VENTURA COUNTY EVENT HONORS SEABEES.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

Eight-year-old Anne Maher carefully hefted the 15-pound rocket launcher to her shoulder and listened carefully as the Seabee explained how it worked.

``It looked like fun; I saw my friend do it, and I wanted to see how it worked,'' said Maher, who said she still plans to become a veterinarian when she grows up. ``I think it's neat!''

Maher was one of hundreds of children and adults who flocked to Naval Base Ventura County on Saturday for the 17th annual Seabee Days, honoring the Navy's construction battalions.

Children clambered all over Humvees equipped with (nonworking) machine guns, rode carnival rides and feasted on cotton candy, corn on the cob and other festival food. There also was a softball tournament, live music, a motorcycle show and a military parade.

The event, which continues today, features tours of the USS Stethem, a 350-man Navy guided missile destroyer named after a Seabee, Robert Stethem, who was tortured and killed in 1985 in Lebanon by terrorists who hijacked the TWA plane on which he was a passenger.

Max and Angela Mora of Ventura met while they were serving in the Army, but came to the Port just to experience the feeling of being on a military base again.

``It's a comfort zone for me,'' said Angela, 42.

``I don't know how many people with no connection to the military come to these things, but it would help give them an idea what life is like here,'' said Max, 49.

One of those civilians was Mark Baron, 48, a tile contractor from Simi Valley, who came out to tour the Stethem and see the military parade.

``I read it in the paper this morning, and decided to do this instead of doing my laundry,'' he said, smiling as he toured the ship. ``It's really interesting. You never get to see things like this.

``I respect what they do, and I applaud them - they're taking care of us.''

Even the Marines got in on the fun. Sgt. Grant Young, 33, of Tampa Bay, Fla., with the Marine Aviation Detachment, urged visitors to try to send him into the dunk tank with a well-placed softball pitch, calling, ``Do what Saddam Hussein's Republican Army could not do - take down the U.S. Marines!''

Strips of duct tape showed where players were supposed to stand: the farthest one back was labeled ``Marines (real men),'' followed by one for adults, Army, children, Navy and then the Air Force.

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Seabee E-6 Reginald Rudolph demonstrates an emergency rope evacuation, with the Ferris wheel in the background, at Seabee Days 2003 Saturday in Port Hueneme.

(2) Jeff Deviney of Port Hueneme shows his son Corbin, 4, how to aim a .50-caliber machine gun at Seabee Days.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News