GULFPORT, Miss. – Naval Construction Battalion (NCB) 14, completes fiscal year 2024, quarter two, annual training (AT) at Naval Construction Battalion Center, Gulfport, and Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, March 22, 2024. The purpose of the “turning point” exercise AT was to conduct certification and unit level training with NCB-14's Mineral Products Company (MPC) focusing on water well drilling and mineral products production, while also orchestrating a command post (CP) between the two work sites.
“This new company is part of the NCB force re-design and NCB-14 is leading the efforts on forming and certifying these new units of action for deployment,” said Cmdr. Daniel Scheer, NCB-14’s commanding officer. “The mineral products production and water well drilling are required operational capabilities as identified by the Chief of Naval Operations and Naval Expeditionary Combat Command in order to provide the necessary support for potential future Major Combat Operations events. It is our duty as reserve construction force Sailors to train and prove our readiness in these important skill sets that the Navy and Department of Defense have identified. These evolutions help us prove our capabilities and also refine our tactics, techniques, and procedures to be even more efficient at the sustainment level event.”
MPC utilized an Eagle rock crusher to provide quality aggregate that in turn will be used for quality road and foundation bedding, and quality concrete and asphalt production. The company’s field training exercise showcased how their capabilities will impact the future battle-space. This increases the Naval Construction Forces’s ability to repair everything from ports to runways and can be used in new construction.
“This training evolution’s primary purpose is to ensure that NCB-14 Seabees are able to operate the Eagle rock crusher on their own,” said Equipment Operator First Class Dillan Trejo, one of the instructors from Naval Construction Group Two (NCG-2), Gulfport. “Out of the 25 Seabees in the class, only 5 of them had prior experience with this machine. Once they got the concept and saw how it all pieced together, they were able to crush on their own without any help from us. They have learned a lot from their time here and got in some quality training.”
Meanwhile, over at Camp Shelby, NCB-14’s water well team proved the ability to provide clean, safe, potable water. In a tactical environment water well teams are able to provide sources of potable water at forward operating bases thus reducing the need for convoys and their inherent improvised explosive device risk. Water borne diseases are a leading cause of death for children worldwide. When combined with a civil affairs mission, water wells give the Navy and their allies access to countries that could lead to better understanding and partnership.
“NCB-14 was graded on doing a task-tailored mission to deploy and embark out to their own site, set up camp, set up communications and successfully drill a well,” said Equipment Operator Second Class Beau Schramm, one of the water well drilling instructors from NCG-2. “They have to first take charge and care of all of their equipment, come out to the site to do a pre-deployment site survey, and begin their around-the-clock drilling. I’ll tell you right now, NCB-14 came out here, started strong, faced a lot of unforeseen but normal problems but got right back up and did a great job.”
While both teams conducted their separate evolutions, Seabees also received training running Command Post (CP). CP is the center of command and control of the company that acted as a main communication hub between the two active sites of the crusher and the water well. CP personnel were able to practice their primary communications consisting of project statuses, logistics, and scenario based training such as tracking enemy tactical situations, drone attacks, and indirect fire attacks as well as formulating proper responses.
“I am proud of the efforts of the entire MPC team and the other battalion companies that supported the event,” said Scheer. “From planning to execution to retrograde, the team was engaged, detailed, and proved their proficiency through the entire exercise. It is an honor to have the opportunity to serve with these outstanding Seabees.”
NCB-14 provides advance base construction, battle damage repair, contingency engineering, humanitarian assistance and disaster recovery support to our fleet and unified commanders.
| Date Taken: | 03.22.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.13.2024 10:37 |
| Story ID: | 469723 |
| Location: | GULFPORT, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Web Views: | 26 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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