Mounting up for a Seabee exercise

If the U.S. military needs to quickly build runways, roadways or most any kind of facility in remote – and dangerous – parts of the world, the Seabees are the ones who get the call. “Seabee” of course is slang for U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF), with the word "Seabee" stemming from the initials "CB" for “Construction Battalions.” The Seabees built bases, bulldozing and paving thousands of miles of roadway and airstrips, plus many other construction projects in a wide variety of military theaters dating all the way back to World War II. Recently Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 1 undertook a 48-hour “mount up” exercise in Guam to test the their ability to ship out trucks, bulldozers and other gear in a “rapid response” style situation. (All photos courtesy of the U.S. Navy.)