Miss. Seabees spell Army ‘family’

BOLESLAWIEC, Poland - The Army’s 372nd Engineers, a reserve brigade from Fort Snelling, Minn., arrived in Poland in January with the mission of over-seeing some 25 construction projects spread over three task forces and two countries in an exercise known as Resolute Castle (RC) 19. Resolute Castle 19 has been a growth process for us to help us further train and enhance our ability to be a ready deployment asset to the Army and the joint force,” explained 372nd officer in charge Maj. Robert Mikyska. In FY 2018, the brigade was involved at battalion headquarters in Romania, he said. This year the brigade assumed mission command over the whole RC 19 mission and will be in Poland through September. Seabees of the 22nd and 7th Naval Construction Regiments (NCRs) from Gulfport, Miss., arrived in May. “As part of the planned mission for the exercise, we have relinquished control to the Seabees so they can come in and exercise command and control over a joint mission,” explained Mikyska. “This allows us to conduct a staff exercise which will develop our redeployment operations order,” he said. During the Army’s time away, the Seabees continued with mission execution while evaluating joint and combined engineering processes, and providing input for improvements. Any changes incorporated in the over-all project management process would have to be sustainable by RC 19 forces and maintained by the Army’s 372nd. “The incorporation of the Seabees at a brigade level is a prime example of inter-service operability,” said Army First Lt. Steven Scott of the 301st Forward Engineer Support Team (FEST). The Army to Navy transition was “absolutely seamless,” said Mikyska. “It truly has been one of the most enjoyable transitions I have been a part of” and “truly felt like a big family.” (Source: 7th NCR 06/21/19)