Robin Hardy Online

Navy Seabees ACB 1

During Glenn's (Robin's son) August 2005 deployment to Indian Island (off the coast of Washington state), his battalion engaged in training exercises which afforded a few opportunities for him to whip out a camera phone and record the moment for posterity:

oops

This is what remains of a pier after a craft was inadvertently backed into the concrete pylon, pushing it into the wooden support at right. It's a big pylon: approximately 40' tall and 3.5' in diameter. It was a big craft that hit it: 90' long, capable of holding 100 tons. Oops. See the debris in the water.

shovel-axe

The guys were really impressed with this handy-dandy tool somebody found--part axe, part shovel.

bilge pump cover

This is a bilge pump cover, about 10' across. Somebody got bored and wanted to make it happy.

plenty of chains
"Monkey King"

The back of the head of a colleague who had been wearing a hard hat all day. With this hair style, his considerate coworkers began addressing him as "Monkey King."

the dance of the wires

Here our guys are in the process of lashing down a 60-ton section on deck. (The sections are 90-foot-long metal platforms that are filled with air, making them buoyant.) Clamping down the 15 or so wires for each section requires teamwork -- SOMEBODY has to stand in back and jump up and down. It creates the illusion of . . . never mind.

six-inch ledge

Here our intrepid Seabee is cheerfully going about his task lashing down these 60-ton sections with chains while standing on a six-inch ledge. The Navy: It's Not Just a Job; It's an Adventure.

And here are enough chains to occupy the guys for, oh, about a week.

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See the Jan. 2006 Imperial Beach training here.

See the Oct. 2006 Camp Pendleton FEX here.

See thousands of Navy photos here.

See the official Navy Seabees site here.

Photos copyright 2005 Glenn Hardy