Bruce B. Geibel


1967

   I was in MCB 11 from June 1966 to September 1968. I joined the battalion at Camp Adenir, Danang, Vietnam, as an Ensign, and became the Assistant Operations Officer. As an architect-engineer, out of Clemson University, SC, I designed several facilities including an extension to the III MAF Officer's Club and the large III MAF R&R Center at China Beach, Vietnam. My engineering aides and surveyors drafted the working drawings and laid out various construction sites. It was an exciting deployment for me. I later took on duties as Assistant Delta Company Commander in homeport and was subsequently promoted to Lt(jg) and reassigned to duties as OIC Seabee Team 1109. the team, with my AOIC, EOC Henry "Hank" Knowles, USN, deployed to Chiang Kham, Thailand, between April to November 1967. After our Thailand deployment, I returned briefly to MCB 11 in Dong Ha, and was reassigned to the Advanced Party in Port Hueneme. I again assumed duties as Assistant Delta Company Commander and redeployed to Quang Tri, Vietnam, from May 1968 - September 1968. in country, I was reassigned to Alpha Company as Special Projects Officer for roadwork and kept track of the Rock Off-load Ramp at Dong Ha. My call sign was "Legend Alpha Romeo" (the Romeo standing for "Rock"). I got married on deployment R&R in Honolulu, Hawaii, left the battalion in September 1968, and continued an enjoyable 26-year Navy career. I spent over 16 of my 26 years of active duty in overseas locations around the world.
    During the next 24 years, I served in the following jobs:  AROICC at NAS Norfolk, VA; AROICC for Project ABC, in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, overseeing construction of the Washington-Moscow Hotline; APWO at NAS Atsugi, Japan; APWO at NWS and POMFLANT, Charleston, SC; got a graduate degree at NPGS Monterey, CA; XO of NMCB 133 in Gulfport, MS (serving at Rota, Spain; Roosevelt Roads, PR; and Diego Garcia, BIOT); Saudi Naval Expansion Program (SNEP), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; SHAPE Military Headquarters for NATO at Casteau, Belgium, for oversight of projects at Naval bases and maritime airfields in the NATO countries of Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain, Luxemburg, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and England; then NAVFACENGCOM, Alexandria, VA; NAVSEASYSCOM, Washington, DC; DCOS for Logistics at COMNAVMAR, Agana, Guam; and finally CO PWC Guam, from where I retired as a Captain, CEC, USN, in September 1991.
    I subsequently took on various civilian facilities management positions with the City of Hapeville, Emory University and The Woodruff Arts Center in greater Atlanta, Georgia. I am now retired-retired and living in the northern mountain community of Big Canoe, near Jasper, GA, at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains where I play golf and have written four family genealogy books. I'm married, wife Sandy, and we have two children; Eric F. Geibel, born in Scotland, and living in Morgan City, LA; and Lisa M. Geibel, born in Japan, and living in Atlanta, GA. We have a grandson Gage Geibel, age 4 1/2, living with his dad in Morgan City, LA
    I hope to hear from some of my Seabee Team 1109 members and looking forward to a long association with the Seabees of MCB 11.


1989