Jun 19, 2009
Air Force Lt. Col.
Daniel E. Herrigstad
JTF-E Public Affairs Officer
MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU, Romania — A team of Romanian Army engineers and U.S. Navy Seabees from Joint Task Force-East attended a dedication ceremony June 11, 2009 for a fence project they completed at one of the local kindergartens here.
Mihail Kogalniceanu Mayor Valer Iosif Muresan, Delfinasul, kindergarten principal Doina Neacsu, and approximately 40 school children and family members hosted the ribbon cutting ceremony dedicating the new fence and thanking the U.S.-Romanian team for their work on the project.
"We hope this project makes a difference for the community and develops into more opportunity to work together in the future," said Col. Gary Russ, the JTF-East commander during his comments to the group.
Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 11, from Gulfport, Miss. - also known as the "Lucky Eleven" - is the one of nine active duty Seabee battalions specializing in contingency construction, disaster relief, and humanitarian civic assistance missions across the globe. The detachment is currently assigned to JTF-East and consists of 30 unit members and is stationed in Romania until August 2009, when their six-month tour ends. At that time another Seabee detachment from NMCB 3 will arrive to continue projects in Constanta and Tulcea counties in addition to locations in Bulgaria where similar JTF-East operations are on-going.
On June 1, six soldiers from the Romanian 10th Engineer Brigade "Dunarea de Jos," headquartered in Braila, joined the Seabees in working on the Humanitarian Civic Assistance (HCA) projects. Romanian engineer teams currently plan to rotate every 14 days through the end of October, working with their U.S. counterparts day-in and day-out.
"This is the first mission of this type for us," said Sgt. 1st Class Georgescu Augustin the Romanian-team non-commissioned officer in-charge during the brief ceremony. "My team and I are very glad we had the opportunity to do something for the community and we hope the community is as delighted about the project as we were helping build it."
Over the past 22 months the Seabees have completed 16 projects. All projects are public medical and educational facilities that local community officials identify and prioritize as requiring some renovations or other work. This summer, between July 20 and August 28, JTF-East is also scheduled to do about six medical missions across Tulcea and Constanta counties. These missions, in coordination and support from Romanian medical officials, will include medical, dental and optometry screenings, providing eyeglasses, vaccinations, and various related support.
All the HCA projects completed by the Seabees fall under a U.S. Department of Defense-funded program locally executed by JTF-East. From identification to execution, the entire process takes about one year. The coordination and approval process includes local mayors and other officials, the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) in Bucharest, U.S. European Command, and the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
This program, like many others done in locations around the world, is a major tool to build strong relationships with local communities like Mihail Kogalniceanu and provide valuable training for the U.S. forces. The goals are to help build allied partners, foster theater security cooperation, and develop long lasting relations.