They Build and They Fight

Hmmm... well, it seems that someone forgot to tell someone that I was supposed to be heading overseas. I am currently in a holding pattern here in Florida - believe me, there are far worse places to find oneself waiting (and I can think of one that begins with "I" and another that starts with "A"). Anywho, they are busy re-writing my orders and making flight arrangements - all I have to do is show up, hand over some paperwork, and then (hopefully), by Wednesday, I should be on my way. Some good news: My BOG (Boots On Ground) clock has begun ticking, because my old orders had me reporting to Tampa. I'm not entirely sure what I am going to do this weekend. Luckily, I have the Seabees to hang with. I don't know if I mentioned the SeaBees before - here's some back-story: during our three-week training at Fort Jackson, some of the Sailors in my Platoon were SeaBees. What are SeaBees? They are from the Navy Construction Battalions (The "C" and the "B" being transliterated into "SeaBee" - because, according to their motto: "We Build, And We Fight"). These guys are crazy: they have only two switch positions - "ON" and "STANDBY" (there is no "OFF" button). They are super-motivated, highly-skilled and funny as hell. They cracked-wise the entire three weeks, and were the best Soldiers (albeit, Sailors) bar-none. The Navy loves these guys - everybody cuts them slack, because they know that if you need an entire facility built in 24 hours, and it happens to be held by the bad guys, the SeaBees will go in, kick ass, take names, build everything you need from scratch, then hold it until relieved. I am not exagerating. These guys are the real deal. Thank freakin' God that we have people like this. Crazy? Yes - they march, singing the "Fighting Seabee Song" - their favoritie movie? Why "The Fighting Seabees" with John Wayne, of course. These guys have deployed around the world - they love what they do, and they don't take themselves (or anyone else, for that matter) very seriously, but they love being SeaBees. Crazy Awesome! So, anyhow, the SeaBees came down to Tampa with me, and now we are facing a weekend together - it might not pretty, but it certainly will not be boring. When I have to deploy, I am going to bring a couple of SeaBees in my seabag as insurance.