Hueneme Seabees Help Bosnia Build for New Future

TUZLA, Bosnia-Herzegovina —  An American wearing a Kevlar helmet and flak vest hands an 8-foot sheet of corrugated roofing to another similarly dressed sailor on a snow-covered roof.

The man on the roof slips slightly, but catches his balance. He, in turn, hands the sheet to two sailors in battle dress who lay the roofing and hammer it in place, causing small explosions of snow to fall to the ground.

The current mission of the Seabees’ Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40 is to assemble corrugated roofs on classrooms. Tomorrow’s challenge may be to construct a bridge in the rain, install plumbing or build temporary housing known as “SEA huts,” or “hooches.”

But instead of assembling these prefabricated buildings at their home port--the Seabee base in Port Hueneme--the battalion carried its saws, hammers and nails to Bosnia-Herzegovina, where the sailors helped NATO troops maintain a fragile peace over the holidays.

An estimated 200,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed during the Bosnian civil war that began in early 1992. Millions became refugees, fleeing as rival Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian armies moved into villages and cities to make room for their people.

Military efforts to “cleanse” the region of other nationalities ended when the three factions signed the Dayton peace agreement Nov. 21, 1995.

At that point, forces from the United States, NATO and other nations moved into Bosnia-Herzegovina with 60,000 troops to maintain the peace.

The U.S. military, which has more than 6,900 troops in the country, is part of the larger NATO force of nearly 13,000 known as the Multinational Division North, said Col. Stephen Kerrick, public affairs commander at Eagle Base south of Tuzla, where American troops are stationed.

NATO’s mission as the Stabilization Force is to prevent renewed fighting among Serbians, Croatians and Bosnians.

Other armies enforcing the United Nations’ bartered peace agreement include soldiers from Russia, France, Turkey and a number of northern European countries.

While the peace mission in the region continues--fighting in Kosovo has erupted again during recent weeks--the emphasis in Bosnia has changed to supporting democracy and economic growth.

Free elections have recently been held in parts of the country, and a new currency, the converted mark, was adopted in 1998--giving rise to hopes for improved stability.

And the detachment of 110 Seabees from Ventura County was shipped out to Bosnia to help make the lives of American troops a little easier during the holiday season.

“Our main mission is to build SEA huts to keep soldiers out of the sun,” detachment commander Lt. Mike Gough said sarcastically.

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These days the Bosnian temperature has been hovering around freezing, with a usual dose of heavy fog in the morning and snow or freezing rain during the day. The famous SEA (Southeast Asian) huts, which are made of wood and heated electrically by two wall units, are a marked improvement over the tent cities where the 1,800 soldiers on Eagle Base were living.

Although the inclement weather has made it difficult for other soldiers to perform their duties at Eagle Base, the construction battalion shrugs off the cold and continues to build roofs for classrooms that will eventually be used to teach college courses to American military personnel.

“No matter where we go, we are dealing with something--heat, cold, wind, etc.,” said Gough, whose unit’s most recent overseas assignment was in Guam before coming to the former Yugoslavia in October.

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As the fog begins to lift, construction foreman Robert Arnold gives instructions to Seabees Wilfredo Redondo and Jason Young, who are nailing the roofing while working beneath branches heavily frosted with ice.

“When we got here we were in T-shirts, sweating,” said Arnold, 30. “Now we are working 0730 to 1700 whether it is raining or snowing,” he added, speaking in military time.

What makes the roof construction even more difficult than working on the icy beams and rafters, the sailors say, is the recent requirement to wear full “battle rattle.”

Because a Serbian general was recently arrested, Maj. Gen. Kevin Byrnes, commander of the American sector, raised the level of security--requiring all U.S. military to wear bullet-resistant helmets, flak vests and ammunition belts and to carry their weapons at all times.

The Serbian general, Radislaw Krstic, was apprehended by American forces in early December somewhere in the American sector. He is charged with genocide and committing other war crimes in Srebrenica, where thousands of Muslim civilians were massacred during the war. Krstic is at The Hague, awaiting trial as a war criminal.

On wearing battle gear, Arnold said: “This sucks. Normally we wear hard hats, but the flak jackets make it hard to move around.”

Though American troops are not often allowed off Eagle Base--a former base for Soviet-made warplanes on the edge of a Tuzla suburb--the extra level of security was issued to discourage retaliation by Serbian nationalists, some of whom view the general’s arrest as unfair.

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Seabees rarely have the opportunity to meet Bosnians or Serbs outside the base, except when they are part of daily military patrols or on projects designed for both the military and civilians.

Once off the base, the sailors say, they appreciate the beautiful countryside, with its rolling hills and valleys, a sharp but welcome contrast to the shrapnel-marked homes and demolished villages.

“They love getting out there and helping people directly,” said Gough, 42. “They see the definite improvement that has happened in the country.”

Yet, because of the stabilization force’s rules, the construction battalion can work only on schools, hospitals and sometimes churches; other construction is prohibited unless it has direct military value. The reasoning, said Kerrick, the base’s public affairs commander, is so one faction does not appear to be favored by NATO.

However, the construction battalion’s efforts do benefit the nearby communities, such as when a bridge is reconstructed. “The guys who get out in town see everything,” said Arnold, referring to thousands of battle-damaged homes. “And with most of the guys, if they get out, they enjoy helping the people.”

In Sarajevo, where some of the most intense fighting of the four-year war was played out, Seabees were able to assist the community by installing water filters in homes that were part of a project to renovate military offices.

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Arnold said he hopes the Seabees can do additional humanitarian projects.

Since October, the Port Hueneme unit has moved hundreds of soldiers out of kerosene-heated canvas tents into the new wooden huts. Arnold estimates his crews have built at least 40,000 square feet of living space, another 8,000 square feet of roofing along with building bridges, classrooms and other facilities.

The Port Hueneme detachment is scheduled to remain in Bosnia until May, when the battalion is to return to Ventura County.

“We deploy for seven months and then we go home for seven months for training,” Gough said. “When we get home we will hug all the loved ones and pray to God until the next deployment starts.”

For now, the Seabees are on track to complete another classroom roof before noon. At this pace, Arnold’s wish for more work off base may come true. With a bit of bravado, Arnold explains that the battalion is building faster than the available workload.

“Our greatest challenge is getting work,” he said. “We are doing things so fast they have trouble giving us work.”