Advance base construction by civilian contractors in war zones

Major construction has become a significant facet of modern warfare. Advance base construction in support of the logistical and tactical operations has grown in scope and magnitude with technological advances in the weapons of war. Regular military construction units, the Army's engineer battalions and the Navy's construction battalions, can not be maintained and equipped at the levels required for high volume, highly technical construction work. The alternative is to perform major construction using civilian contractors even when exposed to enemy attack. The development of the American heavy construction industry in the first half of the Twentieth Century produced entrepreneurs rather unique in American business. Small compared to major industrial firms, American contractors built dams, tunnels and large projects and became accustomed to taking great financial and physical risks. American contractors were working for the Navy on islands in the Pacific Ocean when war with Japan erupted. Many of their workers were killed or captured, leading the Navy to enlist skilled tradesmen into construction battalions to build the bases and airfields across the Pacific to carry the war to Japan. Military engineering units, both Army and Navy, constituted roughly ten percent of the military manpower of World War II. The introduction of large numbers of troops into South Vietnam, an underdeveloped country, required the employment of American construction contractors. In a war without front lines, yet with a ubiquitous enemy, civilians had to build major ports, jet-capable runways, enormous cantonments, shops, warehouses, tank farms, munitions storage and a network of roads and bridges in a hostile environment. American contractors mobilized rapidly and successfully shortcut some of the cumbersome government procurement procedures. At least 52 workers died from enemy action. Military construction in Vietnam established a likely pattern for major conflicts in countries lacking infrastructure capable of sustaining a large military effort. Serious labor, logistical, client service and cultural problems encountered by the contractor and Navy engineers were resolved by individual initiative. Recording these events, often through personal narratives, provides planners with some hard-earned lessons applicable to some different war in some inhospitable area of the world.