SeaBees
Training
We Build / We Fight
They build, they fight and they receive intensive training before they can actually call themselves Seabees. The newcomers begin “A” School (preliminary training) fresh out of boot camp, spending about 75 percent of the twelve weeks immersed in hands-on training. The remaining 25 percent is spent in classroom instruction.
From “A” School, new Seabees most often report to a battalion command for their first tour of duty. For two weeks, the new Seabees go through Seabee Replacement Training or SERT. Those two weeks are action-packed with rifle range practice and combat training where they’ll learn how to read maps, lay out a defense plan in case of emergencies, conduct patrols and a lot of other combat-related skills. At the end of those two weeks, new Seabees are ready to perform with their new battalion.
Seabees normally spend six months on a mission and then spend ten months back at their home base. During those ten months at the base, they train. One of their favorite training seminars is Building/Fighting 101 or more commonly known to the Seabees as Field Exercise (FEX).
Training takes place just outside of Fort Hunter Liggett in California, or at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Even though civilization is near, the goal in training is to simulate an isolated fighting zone. Seabees will learn the skills they need to succeed in a real-life environment.
Training begins with the battalion fully camouflaged and positioned behind a special barbed wire called concertina.
Battle scenarios come without warning. A cry of “Incoming!” scatters the training battalion’s members to their various posts, ready to defend their positions. As smoke begins to fill the air, a shout of “Gas! Gas! Gas!” prompts them to scramble into their rubber chemical gear called Mission Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) suits and gas masks.
Staged aggressors spring out from nearby smoke-filled trees, firing upon the students. The training battalion holds its position, maintaining its stance until they've forced the mock-enemy to retreat into the forest.
Instructors come out to the field after the mission is finished, providing feedback to the trainees. They let the students know what they did right and what they could do better. By receiving this kind of constructive criticism, trainees learn and grow. In fact, even the instructors learn in FEX – there’s no substitute for practice out in the field.
These kinds of training exercises are ten days long, but even so, safety and health are always priorities. Instructors make sure that everyone has enough food, water and sleep because without these basic items, it’s harder to learn. While this kind of intensity is mentally and physically demanding, the Seabees know it makes them better Sailors. They build, they fight and they train.
