Seabees Provide Critical Skills, Instruction to Thai Allies

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS120629-12
6/29/2012

By Builder 3rd Class Melissa Talley, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40 Public Affairs

HAT YAO, Thailand (NNS) -- Seabees from U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 40 participated in the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training exercise in conjunction with their Thai counterparts, May 20.

During the bilateral training exercise, NMCB 40's nine-person team removed debris to clear the way for new and existing roadways for use during real-world humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) missions.

The Seabees surveyed nearby buildings to determine whether they were structurally sound enough to occupy for use as temporary medical facilities. Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Jeremy Brown was on site to help train medical personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard and the Thai medical team. Brown taught and demonstrated the required skills necessary in the recovery and treatment of mass casualties injured during the mock disaster.

"Despite advances in our combat lifesaving techniques since World War I and World War II, it's refreshing to see that all docs around the world are on the same page, using the basics with one goal in mind, with one fight, to save lives and get troops back on the battle field," said Brown.

Steelworker 1st Class Angel Cano said, "It's important to understand the way other foreign military construction forces work. In order to be efficient in the face of adversity you must understand how they work, and work side by side with them to build stronger interoperability."

NMCB 40 is the Naval Construction Force's 2011 Pacific Fleet Battle "E" and Peltier Award wining Seabee Battalion. The battalion deployed throughout the U.S. Pacific Command in November 2011, and is scheduled to return to Port Hueneme, Calif., in the summer 2012. Fighting 40 deployment locations include Okinawa, Sasebo, and Yokosuka, Japan; Guam, Korea, the Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, Timor Leste, Diego Garcia, and Palau.