A Seabee team is a small, highly mobile, air transportable construction unit that can be tailored to accomplish a variety of construction tasks. The standard composition of a Seabee team is one CEC officer and 12 petty officers; however, when necessary, the standard personnel allowance can be increased to allow the undertaking of a specific deployment task. Although Seabee team allowances are normally associated with an NMCB, the responsibility for the operation of the team in a foreign country lies with the appropriate United States and host country agencies. The tasks usually assigned to a team call for experience in operating equipment needed for the following tasks:

1. Constructing roads, dams, and bridges

2. Clearing forests and jungles to reclaim land for new hamlets, croplands, and refugee centers

3. Drilling water wells

4. Digging irrigation canals

5. Building schools, and erecting, repairing, and improving public buildings

Teams carry enough food, toolkits, and automotive and construction equipment to be Self-sufficient in the field while performing their construction tasks. Seabee teams also provide medical and dental care to the local villagers and conduct on-the-job training and classroom instruction for host country workmen.

These teams receive extensive training at their parent NMCBs' home port. After completion of this training, they may be deployed to any part of the world-generally to an underdeveloped area. These teams are actually the Seabees' "Peace Corps," and their work in Vietnam won the admiration of the Vietnamese. Seabee teams have also been deployed as engineers for the Army's Special Forces, technical instructors for the Agency for International Development, and construction advisors under various military assistance programs.

ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING THE NAVAL CONSTRUCTION FORCE

Many elements of the national defense organization provide support to the NCF, some directly and some indirectly. In this section we will cover only the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), Naval Construction Battalion Centers (NCBCs), home port Naval Construction Regiments (NCRs), and Naval Construction Force Support Units (NCFSUs).

NAVFAC

NAVFAC provides support for the NCF in the general area of shore facilities and related material and equipment. The commander of NAVFAC serves as technical advisor to the CNO on all matters relating to the NCF and also as technical advisor to the Chief of Naval Personnel (CNP) on all matters pertaining to CEC officers and Seabee personnel.

NAVAL CONSTRUCTION BATTALION CENTERS (NCBCs)

The Naval Construction battalion Centers (NCBCs) are permanent shore stations equipped and staffed to support the NCF. Each NCBC has a supply and fiscal department and a construction equipment department (CED) that furnishes depot level maintenance for units of automotive and construction equipment. This type of maintenance involves major overhaul, using facilities that are not readily available at the battalion level. Naval

Figure 1-4.-Staff/function home port Naval Construction Regiment.

Construction Training Centers (NCTCs) are tenant commands at the NCBCs and provide training schools for NMCB personnel. A tenant command is one that occupies buildings and uses facilities provided as direct support by the NCBC. The NCBC receives, preserves, stores, accounts for, and issues advanced base material and equipment. Newly commissioned NMCBs are usually outfitted at the NCBC, which also provides home port facilities. The NCBC is under the management and technical control of NAVFAC. At present there are two NCBCs: one at Port Hueneme, California, and one at Gulfport, Mississippi.