Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Panter | Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 place fiberglass matting during an...... read more read more
PORT HUENEME, Calif. — On March 27, Seabees assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 successfully completed their airfield damage repair exercise on board Naval Base Ventura County, Port Hueneme in order to become certified for deployment.
ADR has been a vital skill of the Seabees since their founding in World War II. In the event of hostilities involving the United States, Navy airfields are critical assets for maritime patrol operations, tactical fleet resupply, and combat support mission aircraft operations. Damage to airfield pavements from sophisticated enemy munitions threaten air operations. Therefore, it is essential that the Naval Construction Force have ADR capabilities to restore the airfield's launch and recovery capability.
“ADR is one of the key capabilities that people associate with Seabees,” said Ensign Brian Douglas, the ADR Team OIC. “It’s essential that we get this training and are able to accomplish our ADR mission. In the case of a war we’ll be required to repair airfields and we need to be able to make that happen.”
In order to become proficient NMCB 4 assigned one junior officer, one chief petty officer and 47 enlisted sailors to the ADR team to take part in both classroom instruction as well as the final exercise. The ADR team was sent to two separate classes to develop the skills required of them. For the majority of these sailors this class was their first experience with airfield repair.
The level one class consisted of educating junior enlisted sailors in the construction operation and procedures for the damage assessment, foreign object damage, and crater repair team. The level two class consisted of educating the more senior service members with the knowledge and skills necessary to perform as a staff member within the battalion’s ADR organization.
The final exercise for the teams was graded by Naval Construction Group 1. The team was split into three separate crews for the exercise, damage assessment/minimum operating strip crew, crater crew, and foreign object damage crew.
After 6 hours of physically and mentally challenging labor the ADR team completed their work and ensured that the runway was able to meet the operational requirements of a C-130. In doing so they received a fully passing score from NCG1.
“The exercise was a good time, everyone worked hard and we were able to get some great training in for the junior troops,” said Construction Mechanic 2nd Class Levi Sanchez.
Completing the exercise brings NMCB 4 one certification closer to full mission readiness.
| Date Taken: | 03.27.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 04.08.2014 20:10 |
| Story ID: | 125032 |
| Location: | PORT HUENEME, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 181 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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