This is a question for all our Navy vets...

[CTyankee]

Do we still have the Seabees (Construction Batallion of Navy Engineers? Like during WW2?

The reason I ask is personal. My mother was a young mother during WW2. She was very fond of motto of the Seabees: "Can do." She absolutely detested the phrase "No can do" as to her it meant just giving up, not doing something you should and giving up too easily.

Gee, I hope you will say it's till there...we need that motto more than ever now!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Not a Navy vet, but Google gave me the answer, which is yes,

they still exist. These days they do a lot of disaster relief. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabee#:~:text=United%20States%20Naval%20Construction%20Battalions,from%20the%20words%20Construction%20Battalion.

[snowybirdie]

4. My Dad

was a Seabee. Saipan many years ago.

[ananda]

31. My dad was a carrier pilot ..

.. who ended up on Saipan after his ship
was kamikazed during The Battle of
Leyte Gulf.

Cheers, snowbirdie

[Alacritous Crier]

2. Yup!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabee

https://www.navy.com/careers/construction

[rlexx]

3. Yes

[CTyankee]

7. Were you a Seabee?

Many years ago we had a neighbor who was an officer in the CB but was assigned to the Pentagon. He absolutely loved what he did, but this was during the 1970s...

[Ptah]

5. My father was a Seabee during WWII

Solomon Islands and New Guinea.

[Kid Berwyn]

6. "The difficult we do immediately..."

“The impossible takes a little longer.”

https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095717852

[CTyankee]

8. terrific. Thanks!

[Kid Berwyn]

20. You are most welcome!

It’s my pleasure to return a favor, CTyankee. For years I enjoyed your DU posts on the arts.

[Aristus]

17. I adopted that as an unofficial motto for the Physician Assistant profession.

Any time I have a success in clinic, I like to trot it out...

[Kid Berwyn]

18. What you do is beyond the extraordinary.

Healthcare providers bring us to the truly miraculous: life.

Thank you!

[Aristus]

24. Very nice, thank you...

[elleng]

9. Can do!

&feature=emb_logo

[tinymontgomery]

10. Another motto of the Seabees

Another motto of the Seabees is "We Build, We Fight. Served with
Amphibious Construction Battalion 2.

[dware]

21. In Vietnam, the SeaBees I worked with had their own motto,

We Build
We Fight
We Party All Night, Can Do.

[tinymontgomery]

25. Good one n/t

[pfitz59]

11. yes

[Basic LA]

12. Port Hueneme (near Ventura Calif) has a SeaBee Base

I was a fleet sailor but served temporary duty with the SeaBees in Iceland back in the day. Great guys!

[Chainfire]

13. No can do

to me means that you are not going to do something for any reason including you that disagree with the suggested action.
I don' associate it with quitting or an inability to complete an action.

It is equivalent with the local saying, "I ain't about to do that!"

[CTyankee]

15. My brother, who was her caregiver (not a good one) used to say it when he really just didn't

feel like doing it. Drove me crazy and she really hated it...

[Wounded Bear]

28. "Can't means won't"...

That's how my old DI put it.

[rickford66]

14. I was a Seabee 1969-1971 CE3

Still in touch with guys I was in boot camp with and others I met at duty stations. My late wife met me while I wore the uniform and I figure that impressed her because I'm not a great looking guy. Been to three reunions and there have been several I missed since then.

Can Do

Construmus Batumius ( We Build We Fight )

[CTyankee]

16. And the guys in those uniforms really looked great. We had a neighbor who was a Seabee

(worked at the Pentagon) and he turned my head during the summer in that uniform...

[Stinky The Clown]

27. Were you in Davisville? I was in Newport '68 and early '69.

[rickford66]

29. Spring and Summer 69 in Davisville.

Great duty while waiting to go overseas. A couple B schools and occasional barracks guard duty.

[Stinky The Clown]

30. Guarding against invading lobsters from Narraganset Bay?

[rickford66]

32. And keeping the Northeast beer supply refreshed.

[dware]

19. Yes, the SeaBees still exist.

In Vietnam, I was a combat engineer and had the pleasure of working closely with the U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Batt. 40, a better bunch of guys, IMO, never existed.

The main west coast SeaBee base in Port Hueneme Naval Base in Port Hueneme, CA.

Beautiful base and a beautiful city.

[Demonaut]

22. I was Navy, Seebees still exist, god love em

[maxrandb]

23. Yes we still have SeaBees

Used to be stationed at Navy Construction Division ONE in Little Creek Amphibian Base in Norfolk.

"Can Do" was just not the SeaBees. We used it in the Surface Warfare Navy too.

Sometimes the CO would say "can do" and we'd say "wish you wouldn't".

The phrase that always used to torque me was "close enough for government work".

[jmowreader]

26. That one always pissed me off too

Government work has VERY tight tolerances. There's no such thing as "close enough" on a government job.