Seabees head to Middle East
Advance team of about 50 boards buses
By Dani Dodge
Feb. 10, 2003
Petty Officer 2nd Class Lenny Dye met Barbara Wooddell in a Yahoo chat room while he was stationed in Okinawa. They fell in love. Last year, she and her 8-year-old son left family and friends in Ohio to make a home with Dye in Camarillo.
However, in the pre-dawn hours Sunday, Wooddell stretched on her tiptoes to kiss him goodbye. Dye, a 29-year-old builder, was being deployed with about 50 other Seabees for the Middle East as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
"I'm scared and nervous," said Wooddell, a 34-year-old customer service representative, as Dye hugged her tightly, "but I know it will be good, and he'll be safe."
Behind him, the men and women of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 lined up. The buses were running. Another Seabee leaned his wife against an SUV, kissing her passionately.
"I better file in," Dye said, looking into Wooddell's eyes.
Wooddell stretched her tiny frame one more time, stealing a last kiss, nuzzling his neck, memorizing the sweetness of his skin. Her son, Evan Apel, shivered in the dark and misty air, and then, Dye was in the back of the formation. Wooddell's bravery dissolved in tears.
"With all the exercises they've done, I know he'll be fine," Wooddell said, "but it's so hard to see him go."
The 600 men and women of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 got their deployment orders Jan. 18. This was the second small advance group to leave Naval Base Ventura County for the Middle East. The bulk of the battalion will deploy over the next several weeks. Unlike most missions, Seabees don't know how long they'll stay.
The Seabees are a naval unit that not only builds airfields and bridges in the midst of conflicts, but also deploys on humanitarian missions such as recently creating a water system in Indonesia. Departing members don't know exactly what they'll be building in the Middle East, but they are trained for many different assignments.
If their orders had not been changed because of the war on terrorism, Battalion 4 would have deployed in April to do construction projects in Guam.
The group's executive officer, Cmdr. Rick Burgess, said the change of plans has been a challenge for the families of the Seabees. A father of four, he can sympathize, he said, but when they are needed, they go.
"Our mission is construction support," he said. "When you want a very motivated and flexible group that can get a lot of construction done, Seabees are the group to call."
As the Seabees stood in a dirt parking lot waiting to board the bus that would take them to an airfield, they wore no coats over their desert camouflage, but they did not shiver in the chilly morning air. They were too excited, too proud.
"My adrenaline is pumping," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Andrew Kraus, a 20-year-old builder who joined the Seabees so he could see the world.
Overwhelmed by the pride of being part of Operation Enduring Freedom, Petty Officer 3rd Class David Kaylor, 27, said he just swallowed any fear that could accompany the mission.
"If you have fear, you might panic," the utility man said. "You don't think about it. You just go and do the task at hand."
Kelly Kellogg, 21, wrapped her 3-year-old tightly in a pink blanket to ward off the chill as they said their goodbyes to Petty Officer 3rd Class Casey Kellogg, 21.
This was the third deployment of their marriage, and Kelly was determined to send her husband off with pride instead of fear. They planned carefully for this day. On their refrigerator at home was a list of what to do if anything went wrong, like the car breaking down.
However, when 3-year-old Kaitlyn Kellogg cried, her mother automatically said, "Do you want to go to Daddy?"
Five minutes later, he was on the bus, along with Kaylor, Kraus and Dye.
Wooddell and her son stood behind the small knot of well-wishers, her long blond ponytail poking out of the back of a Dallas Cowboys baseball cap. She wears the hat, even though the team had a "terrible season," because it's Dye's favorite team, she said. She waved goodbye as if in slow motion.
She said she expected to keep their love affair alive with daily e-mails, just like before they met face to face. Although Wooddell, like other wives and girlfriends, said they'd thought about going back home during this deployment, she dismissed the thought.
"I'm here in California," she said. "I'll just wait for him to come home."
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