Better Than Best
One of the first Seabee units commissioned during World War II, U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion THREE played an important part in the building of bases in the Southern Pacific. NMCB THREE was called upon to perform its job beginning in the summer of 1942, not as a unit, but as a group of autonomous detachments that participated in a number of combat operations during the Marshall Islands campaign. After reuniting in 1944, the battalion returned to Camp Parks, California where on 12 July it was ordered disbanded and then subsequently decommissioned on 16 August 1944.
The Battalion was re-activated on July 15, 1950 at Construction Battalion Center, Port Hueneme, California.
Starting May 1965 NMCB THREE made three deployments Da Nang, Vietnam where they constructed more than 500 facilities for the Marine Corps. In the 1990s NMCB THREE established a legacy of disaster revovery to include operatios in Guam, Yap and the Philippines.
Since 2000 NMCB THREE has made mutiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan supporting both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. THREE also assumed the lead role in Task Force Sierra, a construction task force in support of several Joint Task Forces, with projects spread throughout Iraq, Afghanistan and the Philippines, providing “tip of the spear” contingency construction support to America’s warfighters.
THREE redeployed from Iraq to Kuwait in November 2005 to set up a new main body site at Camp Arifjan. In December 2006, THREE deployed to the Far East. With the mainbody group located at Camp Shields Okinawa, and detachments reaching from Korea to California, the Battalion also stood up a short-fused detail in Afghanistan to support Special Operations Forces in Operation Enduring Freedom.
In April 2008, NMCB THREE deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, providing support to FIRST Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) in Iraq and assuming control of Task Force Sierra for a second time. After an abbreviated homeport, the Battalion became the first Main Body to deploy to Naval Station Rota, Spain since 2005. During this time, Detachments were also sent to Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia to provide humanitarian construction in these emerging Eastern European countries. Over 300 Seabees served throughout Africa, drilling waterwells, renovating schools, training host national militaries and improving the quality of life in Liberia, Cameroon, Djibouti, Kenya, Comoros and Uganda, overcoming equatorial heat and torrential rains while “winning hearts and minds”. Most recently, NMCB THREE completed a deployment to Afghanistan from Nov 2010 to June 2011 where they supported US and Coalition forces spread across more than 30 different locations throughout Afghanistan. Key efforts included the completion of 110 tactical infrastructure projects, ranging from combat outspost builds to route construction, in support of I and II MEF, Special Operations Forces, and Task Force Helmand, a British Led Task Force. THREE’s phenomenal efforts resulted in greatly improved counterinsurgency operations and a more stabilized Afghanistan government
The Word 