CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan –Seabees assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 15, headquartered out of Belton Mo., arrived in Afghanistan earlier in April to support Operation Enduring Freedom.
As the International Security Assistance Force continues to drawdown, NMCB 15, operating under the recently coined name “Task Force True Grit”, is spearheading engineering retrograde operations.
“We just won’t be in one forward operating base,” said Commander Anthony Spinler, NMCB 15’s Commanding Officer. “Whether it is a squad of twelve or a large detachment of 100 or more, we tailor ourselves to the task at hand. That’s one of the things that make Seabees unique.”
Upon mission tasking, the Operations Department task tailors’ each project into detachments by supported commander priority, deploying to locations throughout the area of operations to support a wide-variety of engineering operations.
Spinler added that this deployment will be different from a standard one in that the number of tasks is greater and that Seabees will be continuously formed into new teams.
“The missions are a lot shorter,” said Spinler. “They may only be on a job for two weeks before they return and then reorganize into a new build-team.”
“I think this deployment will be exciting,” said Construction Mechanic 1st Class Justin Bohaty. “The opportunity to work on many jobs with different people will break-up the monotony and avoid complacency.“
While deployed, NMCB 15 will be tasked with completing numerous projects in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, including the drilling of water-wells, camp maintenance and various deconstruction projects.
NMCB 15 is currently deployed as part of the joint U.S. Theater Engineer Brigade in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and is an expeditionary engineering element of U.S. Naval forces supporting units worldwide through national force readiness, humanitarian assistance, and building and maintaining infrastructure.
For more news, visit www.navy.mil
For more news from NMCB 15 visit www.facebook.com/NMCB15