GULFPORT, Miss. – Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class David Perkins, 24, son of Ronald Perkins of Winterport, returned to Gulfport, Miss., this month after participating in Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133’s most recent deployment. In the last seven months, Perkins and the other members of the battalion worked more than 500,000 man-hours at 15 locations around the world.

Perkins, a 1996 graduate of Bonny Eagle High School in Standish, joined the U.S. Navy Seabees in 1997.

“The biggest reason I joined the Seabees,” he said, “was for the training, but the traveling is great, too. With only four years in, I’ve already been all over the world. With our support in Operation Enduring Freedom, I saw first-hand exactly why the Seabees exist.”

On Sept. 5, 2001, the battalion sent small detachments to Guam, Diego Garcia, Bahrain, Japan and several military installations in the United States. Within eight days of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the entire 550-person battalion was fully deployed.

In November Seabees repaired airstrips and set up potable water and hygiene facilities for United States and Northern Alliance forces in Kandahar, Afghanistan. In January, a battalion detachment went to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to construct medical and confinement facilities for Taliban and al-Quaida detainees at Camp X-Ray.

In October and December, Seabee personnel were faced with a magnitude 7.1 earthquake and a typhoon of immense proportions.

“We all had to put in a lot of hard work,” Perkins, a steel worker, said, “and Guam was very hot, especially for a welder. I really missed my wife and family during deployment, too.” Perkins’ wife is Susan Lepoma.

Established as a part of the Navy Civil Engineering Corps during WWII, Seabees are experts at building roads, airstrips, bridges, hospital and sanitation facilities anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice. Because they often operate in hostile environments in support of other military forces, Seabees also are highly trained in defensive ground combat.

“During the deployment,” Perkins said, “I had the opportunity to fix a lot of equipment and got a lot of practice. I also had the chance to be part of something that really mattered, especially our country.”