Have you ever been tasked with an assignment that requires specialized people and skills and then in an instant discover that those very same people are capable of reverting to their childish ways? It is my duty to tell this story at the expense of some great people as I refrain from laughing to the point of pain. I love you guys! In the fall of 2010, our Seabee Battalion (Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 26) deployed to Afghanistan in support of OIF/OEF. We were tasked with the organization of a convoy team that would be put in harm’s way. Personal characteristics that we were interested in included strong leadership, tactically sound, ability to think and respond under pressure and generally good people skills. The process of identifying…show more content… The more intense training track consisted of 6 weeks in the field conducting convoy training runs which enlightened Scott and I on who displayed good leadership skills when faced with pressure pack scenarios including the unexpected situations which could only be reacted too. Another automatic weeding out process occurred when we spent 2 weeks learning how to properly enter and clear a building of possible bad guys. What made this particularly difficult was the heat and humidity of Gulfport that sucked every last bit of energy from the most physically fit person. There were some people that simply could not take the heat and required bags of IV fluid – they were dropped from the team after 3 bags. Some could take the demanding punishment and simply quit. The result forced us to think at a level beyond what any of us had experienced. As our bodies began melt under the intense humidity, our minds had to respond to overcome the physical rejection in order to complete the task. It was through this weeding out gut check period that reduced the team number by…show more content… The kids surrounded some of the vehicles as well as those of us on the ground asking for pens, flash lights and knives; basically anything visible that we had attached to our protective vest was fair game. As Tim O’Brien At one point, one of the Bees had his iPod stolen from a pocket in his nomex flight suit which he discovered later that evening. We even attempted to play soccer in an area away from the vehicles as a distraction. This only lasted about 10 minutes. A young kid about 10 years old even approached us with some local bread for sale. The bread was awesome! But just as Dickey (CM1 McCance) reached for his wallet, one of those sticky finger kids made an attempt at stealing his wallet. I thought Dickey was going to shoot him, or at least beat the hell out of him. Several Bees who were close by quickly removed Dickey from the onslaught saving what would have been an awkward situation requiring a lot of paperwork. I’m sure you’re wondering by now what any of this has to do with 27 highly skilled, highly trained professional men? Stand by for what I hope to be a gut wrenching laughing
