Iraq: Colby's Diary

(Editor's Note: 20-year-old Colby Ryan McCarville Stuck, graduate of Yukon High School and grandson of Mike and Ann McCarville and son of Alan Stuck of Yukon and Cheryl Anderson of Del City, is a U. S. Naval Reserve Seabee activated for duty in Iraq. He reported for training early in January.)

PORT HUENEME, CA ~ Our training in preparation for shipment to Iraq continues here at the Seabee training center where it is sunny and warm (unlike what you've had in Oklahoma!).

Last week, we qualified with the M-16, firing in the prone, kneeling and standing positions. I could have done better, however I qualified as a marksman. We are doing the "basic combat skills" program and testing ourselves on the CBR course in the gas chamber.

Three days a week, we roll out at 5:30 a.m. for physical training. Our training is almost non-stop, but on Sundays if we don't have courses, we are free.

There's no solid word yet on when we will depart for Kuwait on our way to Iraq, but it may be early in March. We're eager to go.

I volunteered to be cross-trained on the M240B machinegun. The M240 "Bravo" is a serious firearm and one of those our Marines and Seabees in Iraq rely on heavily. Others volunteered to be trained on other specialized weapons in our arsenal. The Bravo is belt-fed and weighs 25 or so pounds and usually is fired from a tripod. (Editor's Note: The M240B also can be mounted atop a Humvee, in a helicopter door, or in most any other configuration we can imagine.)

I also want to take the combat life saver training course so I have some basic skills that could help someone.

While our assignments in Iraq remain unknown to us at this time, I will be part of a Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB). From the Navy, here's a rundown on the role our NMCB's play:

A component of the Naval Construction Force (NCF), NMCB provides construction and maintenance support to USMC, Naval Forces and other military units. To provide disaster control effort, provide forces for Civic Action support. Provide military and amphibious assault construction support. Subsequent Combat Service Support (CSS) ashore and defense against overt or clandestine enemy attacks directed toward personnel, camps, and facilities under construction.

PRIMARY MISSION:
Construction capability for military operations
Build and maintain base facilities
Defensive operations, including operating a Chemical Biological or Radiological (CBR) environment.

SECONDARY MISSION:
Disaster Control/Recovery Operations, including emergency public works, humanitarian relief and civic action.

HORIZONTAL CONSTRUCTION:
Airfield construction/Rapid Runway Repair (RRR)/Expeditionary Airfields
Ammunition Supply Points (ASP)
Main Supply Routes (MSR) construction and maintenance
Waterfront/Port construction, including pile-driving
Forward Operating Bases (FOB) site preparation/Beddown.

VERTICAL CONSTRUCTION:
Tension fabric and pre-engineered building (PEB) structures, including K-Span structures
Expeditionary/semi-permanent utilities
Timber structures (towers and bunkers)
Deliberate bridging (Bailey/Timber/Medium Girder).

SPECIALTY CONSTRUCTION:
Water well drilling (to 1500 feet)
Concrete construction/asphalt paving
Quarry and Rock Crusher operations
Our mission is to provide and maintain a trained, ready, and immediately available reserve battalion meeting the requirements of the Naval Construction Forces for employment as directed by the Chief of Naval Operations in the event of war, natural emergency, or when otherwise authorized by law.

The Chief of Naval Operations has stated that the mission of a reserve battalion is: To maintain a state of operational readiness to provide a rapid and effective construction support to Naval, Marine Corps and other forces as necessary. To be prepared to conduct ground defense operations when required by the circumstances of the deployed situation. To be prepared to conduct disaster control operations, including public works functions as directed.

Note: Colby's diary, from an enlisted man, and Captain Kevin Calvey's diary (link is on the right side of this page), from an Army officer, should over time provide considerable insight into what our troops face in Iraq.

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