor, while waist deep in mud digging a fighting position with an E-tool. "There is nothing from the fleet side that I can compare to this type of training."
Wearing a Kevlar helmet and a modular tactical vest with an M4 rifle slung across her back, the 40-year-old Florence, S.C., native said it was "a definite eye opener for what the troops will be going through" during the next field exercise.
After setting up a tent camp and communications, the Seabees and Sailors spent the first four days of the exercise split into four squads, each day focusing on a different evolution, such as digging and reinforcing defensive positions, driving Humvee's in convoys, walking patrols and command and control in the combat operations center while often switching positions within their squad.
R-75, the weapons and tactics division of the 20th Seabee Readiness Group, conducted the training.
Watching a patrol from afar, Chief Builder James Bryan, R-75 leading chief petty officer, said "they are doing outstanding; they are all really motivated and helping each other out."
"If they haven't done this before, we have to teach them," said Ensign Dennis Lang, NMCB 74 bridge detachment officer in charge and Alfa Company platoon leader.
Lang, a 33-year-old Chicago native, is a prior equipment operator chief with 15 years with the Seabees and has seven non-Seabee members of his squad. He said the lessons learned during this and his former khaki FEX's as a chief make a huge difference in his ability to be a leader, especially in his ability to see the big picture.
The culmination of the week was a Seabee Challenge, with squads competing against each other in several stations along a six-mile course. Stations ranged from mounting crew serve weapons on a vehicle, to land navigation.
Lang said the Seabee Challenge was "extremely physically and mentally grueling," especially the small arms station where fire teams had to disassemble an M4 rifle and M9 pistol after doing a 20-yard low crawl and jumping jacks with a gas mask on.
After a week of living and working close to each other, Coker-Bello said the FEX was a huge bonding experience for her.
"If I didn't know any of the chiefs or officers, now I know them better. We have a connection," she said.
NMCB 74 Commanding Officer Cmdr. Bruce Nevel said he was proud of the all the effort and success of the exercise closing with "so goes khaki FEX, so goes FTX, so goes deployment."
For more news from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74, visit www.navy.mil/local/nmcb74.
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