Page 43 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2017

Many people driving through Gulfport don’t realize that just a few blocks off Highway 49 lies the Naval Construction Battalion Center. It’s home to 5,000 Naval personnel working daily
to continue the mission to train, equip and
deploy Seabees throughout the world.
the base is safe and secure from man- made threats and natural mishaps, and all personnel onboard the installation are being good stewards of federal funds. Not everyone on the installation is a Seabee, but a large majority of the work is to support two vital missions: to train Seabees
at the Naval Construction Training Center and to send them out to deployments.
Another large training mission on the base is the Expeditionary Combat Skills course where more
than 2,000 Navy students train in subjects such as land navigation, combat first aid, rifle and pistol marksmanship, combat shooting, basic communications, convoy fundamentals, and improvised explosive device recognition.
“This course is outstanding because it provides the expeditionary combat
skills and dynamic training necessary for the Navy’s Expeditionary Force. It
is common to see senior officers and junior enlisted
training side-by-side,” Lt. Cmdr. Preston
Roland said.
ABOVE: After intensive rifle and pistol marksmanship training while assigned to NCBC Gulfport, Seabees check for shooting accuracy at Camp Leatherneck, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
BELOW: A dump truck operated by a Seabee assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 11 dumps gravel for a road construction project in southern Helmand Province, Afghanistan, as another vehicle provides security.
FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net July 2017 • SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living 43