Seabee Ingenuity Creates New OIF Vehicle Armor

Navy News Stand ^ | May 4, 2004 | Chief Journalist Siegfried Bruner

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Seabee Ingenuity Creates New OIF Vehicle Armor

Story Number: NNS040504-08
Release Date: 5/4/2004 7:16:00 PM

By Chief Journalist Siegfried Bruner, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Engineer Group Public Affairs

CAMP MOREELL, Kuwait (NNS) -- Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 74 used ingenuity and initiative to fabricate vehicle protection for convoys heading into harm’s way during Operation Iraqi Freedom in April.

Steelworker 1st Class (SCW) Jeffrey Ballas and a crew of eight other steelworkers from NMCB 74 developed an enterprising armor concept and presented the cardboard templates to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Engineer Group (MEG) for review. Once the brainstorm was approved, steel was worked around the clock in two shifts to outfit 100 trucks with armor inside and out.

The steelworkers cut plate steel for a week and a half, performing a well-choreographed armor installation rodeo.

The goal is effective protection for all types of vehicles and the warriors inside.

“I was really proud of my guys,” Ballas said. “The night crew did the cutting and fabricating, and the day crew did the finishing and installation. They did what comes natural to Seabee steelworkers - they took the bull by the horns.”

Along with external armor, seats were covered with Kevlar blankets or Kevlar vests. Convoy personnel also wear body armor. As shipments of armor from Marine Logistics Command began to arrive, a combination of locally fabricated and pre-fab armor was installed.

“We were able to get our vehicle doors 100 percent up-armored even before we got all our shipments [of manufactured armor] in,” said Lt. Stephen Padhi, a member of the future operations team for the MEG.

Combined, these force-protection measures help ensure that everyone aboard is as safe as possible. A little ingenuity and a lot of sweat equity paid big dividends for Seabees and Marines working convoys out of this key staging base in Kuwait.

For related news, visit the Commander, 1st Naval Construction Division Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/1ncd.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

  U. S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74

NMCB-74

U.S. NAVY SEABEES

~  ~

 

http://www.nmcb74.org

 

 

~*~

Eternal Father

 

Lord, stand beside the men who build,
And give them courage, strength, and skill.
O grant them peace of heart and mind,
And comfort loved ones left behind.
Lord, hear our prayers for all Seabees,
Where'er they be on land or sea.
                          ~ R. J. Dietrich (Alt. verses, 1960)

 ~  ~

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

PING

[T'wit]

May the ingenuity continue. Whoever can figure out how to pre-detonate those roadside bombs, especially at the exact moment when one of our Islamofascist friends is planting it, should get a lottery-sized award from the government.

[dennisw]

YANKEE INGENUITY!!

From the internet: 

One of my favorite movies is the 1986 "Heartbreak Ridge," starring Clint Eastwood as an old-school Marine who has to make efficient fighting men out of a bunch of misfits.

Clint Eastwood's character, Gunnery Sgt. Tom Highway's mantra is that a Marine, to survive in combat, must "adapt, improvise, overcome."

[T'wit]

I wonder if we could get hold of those famous 72 virgins and record their mating calls. Then we use it to bait this big old jihadi-sized mousetrap...

[BigMacGOP]

Hoorah!

[dennisw]

One of Clint's best. Even Mario Van Peebles couldn't ruin it.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

ping

[RebelBanker]

ping

[Blood of Tyrants]

SeaBees - Can do.

[Fixit]

Bump

[Belisaurius]

Sounds just like that Sargeant in Normandy who, with a little inspired metalwork, made every Sherman tank into a 'bocageclipper'.

[taxcontrol]

I know folks working on this. They are using a powerfull broad spectrum short duration radio pulse. If activated near 50 ft or less an IED that has a blasting cap, it will pre-detonate the blasting cap. Setting off the IED ahead of time.

[Darksheare]

Cool.

[T'wit]

The Brits developed all sorts of weird war machines in WWI. I think I recall an armored vehicle mounted with a giant metal flail. The vehicle would flail away at the road in front of it, exploding mines. It could clear a path through minefields. I don't suppose that would work for electronically-detonated devices, but it might disable them anyway.

[B4Ranch]

"Can do" is the SeaBee motto.

[jjackson]

Good news.

[blackie]

Seebee ~ Bump!

We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!

~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!