Seabees win Navy award for Hurricane Sandy relief, deployments Published Feb. 19, 2013 By Petty Officer 1st Class Jonathan Carmichael Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 11 Public Affairs GULFPORT, Miss. (NNS) -- Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 11, who recently staged out of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst for Hurricane Sandy relief, won the Rear Admiral Eugene J. Peltier Award for fiscal year 2012, Jan. 31, 2013. The unit deployed to New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy devastated the Jersey Shore. The 55 NMCB-11 air detachment Sailors, or "Seabees" as they're known, came from Gulfport, Miss., with one mission in mind: help local residence regain normalcy. NMCB-11 also completed an eight-month United States Central Command deployment in Afghanistan during 2012 in which the battalion set the stage for the surge drawdown of U.S. and coalition forces and eventual transfer of mission to the Afghan forces. The Seabees staged out of NMCB-21 on JB MDL, Nov. 4, 2012 to lend a hand in restoring the battered landscape. The announcement came in a message from Rear Adm. Katherine L. Gregory, Naval Facilities Engineering Command commander. Units selected for this prestigious award are recognized leaders in the Naval Construction Force in safety, overall performance, readiness, construction accomplishments, equipment management, logistics programs, retention and training. The Peltier award is named for a legendary and distinguished Civil Engineer Corps and Seabee leader. Commissioned into the Navy in 1940, Peltier was appointed Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, and Chief of Civil Engineers of the Navy in 1957 where he served until 1962. Peltier died Feb. 13, 2004 at the age of 93 and was interred in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Visit http://nmcb11.navylive.dodlive.mil/ and www.navy.mil/local/nmcb11/ for more news about NMCB-11