Navy Seabees in Guam train at GCA Trades Academy, deploy with Civic Action Team to Palau

By Rey Rabara, Joint Task Force-Micronesia

TIYAN, Guam – Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 133, deployed from Gulfport, Mississippi, attended an instructor certification class at the Guam Contractors Association (GCA) Trades Academy in Tiyan, Jan. 30.

The Sailors, known as Seabees, took the three-day course to obtain training and tools to enhance

their leadership skills and become certified instructors, while preparing for their deployment as

the next Civic Action Team (CAT) in Palau, CAT 133-32.

“We’ve been working with the various military Civic Action Teams assigned to Palau since 2011,” Bert Johnston, education director at the GCA Trades Academy said. “We teach service members from the Army, Air Force and Navy; they rotate every six months. We set them up into the instructor class, get them certified to teach under the National Center for Construction Education and Research’s (NCCER) curriculum, so that when they’re teaching in Palau they can actually give national recognition credentials to their apprentices.”

NMCB-133 CAT 133-32 relieved the U.S. Air Force 356th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Group CAT 356-01 during the Transition of Authority ceremony in Palau, Feb. 14. The core focus of the CAT team is a robust apprenticeship program. The curriculum includes members of the

Palauan community spending 6-12 months learning engineering trades such as electrical engineering, vehicle mechanics, heavy equipment operation, masonry and carpentry.

Along with the apprenticeship program, the team supports Palau through six secondary tasks: community construction projects, medical support, community relations, WWII monument maintenance, emergency response and disaster relief.

“We will be demonstrating our leadership skills to give to the community and continue building that relationship among the residents of Palau,” Utilitiesman 2nd Class Aaron Semaan, lead plumber of CAT 133-32 said. “We are given the tools and ability to teach the proper way and help our apprentices to be successful and certified so they can move on to bigger and better things, while improving their lives and wellbeing. The big mission is for them to succeed,” he said.

CAT Palau is an integral part of the 30th Naval Construction mission and the U.S. mission in the Pacific to assist and support the development of the Republic of Palau through agreements made in the Compact of Free Association between the two nations.

The CAT consists of Army, Navy and Air Force construction engineers who perform six-month rotational deployments to Palau to support the local community with engineering projects. Originally, a solely Navy effort, CATs have been present in Palau for more than 50 years.