Seabee71.com  

A Company of 71's Seabees complete their training on basic bridge construction while at Camp LeJune.

In January, the entire battalion boarded half a dozen C-130 transport planes and flew to the Marine’s training facility in North Carolina.  We left cold, snow-covered New England, looking forward to a balmy time in the South. We didn’t get it.  We were met with snow, rain, mud, cold temperatures and Marines who screamed at us. In the retelling of our LeJeune story at bars and future cocktail parties, these three weeks will take on glorious and grand proportions. I've included a more accurate account of those winter days in the southern pines of North Carolina in the book—just for the record. Here are a few of the photos from that time

     Our first days of Marine training were wet. We sat on wooden benches in an outdoor classroom, rain dripping from the pines, drizzling off helmets,

running down the back of our necks, rusting the barrels of M-14s. The Marine instructors were a no nonsense bunch, from the officers all the say down to the Jarheads. They take their mission seriously. We, on the other hand, a hastily thrown together bunch of former construction workers, well . . .  we were a little less formal. Marines must suffer from bad hearing, for there was a lot yelling, barking and in-your-face shouting. It was all we could do to keep a straight face.

     To read the rest of the the story, you'll have to buy the book: Seabee71: Building a War In Vietnam.