ROK Navy Engineers Exchange With West Coast Seabees

By 30th Naval Construction Regiment Public Affairs

FORT HUNTER LIGGETT, Calif. (NNS) -- The 30th Naval Construction Regiment and Naval Construction Group (NCG) 1 hosted a team of engineers from the Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy during a visit to the U.S. Navy's West Coast naval construction forces, Oct. 5-10.

The three ROK sailors toured and talked with leadership at commands on Naval Base Ventura County and throughout Navy Region Southwest to help better understand how the different commands' operations, logistics and training elements work to execute expeditionary construction.

The ROK navy is interested in boosting the size of their naval construction capabilities from one construction battalion to a force of three construction battalions, according to Lt. David No, assigned to Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea.

The bilateral exchange took the ROK sailors to NCG 1, 30th Naval Construction Regiment, Underwater Construction Team 2, and Naval Facilities and Engineering Command Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center.

ROK Senior Chief Equipment Operator Woo-Seok Lee, speaking through a translator, said he was struck by how the U.S. naval construction forces train not just on specific jobs, but how that job should be executed in different scenarios.

Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4, showcased their capabilities at Fort Hunter Liggett, Calif., during their field training exercise. The ROK engineers were able to observe Seabees building and fighting in an expeditionary scenario while under evaluation by training elements from NCG 1.

"We've got them up here to observe our field exercise so they can get an idea on how we train and some of our tactics and techniques," said Lt. Cmdr. Michael Singleton, Naval Construction Group 1's training officer.

"We're looking forward to expanding the amount of training we do with them. They're growing their engineer forces so we're trying to provide (an) example for them on what a professional construction engineering force looks like."

ROK navy Cmdr. Je-Nyoung Sung said he was very impressed with how realistic the training scenarios were for the battalion, and added that he's interested in implementing many of the training scenarios within the ROK construction force.

The ROK engineers also visited Expeditionary Warfare Training Group Pacific and Amphibious Construction Battalion 1, both based in San Diego, to get a feel for how naval construction units integrate into the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) concept, a method of offloading supplies and equipment from ships without the use of a port.

The U.S. Navy's amphibious construction battalions are an integral part of JLTOS.

"They [ROK navy] are definitely one of our partners in the Pacific region and I'm pretty excited with their efforts that they're working on to grow their engineer force, and I'm excited for them to take it back and grow," said Singleton.

NCG 1 prepares Pacific Fleet NCF units to conduct expeditionary and deliberate construction in support of combatant commanders and warfighter requirements. This is done through combat and construction training, equipment and maintenance training, and the logistical and mobilization support of subordinate units.

NCG 1 exercises administrative control over the 1st and 30th Naval Construction Regiments; Naval Mobile Construction Battalions 3, 4, and 5; Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 303; and Underwater Construction Team 2.

The 30th Naval Construction Regiment provides operations control over naval engineering forces throughout the Pacific, Southwest Asia, and the western United States in response to combat commander and naval component commander requirements. They serve an integral part of the Naval Construction Force and accomplish major combat operations, theatre security cooperation, humanitarian assistance, disaster recovery, and phase zero requirements across the Pacific area of responsibility.