BANGOR — Seaman George Allen, a Bangor native and 2013 John Baptist Memorial High School graduate, is building bridges and roads around the world as a member of the U.S. Navy’s Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 11, based in Gulfport, Mississippi.
Allen is an intelligence specialist with NMCB 11, a unit specializing in building structures in areas of conflict. Sailors attached to NMCB 11 and other similar units, nicknamed “Seabees,” are a unique group in the Navy whose motto is “We build, we fight.”
“My job is to prepare intelligence briefs for the battalion and inform them of possible threats in the area,” said Allen.
Seabees not only build bridges, roads, runways and other structures in war zones, they also defend those structures after they’ve built them.
Allen and the rest of the sailors assigned to NMCB 11 are part of the Navy’s construction force that has been around for more than 70 years. Seabees have built entire bases and bridges and bulldozed and paved thousands of miles of roadway and airstrips for the U.S. military all over the world, playing a vital role in every major conflict the U.S. has been involved with since World War II.
Working with NMCB 11 and serving in the U.S. Navy, Allen said he is learning about himself as a leader and person.
“Serving in the Navy has definitely improved my work ethic which has helped me complete tasks needed to succeed not only at this command, but in life,” said Allen.