First 10 Seabees Leave for Somalia : Relief effort: The Port Hueneme-based advance party will set up camp for 590 fellow naval construction workers who will follow.

An advance party of Port Hueneme-based Seabees and tons of cargo took off Thursday for Somalia to pitch camp for hundreds of additional naval construction workers who will build roads, galleys and other facilities for the U. S. Marine-led famine relief effort.

Roaring aloft in a military cargo jet bound for Africa, the 10-member party carried 800 gallons of water, three days’ rations, two electric generators, an all-terrain forklift and extra fuel.

After a stop at March Air Force base for refueling and a fresh flight crew, the C-141 Air Force cargo jet will continue on to Cairo, and then to the Somalian capital of Mogadishu by Sunday, officials said.

“They’ll offload it, stage it wherever the battalion’s going to be and start working” at setting up camp for 590 fellow Seabees who will follow, Petty Officer 1st Class Mark Wallace said.

Within a few days, 190 more Seabees and 45 heavy construction machines from the Port Hueneme-based Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40 will be airlifted to Somalia. Within a month, they will be followed by a cargo ship carrying another 270 bulldozers, graders and other heavy machinery, 250 tons of cargo and the remaining 400 battalion members, Navy officials said.

The Seabees were preparing to ship out for a regular seven-month deployment to Guam last week when the orders came Thursday morning redirecting them to Somalia.

“We’re ready to do it,” said Chief Petty Officer Don Fuller, waiting with rifle and helmet in hand to board the large, green jet after being rousted from bed shortly after 7 a.m. “The people that are starving, we’re going to do anything we can do to help.”

The relief work in Somalia will be much safer than the wartime duty some Seabees saw during the Gulf War, said Gunnery Sgt. Richard Beckett, a Marine Corps adviser traveling with the party to ensure security at the Seabee encampment.

“The logistics are pretty good, and I don’t feel it’s such a volatile situation,” said Beckett, who helped secure Kuwait Airport with the 3rd Battalion Marines during Operation Desert Storm. “I feel much safer this time. There’s no SCUDs, no missiles being fired, and there won’t be the chemical warfare threat either.”

Although some Seabees are apprehensive about seeing the suffering of the starving Somalis, most are pleased with their role in the mission, Beckett said, adding, “I think it’s a good thing we’re going over there.”

Seabee Cmdr. Bill Rudich, a member of the advance party, said, “We’re prepared for the worst. We’re planning to go and do this job to help the people that need help.”

Despite a full battery of inoculations, some Seabees are concerned about disease in the coastal African country, Rudich said. But the battalion, he said, is “ready to go and get the job done.”

Christmas will have to wait for the 600 men in the battalion. But many said they already had planned to postpone the holiday or celebrate it early before their regular seven-month assignment to Guam was changed for the Somalia mission.

Chief Petty Officer Howard Kaplan said his family was already prepared for an off-season Christmas, but the early departure Thursday came as a surprise.

“My wife’s kind of bummed,” he said. “In the past three years, we’ve probably spent a year together.”

Seabee Chaplain John Yuen said he will accompany the Seabees to attend to their spiritual needs as they help the Marines usher food to the starving people.

“As the man said, there’s no atheists in the foxholes,” he said. “They’ve asked me to keep them in prayer so they can have peace of mind over there.”

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