Winter Talon Trains Seabees for Success During Upcoming Deployment
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS090330-18
Release Date: 3/30/2009 11:14:00 PM
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class John Hulle
CAMP SHELBY, Miss (NNS) -- Seabees assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 74 participated in Winter Talon on board Camp Shelby, Miss., March 5-25 to prepare for deployment.
Sitting ankle deep in mud, Builder Constructionman Mark Williams, a Seabee assigned to NMCB 74, watched as his position filled slowly with muck and cold water. A set of Gortex pants and jacket protected him from the cold, but after three days of inclement weather they are soaked through.
"Getting used to this vest and pack is tough, but the rain is the worst part," he said. This is the Clarksville, Miss., native's first field exercise, and he admits it's not what he expected.
"It took two days to dig the hole," said Williams. Being in a construction battalion, he assumed a back-hoe would make easy work of the chest-deep pit over one hundred yards, but instead sweat and an E-tool, a small folding shovel, did the work.
"A lot of the things you see over here are probably not things you will see on deployment," said Lt. Reggie McNeil, operations officer for Winter Talon. "You will not see all these trees, you will probably not see us digging fighting positions or laying concertina wire or anything we are doing [here] for defense."
But the training is important.
"It refreshes that Seabees' memory on what to do if they are in that type of environment and how we need to communicate from a leadership position down to the lowest level and how we communicate our tasking," added McNeil.
During a visit, Capt. Robert McLean, commodore, 22nd Naval Construction Regiment, said Seabees are deployed to 30 countries around the world "playing a tremendous role by supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and [the] global war on terror," including conducting humanitarian aid and direct combat support.
"No one is better than Seabees at developing relations and winning hearts and minds," said McLean.
This was Builder 2nd Class Cary Barton's, a squad leader assigned to NMCB-74, fourth field exercise, but after deployments to Iraq, Korea, Japan and Bahamas, he said he understands the importance of the training especially getting used to sleep deprivation and working in other than ideal conditions.
"It's very important for everyone to test themselves, to have basic knowledge for a contingency environment," said Barton.
The exercise is broken up into two portions, the field training exercise (FTX) portion, followed by the final evaluation period, often just referred to as FEP. During all aspects of the training, instructors from the 20th Seabee Readiness Group (SRG) oversaw the work and graded the battalion.
"During the FTX phase, you want to make sure you are engaged with the instructor from the 20th SRG," said McNeil. "If you don't accomplish it you can try it again, but during FEP, it's a graded evolution."
Embarkation, airfield disaster repair, chemical, biological, radiological protection, defense, construction tasking, camp layout, command and control, and command operation center operations are all a challenge in the field with limited resources, but McNeil saw it as "a great opportunity for Seabees to learn how to work together." He said the hardest part for operations was moving.
With a separate bridge detachment, air-detachment, convoy security element and the main body, learning how to move people and more than 70 pieces of civil engineering support equipment between a logistical support area and several forward operating bases was a challenge, especially while dealing with riot control agents to simulate chemical attacks, small arms fire and mortars.
Contingency construction is the goal, but learning how to stay safe in any environment is even more important.
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