Navy's ground combat units poised for rapid growth.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold

NAVAL AMPHIBIOUS BASE LITTLE CREEK, Va. -- The Navy is sailing ahead with plans to get its new Expeditionary Combat Command up and running as quickly as possible, despite congressional concerns that it may be acting too quickly.

Within the next year or so, the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, or NECC, will include 40,000 to 50,000 sailors.

The command's units currently include mobile security detachments for in-port operations, coastal warfare squadrons to protect harbors around the world, explosive ordnance disposal units, diving and salvage teams, construction "Seabees" battalions, and logistics support teams.

Increasingly, disaster relief is seen as an important part of the command's effort to help win friends for the United States in troubled parts of the world. The organization's most dangerous work, however, is taking place in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf.

In August, for example, an EOD technician died while attempting to defuse a bomb in Iraq's Anbar Province. Previously, he had disabled more than 40 such devices. In May, five Seabees received Purple Heart medals for injuries sustained in and around Al Asad, also in Iraq. In 2004, three members of a mobile security detachment, including a Coast Guardsman, were killed while fending off an attack on an Iraqi oil terminal in the Gulf.

Sailors are taught to fire a wide range of weapons, including M17 rifles, 9 mm pistols, 12 gauge shotguns, and both light and heavy machine guns. They use both simulated and live ammunition. They also learn such combat skills as how to maneuver under fire, conduct patrols, search buildings and perform basic first aid.

The Navy in July approved the establishment of two additional Seabee units--a regiment, consisting of two or more battalions, and separate battalion. Both will be based in Gulfport, Miss.

The command's EOD community also is looking for additional technicians. But standards are high. Sailors must achieve qualifying scores on the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery, fitness and pressure tests, security clearance and dive physical. And they must have no black marks on their personnel records. Once accepted, they must endure lengthy training in diving, ordnance disposal and parachuting.

In coming months, the command will add more units to expand its capabilities even further, explained Cmdr. Dan Schultz, a warfare requirements and resources officer, at an industry briefing.

A training unit will work with the Marines, Coast Guard...