Montezuma’s Kian McKeag earns Navy Seabee Combat Warfare pin

     Navy Seabee Kian McKeag of Montezuma recently completed all the requirements to qualify to become a Seabee Combat Warfare Specialist, which is no easy task.
      To earn this pin, McKeag was required to complete Personal Qualification Standards (PQS), which included Seabee Combat Warfare Volume I & II, Naval Construction Force 1&C, and Navy Safety Supervisor from the Navy’s Non-Resident Training Course (NRTC) website. In addition, the Seabee must be within physical standards, qualified with the M-16 rifle or M-4 carbine, and must be currently assigned to a unit of the Naval Construction Force. The Seabee must also take a written exam and a field exercise.
    Upon completion of all prescribed training, a “murder board,” committee of questioners who help someone prepare for a difficult oral examination, is usually held. Once that is done, the murder board, the final board, which lasts about two hours, is given. The boards are a way to measure confidence and gauge potential leadership within the Naval Construction Force. If nominees pass the board, they are given the title of a Seabee Combat Warfare Specialist.
        “After countless hours of studying, days at the range and three weeks in the Mississippi woods, it was a huge relief to finally get my pin,” said McKeag.
​         McKeag, a 2018 graduate of Montezuma High School, is currently on deployment in Spain. He will return to his duty station in Gulfport, Miss. in the spring. McKeag is the son of Bill and Jacki Bolen and Darren and Missy McKeag.