NAVFAC Commander Recognizes Civil Engineer Corps and Seabee Birthdays

WASHINGTON NAVY YARD, D.C. - Rear Adm. Jeff Kilian, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) commander and chief of Civil Engineers, was joined by civil engineers and Seabees to celebrate the 159th birthday of the Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) and the 84th birthday of the Seabees with a cake cutting ceremony March 5 at the Washington Navy Yard.

Congress authorized the establishment of a new Navy staff corps comprised of commissioned civil engineers on March 2, 1867. Since then, CEC officers have made immeasurable contributions to a distinguished heritage of unparalleled Navy and Marine Corps accomplishments.

“From our humble beginnings to the present day, active duty and reserve Seabees and CEC officers continue to bring unique skills and capabilities to bear in support of our Navy and Marine Corps team,” Kilian said. “We are a naval expeditionary force multiplier, bringing combat operations support to every theater in which the Navy and Marine Corps operates, epitomizing the very essence of forward presence.”

The Seabees were officially established on March 5, 1942, out of a critical need to recruit Sailors with construction experience who could build and defend advance naval bases in a war zone. Seabees are a “24/7” naval force multiplier, bringing a wide array of expeditionary support to every theater in which the Navy and Marine Corps operates.

Kilian recounted some of the accomplishments of Seabees over the past year, including the following:

· Seabees continue to pioneer Antarctic operations with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 3 in their 3rd season of construction, building a new permanent loading pier at National Science Foundation McMurdo Station, overcoming a devastating winter storm to keep the project on track.

· In Lithuania, divers from Underwater Construction Team (UCT) 1 executed an exceptionally hazardous recovery, tunneling through mud in a near-freezing, fuel-contaminated bog to retrieve a sunken 70-ton Army M88 vehicle and four fallen soldiers.

· NMCB 3 was also part of the U.S. military’s Joint Engineer Response Team that provided aid following the Myanmar earthquake, providing critical disaster relief in Thailand and working alongside partners to locate survivors in the rubble of a collapsed skyscraper.

· In Iceland, UCT 1 conducted a critical infrastructure assessment that enabled the historic first-ever visit of a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine to an Icelandic port, providing a significant operational advantage in the strategic Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap.

· NMCB 133 rapidly deployed to Guantanamo Bay, establishing an expeditionary camp for up to 30,000 migrants in support of Task Force Southern Guard.

“The bravery and sacrifices of CEC officers and Seabees in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan are well known,” Kilian said. “As we celebrate both of these special occasions, I extend my heartiest birthday greetings to CEC officers and Seabees everywhere.”