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Seabees Bring Safety, Structure to Iraqi Town
Story Number: NNS030911-06
Release Date: 9/12/2003 2:06:00 AM
By Journalist 1st Class Lisa Keding, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7 Public Affairs
DIWANIYAH, Iraq (NNS) -- Hundreds of Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 7, deployed from Gulfport, Miss., started working in An Nasiriyah in March. For three months, they helped build a variety of structures, establish security and instill a new source of hope for the people in the southern Iraqi city.
“An Nasiriyah is a city that endured some pretty hard fighting,” said Lt. Cmdr. Dean Vanderley, the battalion’s operation officer. “This is also the part of Iraq that rebelled against Saddam Hussein after the first war, and these are the people he punished.”
Investing money in the city was one way to instill hope. More than $600 million U.S. dollars were found in Baghdad alone during inspections by U.S. forces, and some of those seized funds were used to rebuild the Iraqi city, and pay Iraqi workers and contractors who assisted with rebuilding.
After helping Marine forces establish law and order, the Seabees dove into assisting with the rebuilding. The first building repaired by the Bees, with the help of Iraqi contractors, was the city’s courthouse. They repaired more than $85,000 worth of damage to the building.
“This structure proved to be a key meeting place in establishing the new city council, which helped to establish law and order in the city,” Vanderley said.
In the city of An Nasiriyah alone, the Seabees logged more than 6,000 work-hours helping repair, or administering Iraqi contracts to repair, more than $500,000 worth of structural damage to buildings there.
Much of the damage came from fires set by members of the old regime in order to destroy documents within the buildings. Iraqi militants also used many of the schools as fighting positions during firefights in March.
On the list of repairs finished by the Seabees in An Nasiriyah are nine schools, a courthouse and three water treatment plants. However, one of the most important repairs occurred when one of the Seabees used his technical expertise to help literally jump-start the city.
Construction Electrician 1st Class Jeff Ham was detailed to work for the 4th Civic Affairs Group, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit in April. He worked with Iraqi engineers at the city’s power plant. For more than a month prior to his arrival, more than 350,000 people in the area had no power.
Ham arrived in An Nasiriyah April 9. A few days after his arrival, he took an assessment flight over the power plant. He then devised three plans to restart the plant’s Russian steam-turbine generator.
Two weeks later, his third plan worked. After arranging a 10-megawatt jump from the closest power plant in the city of Al Basrah, the people of An Nasiriyah had power again. It was a remarkable feat for Ham, since he had never seen a Russian generator before. Also, the task itself was an enormous effort to coordinate, considering the generator was about three stories high.
After electricity was established, the Seabees began repairing buildings in the town, employing Iraqi contractors to help.
“I think we’re getting the people back to work and letting them work for themselves,” said Lt. Jim Brown, the battalion’s assistant operations officer.
In June, a large portion of the Seabees, who worked in An Nasiriyah, moved up to Ad Diwaniyah in central Iraq. Seabees from the battalion finished their work there Aug. 24. Their efforts in the city seemed to mirror their previous work in An Nasiriyah. They established a safe working environment for themselves and the Iraqis, and they helped with repairs to numerous structures and buildings in the city.
Months after the Seabees began working in Iraq, Brown brought up that he is slowly seeing a change in the Iraqi people.
“These people have been oppressed so long, that we’re having to teach them what freedom is,” said Brown. “Freedom to have a choice in the decision making process. A choice to listen to what someone else, besides one man, may have to say.”
Many of the Seabees in the battalion hope their efforts continue to give the Iraqi people a new sense of freedom and hope, so they can build a better future for themselves and their society.
For more news from around the fleet, visit the Navy NewsStand at www.news.navy.mil.
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