Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Sarah Mattison | U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Kevin Tye watches Lance Cpl. Zachary Ellis, both combat...... read more read more
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THIES, Senegal – Since 1941, the Naval Construction Battalions, or Seabees, have served a unique role supporting Navy and Marines in austere locations around the world. They have built support facilities, roads and bridges during war and peace time and served side-by-side with Marines in the fight.
Most recently the Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Bn. 3, based in Port Hueneme, Calif., joined forces with the Marine Wing Support Squadron 473 (MWSS-473), from Ft. Worth, Texas, to build a training facility for the Senegalese Armed Forces.
The purpose of the project is to create training lanes for live fire convoy operations. “Future exercises and training will allow the Senegalese to practice shooting heavy guns from moving vehicles at various targets,” said Navy Ens. Daniel Curley, the officer-in-charge of the Seabee detachment.
The Navy shipped in a number of heavy equipment vehicles to help with the development of the training lane roads and the Marines took to the task. The operators used the heavy equipment (dozer, grader, and roller) to create a smooth path and drainage so it can withstand heavy rains.
The project also included the building of a large wooden observation tower to serve as a training view point. The Seabees coached and mentored the Marines in the construction of the tower.
“This is a high-op tempo, so we have a chance to experience many things we normally wouldn’t do,” said Sgt. Orry Jenkins, platoon sergeant for MWSS-473.
The Marines bound the large telephone poles and timbers as one huge Erector Set and plan to stand it up in the coming days.
“Once the construction is completed, the range will provide another training area to improve tactics,” Jenkins added.
Together, the Marines and Navy Seabees worked as one team, building a tower piece-by-piece that would prepare the West African nation for peace-keeping operations.
The service members are taking part in Western Accord 2012 – a multi-lateral exercise with Senegalese and several Western African nations. The exercise will focus on various types of military training to include: live-fire training, peacekeeping operations, intelligence capacity building, command post, and disaster response training. In addition, a medical humanitarian assistance project will run concurrent with the training.
The exercise is coordinated by Marine Forces Africa and runs from June 26 – July 24. More than 600 U.S. service members and approximately 600 members of the Armed Forces of Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Gambia and France will participate.
| Date Taken: | 07.11.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 07.12.2012 12:54 |
| Story ID: | 91434 |
| Location: | THIAS, SN |
| Web Views: | 546 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Marines and Seabees deploy to West Africa, by LT Peter Walz, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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