Seabees Build Fun Festivals, Too : Naval base: Open house features music, rides and a look at military implements.

PORT HUENEME —  Like giant reptiles, dozens of crocodile-green military vehicles inched down a blacktop at the Naval Construction Battalion Center on Saturday.

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Suddenly, the purring sound of the trucks was obliterated by the rattle of a machine gun when a sailor began discharging blanks from atop a Hummer all-terrain vehicle.

“That was your surprise,” said retired Master Chief Donald Turner to the crowd gathered for the 1995 Seabee Celebration--the Navy base’s ninth annual, two-day open house.

For construction battalion members, the builders and fighters called Seabees, the machine gun barrage was a fitting end to a parade of special naval construction equipment. And for the public, the military pageant showcased the Seabees’ tools of the trade.

“I like how they bring out all the cars and they’re shooting guns,” said 8-year-old William Holland Jr. of Camarillo. “I’ve never seen trucks like this before. They’re bigger and they’re better than the little cars you ride around in.”

Capt. Jim Delker, the Construction Battalion Center’s commanding officer, said the Seabee Celebration gives the public a chance to see what goes on behind the gates of the 1,615-acre base.

“People say, ‘Gee, I wonder what’s in there?’ ” Delker said. “We’re trying to build a stronger bond between the base and the larger community.”

Over the weekend, the Navy expects about 30,000 people to come meet and greet the men and women in uniform while listening to the blues, hopping on carnival rides and speeding across the harbor in aviation rescue boats.

On Saturday, the Navy recruited Port Hueneme Mayor Toni Young to be a judge at a chili contest.

“I’m going to try to be very careful,” Young said. “I’m not very used to hot food.”

Among some of the unlikely attractions found at the military base Saturday were a Hula-Hoop show, a pie-eating contest and a pet trick show.

Port Hueneme resident Mark Habel, 44, was petting his 5-year-old pooch Slipper just after she had won first place for her antics.

“She rolls over,” a beaming Habel said. “She plays dead. Everything but her tail dies.”

Formed in 1941, the Naval Construction Battalions recruited Seabees from the civilian building trades. More than 325,000 Seabees served in World War II, building airstrips, warehouses, hospitals and housing. About 5,000 Seabees shipped overseas in 1990 to build and fight in the Persian Gulf War.

Today, Seabees number 11,000 active duty personnel and about 15,000 reservists. The only other Seabee base is in Gulfport, Miss.

Seabee Mark Glover, a 31-year-old construction mechanic, said the Seabee Celebration helps put the construction battalions on the map.

“We’re expected to know everything from a lawn mower engine up to a 35-ton rock dump truck,” Glover said. “We get a chance to show off what we got and what we do.”

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FYI

The Seabee Celebration continues today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a carnival, craft fair, car show, magic show, country and dance music and aviation rescue boat rides. Admission is free, but carnival rides cost about $2. Entrance is at the Pleasant Valley Gate at Ventura Avenue in Port Hueneme. For more information, call 982-3585.