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Seabee Ingenuity Creates New OIF Vehicle Armor
Navy News Stand ^
| May 4, 2004
| Chief Journalist Siegfried Bruner
Posted on 05/07/2004 8:26:52 AM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl
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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 harms 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.
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: armor; gnfi; goodguys; hadjihardshell; iraq; nmcb74; oif; seabee; seabees; wheeledarmor
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To: Cannoneer No. 4; archy; Ranger; SandRat; TexKat; First_Salute; MJY1288; xzins; Calpernia; ...
U. S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74
NMCB-74
U.S. NAVY SEABEES
~
~
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)
~
~
To: B4Ranch
PING
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
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.
4
posted on
05/07/2004 8:33:18 AM PDT
by
T'wit
("To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society" - Theodore Roosevelt)
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
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."
5
posted on
05/07/2004 8:35:18 AM PDT
by
dennisw
(Exposing John Kerry--> Swift Boat Veterans for Truth---> http://www.swiftvets.com)
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
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...
6
posted on
05/07/2004 8:35:41 AM PDT
by
T'wit
("To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society" - Theodore Roosevelt)
To: dennisw
Hoorah!
7
posted on
05/07/2004 8:38:17 AM PDT
by
BigMacGOP
To: BigMacGOP
One of Clint's best. Even Mario Van Peebles couldn't ruin it.
8
posted on
05/07/2004 8:41:05 AM PDT
by
dennisw
(Exposing John Kerry--> Swift Boat Veterans for Truth---> http://www.swiftvets.com)
To: ChiefKujo; Eagle Eye; mike1sg; historian1944; Allegra; tomakaze; Steel Wolf; Justa; Gringo1; ...
ping
9
posted on
05/07/2004 8:42:20 AM PDT
by
Cannoneer No. 4
(I've lost turret power; I have my nods and my .50. Hooah. I will stay until relieved. White 2 out.)
To: G.Mason
ping
10
posted on
05/07/2004 8:44:41 AM PDT
by
RebelBanker
(Deo Vindice)
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
SeaBees - Can do.
11
posted on
05/07/2004 8:52:29 AM PDT
by
Blood of Tyrants
(Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn't be, in its eyes, a slave.)
To: Seabee
Bump
12
posted on
05/07/2004 8:53:21 AM PDT
by
Fixit
(It's my understand that they build AND they fight.)
To: Fixit
Sounds just like that Sargeant in Normandy who, with a little inspired metalwork, made every Sherman tank into a 'bocageclipper'.
13
posted on
05/07/2004 8:59:55 AM PDT
by
Belisaurius
("Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, Ted" - Joseph Kennedy 1958)
To: T'wit
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.
14
posted on
05/07/2004 9:12:58 AM PDT
by
taxcontrol
(People are entitled to their opinion - no matter how wrong it is.)
To: Cannoneer No. 4
Cool.
15
posted on
05/07/2004 9:32:24 AM PDT
by
Darksheare
(Somewhere, in some third world country, is a tagline that doesn't get enough to eat. Donate today!)
To: taxcontrol
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.
16
posted on
05/07/2004 9:35:38 AM PDT
by
T'wit
("To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society" - Theodore Roosevelt)
To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
"Can do" is the SeaBee motto.
17
posted on
05/07/2004 9:58:46 AM PDT
by
B4Ranch
( If everything appears to be going well, you obviously don't know what the hell is going on.)
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Good news.
18
posted on
05/07/2004 10:24:00 AM PDT
by
jjackson
(Kerry is an old-fashioned senatorial blowhard)
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Seebee ~ Bump!
We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!
~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~
19
posted on
05/07/2004 10:29:42 AM PDT
by
blackie
(Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Bump!
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