U.S. Naval Base Bahrain

When the US Navy called Sundek Headquarters requesting that we install our decorative concrete product on a US Naval base in Bahrain, the problem was not installing the deck but finding the Kingdom of Bahrain. It turns out that the Kingdom of Bahrain is a small island in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Saudi Arabia and about 8,000 miles from Arlington, TX.

This US Naval Base supports the US Navy Fifty Fleet with nearly 4,500 military and civilian personnel. The Base serves as a critical mission support center for US Forces operating throughout the Middle East and as the nerve center for all warships in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf & Arabian Sea. While Sundek has installed its product on other military bases never has the base been so far from home in an area that some have considered a war zone. Instead of looking at this as mission impossible, Sundek personnel took it on as a logistical challenge as well as an opportunity to give back to the men and women who fight for our country.

There were many challenges just in the planning, including communicating with an 8 hour time difference, shipping materials and equipment, and learning about lifestyle and customs. Once we arrived the challenges kept coming ranging from the climate to training the labor force provided by Kooheji, the GC. Sometimes it is hard for us coming from a Western civilization with ready access to power tools to realize that in other countries it can be cheaper to hire 5 manual laborers than to purchase one powered hand grinder. But for the next 7 heat drenched days we worked side by side, even with a language barrier, the labor force was dedicated and willing to learn how to use the modern equipment and our installation techniques. Sometimes they did revert back to their very basic hand tool, a metal pipe with a 2” nail at the end. Still by the end of the day using modern and not so modem equipment the US Naval pool deck in Bahrain had 5,000 sq ft of Sundek Decorative Classic Texture with two tenciled aquatic creatures installed on the children's pool deck. This project will not go down on the books as the biggest or even the most decorative but what it will be remembered for is that the US Navy called us to install a deck coating for the enjoyment and benefit of our dedicated military personnel and their families. Sundek stood up and took the challenge.