Seabees return from tour
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By Mary Louise Speer | Sunday, November 05, 2006 |
CLINTON, Iowa — Seabee Builder Chief Scott Seligman is glad to be home after a nine-month tour of duty that took him from the Quad-City area to training in California and six months in Iraq. He is the officer in charge of the detachment and lives north of Durant, Iowa.
The local detachment of Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 25, Fort McCoy, Wis., received a lights-flashing, flag-flying welcome home Saturday evening from the Patriot Guard Riders, veterans, Clinton and Camanche police and supporters at the Clinton Moose Lodge.
Several area organizations contributed to the event.
“My husband, Scott, was in Iraq and I wanted to let them know they were appreciated for what they did,” says event organizer Michelle Kenworthy of Camanche. “It feels wonderful to have my husband here. It was a long nine months.”
For many, it was the first time they could sit together over a beer and talk about their time in the Middle East. Most of Seabees returned home from deployment in small groups earlier this fall.
Seligman and the rest of the 26 Seabees from the local area were assigned to different tasks after reaching Iraq. His work was focused in the Al Anbar province in western Iraq where Seabees improved living conditions for Marines, repaired a bridge, built a hospital and drilled four wells. A few Seabees were assigned to work with the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I think the deepest satisfaction was going out to the battle positions (field camps) and improving the quality of life for the Marines,” he said. “You never knew when you were going to get a project and where it would be.”
Life at the battle camps is rugged, Seligman said. These camps are usually located close to a small town and the Marines’ job is to go out and patrol for terrorists. After a long day or night’s work, people would return to well, primitive conditions.
The Seabees ferried generators, building supplies and a constructive can-do spirit to the camps. Setting up the generators allowed troops to keep cool with air conditioning. They built shower units for members of the military who had used baby wipes to keep clean and constructed walls for shelters.
Seabees fulfilled the dearest wishes of medical staff at a camp with the construction of a hospital. True, the hospital is a far cry from Genesis or Trinity’s campuses but the doctors were tickled to have the plywood structure, he said. The installation of real doors allowed them to shut out the sand generously deposited by storms and keep in the chilled air.
For the most part, Seligman said his living conditions were good. They had decent beds, air conditioning and excellent food. But missile attacks were a given and he was accustomed to hearing bullets ping off his armor-plated vehicle. And even the best air-conditioning unit cannot block out the realities of life in 125 to 130 degrees.
“Over there its gets so hot when the wind blows in the summer it feels like a furnace blowing,” he said.
Seabees helped finish work on a camp for the Iraqi Army and repair a bridge the terrorists had attempted to blow up. Marines in full gear were forced to detour through the waterway underneath, and several drowned, he said. Having the bridge back in order spared more people’s lives and also made it possible for local residents to cross safely.
“We tried to give them a little quality of life. It is really gratifying to make life a little better,” he said quietly.
The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.
Those remembered
The Seabees, their families and the welcoming committee somberly remembered Petty Officer 1st Class Gary Rovinski, 44, of rural Roseville, Ill., Seabee Jamie Jaenke, 30, from Iowa Falls and Seabee Jerry Tharp, 44, of Aledo, Ill., who all died during their tour of duty.
Someday there will be a welcome home party for the three Seabees but that party will not take place on this earth, Lt. Commander Scott Svoboda of the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center in Rock Island said.
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