[OldDeckHand]

"Give the SEABEES 30 minutes and the run of the boat .. they’ll get it going."

That is so true. Their ingenuity - and I'm sure it's the same for the Army/Marine combat engineers - is something to behold.

[dglang]

Combat troops under wartime conditions aren’t restricted to all the mundane environmental rules and regulations which prevent things from getting done. If something has to be done NOW in order to win the battle or survive, it usually can be done expediently if not prettily or effeciently.

Things get done just to get them done without regards to cost or longevity. A ship damaged in combat at sea may get patched up, but those patches won't be very pretty and the ship is sent out again ASAP.