SEABEES SAY

Reserve SEABEES pause in Kuwait before moving into Iraq.

Below is a source for current news on SEABEES in Iraq, courtesy of the Biloxi (Miss.) Sun-Herald newspaper and it's reporter embedded with SEABEE units in Iraq. Biloxi is in the local vicinity of the Naval Construction Battalion Center, Gulfport, Mississippi.

BACK TO IRAQ

Sun Herald reporter back in Iraq Military writer Patrick Peterson is in Iraq with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74, which is based in Gulfport. He will report on the mission of the Seabees while he is overseas.

Here is one of his reports featuring a long time shipmate and personal friend of "Stormin' Normand" . Chief Construction Mechanic Lee Longacre is only one of many good shipmates in the reserve unit, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion-14, now activated as of March 1st, 2004 and currently in Iraq. This deployment "hits home" for all of us left behind having concerns for the safety of the deployed troops and all their loved ones back home. May God bless them and return them all safely to us at the end of their mission. "Stormin' "

IRAQ

Seabees set up signals to enter hostile territory

By PATRICK PETERSON

CAMP MOREELL, Kuwait - Portable electronics - DVD players, notebook computers, and CD players - fill everyone's pack.

But many Seabees have arrived with their own personal Global Positioning Satellite receivers, which they will use to navigate through Iraq. The devices gather signals from satellites and map the holder's location.

"The problem in the desert is that there are no landmarks," said Maintenance Chief Lee Longacre of Eustis, Fla., a member of NMCB 14, a reserve unit that arrived Friday in Kuwait.

Military GPS units work fine, but they are bulky and in short supply. And in this country, getting lost is the most dangerous kind of accident. In civilian life, Longacre uses his GPS to navigate his boat through shallow Florida waterways. In Iraq, he will use it to help guide a convoy north into Iraq, where Seabees will rebuild schools, utilities and public buildings. "With a GPS, you can't get lost. I know it's 7,196 miles to my house," the 19-year Navy veteran and auto technician said. "I told everyone that had one to bring it."

As the Seabees prepare to move north into hostile territory, they are taking all precautions to avoid getting lost.

"If I had to send somebody out somewhere, I would give them my GPS," Longacre said.

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