Navy Cargo Handling Battalion

Units in the Navy Expeditionary Logistics Groups are one of the few commands within the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) to have the opportunity for Sailors to earn the Enlisted Expeditionary Warfare Specialist (EEXWS or EXW). In order to earn this, Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group (NAVELSG) Sailors must go to the "Virginia Training" to learn how to operate cranes and become a basic stevedore. They must also complete the Seabee Combat Handbook Volume 1 and 2 [4] on the Navy's Non-Residential Training Course website. Sailors also have to collect signatures in all the fields in their NAVELSG unit and go before a 3-6-hour board to get tested on their knowledge about Navy Expeditionary Combat Logistics to become EXW qualified. This qualification usually takes 6 months – 12 months. This qualification proves that the Sailor has competent knowledge in their specific Expeditionary unit and can bear the title "Expeditionary Sailor." The Sailor also earns the right to add "EXW" to their Rank/Rate and can add on to existing qualification specialists earned prior or after.

The NCHB units deployed with the United States Navy Seabees as the equipment, logistical, and transportation element into Iraq. However, the mission set soon changed and soon became one of the major backbones of the combat logistical support system of U.S. forces in Iraq.

The Navy Cargo Handling Battalions provided logistical support and deployable transportation to many operational units ranging from combat unit for combat resupply, artillery battery battalion, to units staying in the headquarters of the Forward Operating Bases (FOBs). At first, NCHB units were primarily for providing the shore-based logistical and transportation support to all operating naval forces (including the Marines), but later changed as the mission in Iraq needed these support systems for all forces in the theater of operations.

After the lessons learned in Iraq, NCHB units were deployed to Afghanistan as the Iraq war continued but came to a close. The Battalions did the same mission set of providing the logistical and transportation support in Afghanistan as they did in Iraq. NCHB also is one of the major logistical support element in Afghanistan for U.S. forces. The mission is still continued today, and the NCHB units rotate their Battalions in a rotational deployment of 9 months.

Other than the recent NCHB missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, NCHB still provides Expeditionary logistical support to Naval forces all over the world. Bahrain and Djibouti are some of the areas of which the Air Cargo Battalions and Cargo Handling Battalions are together in the countries as rotational forces providing Expeditionary Air and Ground logistical support to Naval Forces.

NCHB serves as the NAVELSG's primary force of transportation and logistical support. This is its primary role in NECC and it is one of the largest Expeditionary Combat Support roles that the Navy needs to sustain its operations throughout the globe from amphibious assaults, operation exercises, to theater of operations. It also supports the other units of NECC such as Seabees, Coastal Riverine Force, or the Mobile Diving and Salvaging Units.