DIEGO GARCIA, British Indian Ocean Territory - Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3 officially relieved NMCB 5 of all duties and project activities during a change of charge ceremony Aug. 11 held at the detachment’s headquarters in Diego Garcia.
According to the detachment’s officer in charge Navy Ensign Mallory Smith, her detachment is excited to help strengthen ties with the allied British government who owns Diego Garcia’s territory in the Indian Ocean.
"My team is focused and happy to be engaged in what we do best - construction is the Seabee's bread and butter,” said Smith. “This project allows us to provide a valuable living area to other people working just as hard as we plan to. It will allow us to leave a lasting imprint and through our quality labor, further strengthen ties with one of our oldest allies."
During the six-month deployment, the Seabees will continue construction on a 3,000 square foot modified contractor living unit. It will consist of 12 rooms with shared bathrooms, a common area, kitchen and laundry.
“Diego Garcia is a beautiful island and the people we are working with are great professionals,” said Smith. “Our project is important to providing the contractors here with improved living conditions that will hopefully increase their quality of life.”
One of the first battalions commissioned during World War II, NMCB 3’s legacy stands strong in its ability to build and fight anywhere in the world as either a full battalion or as a group of autonomous detachments, simultaneously completing critical engineering and construction missions.
For this deployment, NMCB 3 has split into nine detachments to perform critical construction projects in remote island areas such as Timor-Leste, Tonga, Cambodia and the Philippines. The teams will also conduct operations in Atsugi, Yokosuka and Okinawa, Japan, Chinhae, South Korea and China Lake, Calif.
The naval construction force is a vital component of the U.S. maritime strategy. They provide deployable battalions capable of providing disaster preparation and recovery support, humanitarian assistance and combat operations support.
NMCB 3 provides combatant commanders and Navy component commanders with combat-ready warfighters capable of general engineering, construction and limited combat engineering across the full range of military operations.