Cobra Gold 2011 engineers connect with children at Ban Louk Rak Orphanage

Photo By Lance Cpl. Kris Daberkoe | Lt. John Potter, a Ringoes, N.J., native and chaplain with 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, and Spc. James Hayes, a West Virginia native and generator mechanic with the 56th Engineer Company (Vertical), 6th Engineer Battalion (Combat)(Airborne), 3rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, U.S. Army Alaska, based out of Anchorage, Alaska, open boxes of donated toys Feb. 9, 2011, at the Ban Louk Rak Orphanage in Khon Kaen. Soldiers with the 56th Engineer Co. distributed the toys, as well as cloths and shoes, during their visit to the orphanage. The soldiers were in Thailand for Exercise Cobra Gold 2011, a regularly scheduled multination training exercise in which the armed forces of Thailand, Republic of Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Korea and the U.S. are participating.  

KHON KAEN, THAILAND

02.09.2011

Story by Lance Cpl. Kris Daberkoe 

III Marine Expeditionary Force   

KHON KAEN, Thailand - Engineers with the Combined Joint Civil Military Operations Task Force handed out donated goods to the children of the Ban Louk Rak Orphanage in Khon Kaen, Thailand, Feb. 9, 2011.

The U.S. Army soldiers with the 56th Engineer Company (Vertical), 6th Engineer Battalion (Combat)(Airborne), 3rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, U.S. Army Alaska, based out of Anchorage, Alaska, are in Thailand for Exercise Cobra Gold 2011. Cobra Gold 2011 is a regularly scheduled multi-nation training exercise consiting of a staff exercise, field training exercise events and humanitarian and civic assistance program projects.

The soldiers of 56th Engineer Company have been tasked with constructing a new school building at the Wang Chai School here. This engineering civic action project that is part of the humanitarian civic assistance projects. The humanitarian and civic action program is intended to build stronger bonds between local Thai communities and the armed forces of the U.S., Thailand and Indonesia.

Some 56th Engineer Company soldiers tool a break from construction to visit the orphanage as a community relations project.

For the visit, U.S. Navy shaplains provided the soldiers with 36 boxes of cloths, shoes and toys to deliver.

“These soldiers are already playing an important role in improving the welfare of local school children,” said Lt. John Potter, a Ringoes, N.J., native and chaplain with 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force.

“Handing out these items allows them to make more tangible affect on children less fortunate.”

After handing out toys, soldiers then interacted with the local children.

“These children are both fortunate and unfortunate,” said Somphot Somboom, a Khon Kaen native and president of the Child Help Foundation. “They are unfortunate because most of them have no parents, but they are fortunate for having the soldiers as friends.”

According to Somboom, the orphanage creates an environment for underprivileged children to strive for higher education and improved living standards.

“Interacting with the children is a form of education in itself,” said Spc. James Hayes, a West Virgina native and generator mechanic with the 56th Engineer Co. “They see us as role models.”

The new school building dedication ceremony is scheduled for Feb. 17.

For more about Cobra Gold 2011, visit www.marines.mil/cobragold 2011 or www.facebook.com/exercisecobragold.

• Date Taken: 02.09.2011
• Date Posted: 02.12.2011 09:51
• Story ID: 65319
• Location: KHON KAEN, TH