III Marine Expeditionary Force Public Affairs

Story by 2nd Lt. Doy Demsick

SAN JUAN, Republic of the Philippines — Not even the harsh elements could stop the combined Marine-Seabee team from helping their AFP counterparts get the job going.

Marine engineers from Marine Wing Support Squadron 171 and MWSS-172 and Navy Seabees from the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7 slogged through the mud and endured pounding rains along side engineers from the armed AFP 51st Engineer Battalion to continue construction on a new road for the residents of San Juan, Oct. 16.

The combined team began construction Oct. 15 as part of a civil engineering project for Talon Vision 2008. Talon Vision is an annual bi-lateral exercise conducted between U.S. forces and the AFP designed to improve the cooperative military efforts of the two countries.

The overall goal of the road project is to build a compacted gravel road for the farmers in the area who often have to travel through thick mud to transport rice from the fields to the village. With a quality road to travel on, the farmers will be able to transport their goods faster and easier.

"This road will be very helpful for the villages here because farmers use water buffalo and horses to transport the rice and the animals often get stuck in the mud," said Philippine Army Cpl. Jose Dapat, an engineer with the AFP's 51st Engineer Battalion. "The road will definitely allow the villagers to save time."

While the engineers' intentions were good, Mother Nature was not always cooperative.

"The rain and mud hampered construction somewhat, but were more of an annoyance than a serious setback," said Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer James Sweet. "During construction, we found ourselves relying on the Philippine engineers quite a bit for advice on how to work in these conditions. The AFP engineers have a lot more experience at this than the more junior Seabees, and we really learned a lot from them and worked through the not-so-great conditions. We learned things out here that we will definitely bring home with us."

During construction the engineers reflected on the goal of the project and on the cooperation between the two groups of engineers.

"We had a lot of great team work out here," said Dapat. "We listened and worked with each other really well, we had great harmony."

One thing that keeps the team positive throughout the project is keeping sight on why they are there.

"The overall goal of the project is to improve the quality of life for the 36 families who live in this village," said Sweet. "The work we do out here will hopefully have a positive effect on the Philippine people."

The Marines and Seabees will continue construction on the road until Oct. 29, at which time they expect to have put down 5 kilometers of paved road. The road will ultimately be finished by the AFP engineers and will extend a projected length of 13 kilometers.

The engineers are part of approximately 100 Marines and Sailors attached to Marine Aircraft Group 36 in Laguna conducting civil engineering projects in support of Talon Vision.

The combined team also includes personnel from 3rd Dental Battalion from Okinawa. Other projects include adding toilets and floors for homes in the Calauan Resettlement Project, improving local schools and providing free medical and dental assistance to residents in eight locations in the province.

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