U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy Construction
Navy
* This represents the number of Seabee teams deployed to Vietnam from each battalion. Note that each battalion's effort varied widely. Eight-to-ten-month-long team deployments appear to have been the rule. Dates indicate when the unit first entered Vietnam and when it departed Vietnam for the last time. Times of subordinate team tours in Vietnam would fluctuate greatly within the time frame of its parent battalion. ^ Represents HQ utilization only. U.S. AIR FORCE CONSTRUCTION & COMBAT SECURITY FORCES IN VIETNAM
Combat Security Police Squadrons, each composed of 21 officers and 538 airmen, were introduced in Vietnam by the U.S. Air Force as a response to VC and NVA attacks on USAF bases during the 1968 Tet battles. Unit: 821st Combat Security Police Squadron Vietnam Service: April 1968 - August 1968 Unit: 821st Combat Security Police Squadron Vietnam Service: August 1969 - February 1971 The second tour in Vietnam. Squadron had a reduced strength of 250 commencing January 1970. Unit: 822nd Combat Security Police Squadron Vietnam Service: August 1968 - March 1969 Unit: 823rd Combat Security Police Squadron Vietnam Service: March 1969 - August 1969 Unit: 1041st USAF Police Squadron (Test) Vietnam Service: August 1968 - March 1969 Strength about 200 RED HORSE (Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron, Engineering) units were introduced in Vietnam in 1966. These civil engineering squadrons had a complement of 15 officers and 385 enlisted men. They were unique among military engineer units in that each employed between 600 - 1,000 Vietnamese workers, which greatly expanded their construction capability. Prior to RED HORSE deployments, the Air Force had relied on 60-man PRIME BEEF (Prime Beef Engineer Emergency Force) teams drawn from base maintenance units in the United States. Such teams, however, had been supplemented with up to 300 local civilian workers. There was also one RED HORSE Squadron in Thailand (566th Civil Engineering Squadron, Heavy Repair) located primarily at U-Tapoa (Sattahip) which arrived in July 1966 and by the departure in August 1969 employed over 3,000 Thais. Unit: 554th Civil Engineering Squadron, Heavy Repair Vietnam Service: January 1966 - June 1972 Location: Phan Rang Unit: 555th Civil Engineering Squadron, Heavy Repair Vietnam Service: February 1966 - March 1970 Location: Cam Rahn Bay Unit: 819th Civil Engineering Squadron, Heavy Repair Vietnam Service: August 1966 - February 1970 Location: Phu Cat Unit: 820th Civil Engineering Squadron, Heavy Repair Vietnam Service: October 1966 - February 1969 Location: Tuy Hoa Unit: 823rd Civil Engineering Squadron, Heavy Repair Vietnam Service: October 1966 - August 1971 Location: Bien Hoa |
U.S. Navy CONSTRUCTION FORCES IN VIETNAM
Although most of the construction in Vietnam was done by civilian contractors, military engineer force personnel from all services - Navy Seabees, Marines, Army, and Air Force - carried out a significant portion. As early as 1964, Seabees from Amphibious Construction Battalion 1 were building refugee camps in Vietnam, and from 1962 through 1965 Seabees were building U.S. Army Special Forces camps, Naval Mobile Construction Battalions, each with a complement of 24 officers and 738 men, began landing at Da Nang in May and June of 1965. Primarily engaged in the I Corps region. Navy Seabees were used to build waterfront facilities, cantonments, storage areas, ammunition dumps, roads, and bridges. They were based at Da Nang, Chu Lai, Hue - Phu Bai, Dong Tam, and Quang Tri.
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