Uganda Peoples Defense Force Staff Sgt. Alex Agudio along with Seabees from the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3 arranges the back piece of a form in place. A form is constructed at the foundation of a bridge and is used to hold concrete in place while it dries. The NMBC 3 detachment, ported in Hueneme, Calif., is currently deployed to Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa, and is schedule to complete the bridge in January 2010. Photo by Staff Sgt. Ronald Lafosse

The camp’s perimeter looks like it has been overgrown by bushy Central African foliage. The plant life conceals five-foot-diameter coils of concertina wire strung through it by Seabees from one of the U.S. Navy’s mobile construction teams.

At the modest camp’s core is a series of canvas tents, each the color and texture of cracked, dry desert mud. These tents provide living space and working facilities for the 25 Seabees and two U.S. Air Force communication specialists assigned here. Construction equipment and trucks are arranged neatly, away from the tents. Mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere, along with birds and small reptiles.

The three free-standing, facilities on the camp are its two containerized washrooms and a small wood-constructed dining facility. There’s one tree, near the entrance to the camp.

“We live in tents and sleep on cots, but we make it work. I haven’t heard one complaint about the conditions here,” said St. Louis native constructionman, Seaman Christina Follmer, a Seabee assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3.

NMCB-3, based out of Port Hueneme, Calif., is one of two battalions which have worked on this project. Physical work on the Aromo Bridge water crossing has been in progress since at least April, but it was in the planning and engineering phases before that. When the support structures are completed, a multi-section, 140-foot span will be properly balanced and pushed out on rollers, counterbalanced on one end and otherwise without supports above or pylons below.

Gravity, the construction of the span and the workmanship of the Seabees will allow the bridge to stand on its own after the counter-balancing load is removed. For their part, NMCB-3 has been concentrating its efforts on creating solid abutments in muddy bluffs on either side of the Achwa River. NMCB-3 relieved a crew from NMCB-11 from Gulfport, Miss., on this site.

Follmer and the other Seabees here have lived the same routine, day-in and day-out, for the last two months. They leave this camp and drive two miles to their job site, a bridge under construction, and spend their assembling heavy gauge wire baskets called gabions. Then they are filled with local rock provided by a Ugandan contractor and stacked accordingly to specifications to provide a solid base for the new abutments.

“This is what I do. I’ve been swinging a hammer since I was a kid. So this is right in my line of work,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Steven Szyplinski, a builder and native of Washougal, Wash. Szyplinski is currently the bridge foreman and uses his experience in construction to direct the other Seabees.

Every day, when they’re done with the first half of the day’s work, they head back to their camp to relax over lunch. Today, they are treated to the smell of roasting meat; it’ll be steak for the mid-day meal.

While they wait for the word, they stand under their shade tree, trying to stay out of the hot October sun. Usually, around 1 p.m. the word for lunch hits and Seabees gravitate to the galley.

After lunch, Chief Petty Officer Thomas Sharp, a utilitiesman and assistant officer in charge, said the Seabees are scheduled to push the British-fabricated, component-constructed, 140-foot Mabey-Johnson bridge in place this December. They will use an excavator which will allow them to control the bridge more safely rather than pushing it by hand.

Ensign John Daly, mission commander for NMCB-3′s Seabees here, said the construction of the cantilever bridge project is nearing the 40 percent mark. Tropical Ugandan rains slow progress from time to time, making the ground a muddy soup that Daly described as being difficult to walk in. The equatorial sun dries the rain-soaked dirt, leaving a cracked-earth walking surface — and nearly everyone on the site caked in layers of dried mud. Their sweat keeps the silt in their boots wet as they work.

“As long as we have good work to do every day, good food to eat and get to call home once in a while, the days roll right along and carry with them incremental progress,” said Daly. “It also helps to be able to take a decent shower at the end of the day and to put on some dry shoes.”

Even the most junior Seabees on the job are focused. “We know we are here for the people, and everyone takes pride in the work,” said Follmer, sweat making tracks through the caked dust on her face. The Sailors have also made friends here, trading laughs and small commercial items as gestures of trust and friendship.

“A lot of people go out of their way here, whenever we go into town, to buy school supplies for the kids,” said Follmer. “Everyone is really trying to pull together and help out. Whether it is including them in our physical fitness training or simply going around and asking them ‘Hey, do you need help,’ or ‘How are things going,’ trying to understand their lives.”

Follmer continued, “The kids will continue benefiting from the bridge long after we are gone.”

“It rains almost every single day here, which we know is a blessing to the Ugandans, but it makes for a challenging project, especially working on a drainage feature crossing,” said Daly. “This is exactly the kind of work we joined the Navy to do, so the chance to do it, regardless of the environment, is exciting.”

DVIDS
Story by Staff Sgt. Ronald Lafosse

A small group of eight U.S. Navy Seabees from Amphibious Construction Battalion Two, Detachment India recently completed a long overdue electrical upgrade to the Zurbatiyah port of entry border crossing. The crossing is one of four main border posts along the 1,000-mile Iran-Iraq border operated by the directorate of border enforcement, Iraqi army and Iraqi police services.

They control a hive of activity in the otherwise empty desert with over 150 oil trucks crossing daily and over 1,500 Iranians, almost all of them pilgrims, crossing to visit Iraq’s Shiite shrines in the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.

Fresh off completing a recent Patrol Base build, the Seabees arrived to the site in mid-October and made immediate impacts to the POE, normally operating on less than two hours a day of city power. The Seabees provided the POE the capability to have power supplied 24 hours a day, seven days a week with the installation of two new generators, manual transfer switches to change power supply from city to generator power, and upgraded power distribution lines to all critical facilities.

“What the Seabees have done for this place is nothing short of remarkable,” commented Border Transition Team Leader, Major Raymond Smith, Fort Riley, KS local. “They [Seabees] have taken a facility that was consumed with severe electrical safety hazards and made it a safe working environment for all employees and visitors passing through.”

“When we arrived it looked like a spider web of electrical wires and cables everywhere…I’ve never seen anything like it,” stated Petty Officer 2nd Class William Jackson, project electrician and native of Raleigh, N.C. “I was surprised not to hear any horror stories of people being electrocuted.”

In less than 30 days, the hard charging Seabees continued to prove the “Can Do” spirit and turned over a project that will reap benefits until Iraqi electrical infrastructure improvements reach the outlying areas.

DVIDS
By Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew K. Burns
555th Engineer Brigade

DVIDS
By Lt. Cmdr. David McAlister, Lt. j.g. Daniel Sommerville

The gray, dismal day was no deterrent for the engineers of 814th Multi-Role Bridge Company (MRBC), also known as bridgers, as they constructed the second floating span of a Mabey Johnson Float Bridge in the Al Anbar Province, Jan. 25.

With the continued emphasis on reducing coalition force impact to the local Iraqi population, 30th Naval Construction Regiment (NCR) (Forward) coordinated the emplacement of the Mabey Johnson Float Bridge as a replacement to the Tactical Assault Float Bridge that has been deployed at this site for nearly a year.

A Mabey Johnson Float Bridge is supported by pontoons in the water rather than fixed piers in the ground. The floating bridge was designed to be deployed during an assault or troop movement to enable the troops to cross a wet gap or river. The engineers would travel ahead to install the floating bridge so the convoys could continue across the river. The bridgers would then fall behind to collect the bridge and prepare for the next wet gap.

“This bridge satisfies three objectives vital to Multi-National Force – West,” says Lt. Wade Horton, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) area construction engineer. “It maintains a critical line of communication, reduces maintenance requirements from daily to monthly, and allows for tactical redeployment of extremely limited assault float bridging.”

The bridging mission progressed on schedule despite the challenges encountered since the project began. While the site is excellent from an operational standpoint, it required substantial site preparation by the Soldiers of 82nd Engineer Support Company to stabilize the soil, establish adequate approaches to the bridge and relocate irrigation equipment used by a local farmer.

One of the unusual challenges overcome by the construction crew was the unpredictable and dramatic change in river water level caused by an upstream dam releasing water in response to the requirements of a local hydroelectric facility.

“These water level fluctuations changed the river level by as much as three feet in the space of one to two hours,” said 30th NCR (Fwd) Operations Officer, Lt. Cmdr. David McAlister. “As the team prepared to launch the first floating span, the water level rose three feet without warning. The launching rollers and bridge were raised to account for the change in water level in order to ensure that bridge span could be successfully launched onto the pontoons.”

Working with the Mabey Johnson field service representative, the Army engineers were able to rapidly reconfigure the launch site and successfully place the first floating span onto pontoons.

The Mabey Johnson Float Bridge is the first of its type to be emplaced by 814th MRBC. Through exceptional training and interaction with an on-site Mabey Johnson technical representative, the bridge went together flawlessly.

“The bridgers of 814th MRBC are highly motivated and aggressively sought ways to complete the project ahead of schedule,” said McAlister. “Even while coordinating a daily visit by a local Iraqi farmer whose irrigation pump is on the project site and working beside an Iraqi contractor as they completed repairs to a local railway system, the team executed their mission safely.”

The crew of Army bridgers was augmented by steelworkers from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 15 who contributed vital welding expertise necessary to prepare the floating pontoons.

“The NMCB 15 steelworkers welded distribution beams and winch trays to the pontoons. The distribution beams distribute the weight of the bridge and vehicular traffic across the pontoons and the winch trays secure the anchorage system to the pontoons.” said Lt. j.g. Daniel Sommerville, 30th NCR (Fwd) engineering officer.

This project is an exciting example of successful partnership between Army and Navy engineers.

“The project is truly a complex construction evolution requiring coordination between crane operators, boat operators, and soldiers on the ground”, said Sommerville. “Observing the effective and safe interaction between the crane crews, boat crews, and bridgers evokes pride in being an engineer and appreciation for the professionalism and skill possessed by the Army bridgers!”

Once the two floating spans and two landing spans were completed, ramps were constructed at each approach. The final product, completed Feb. 3, is a single lane bridge capable of sustained operations with minimal maintenance required from coalition forces.

“This is one more opportunity for engineers in Al Anbar to make a difference for the coalition forces, for the Iraqi security forces, and most importantly the Iraqi people,” said McAlister. “Ensuring mobility across Al Anbar will not only allow the Iraqi security forces to continue their progression towards self reliance, but ensures the local Iraqi economy is free to prosper and gets the Iraqis that much closer to a normal life.”