El Salvador native serves with the US Army Reserves in Honduras

Photo By Sarah Lupescu | U.S. Army soldiers serving at Beyond the Horizon 2012 in Honduras are building a clinic at the Oriente construction site. Soldiers, on the exercise's third rotation, pours concrete into the exterior walls of the clinic.  

HONDURAS

05.25.2012

Story by Sgt. Sarah Lupescu  

70th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

LA LIMA, Honduras – A U.S. Army Reservist and El Salvador native is serving a four-week rotation with Beyond the Horizon 2012 Honduras, a civil-military exercise that is dedicated to working together with the Hondurans to provide and humanitarian and engineering assistance.

Spc. Mario Rosel, from Miami, Fla. and an engineer with the 758th Engineer Company, 841st Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, arrived in Honduras in late April. He is part of a U.S. Army South exercise where military engineers and medical professionals provide services to rural communities.

“This is my first mission like this,” Rosel said. “I’ve enjoyed it a lot. It reminds me of being back home.”

Rosel grew up in El Salvador and moved to the U.S. when he was 14.

“Everything about being here is similar to El Salvador,” Rosel said. “The people and their sense of community, the food, and the weather are all just like being at home.”

Rosel is working with a team of engineers to build a medical clinic at the Flores de Oriente construction site in La Lima. So far the engineers have poured a concrete pad, built the walls, poured concrete into the walls for the clinic, and put up the roof trusses. Some additional work left to do adding a roof, pouring sidewalks, and doing the electrical and plumbing work.

Rosel speaks fluent Spanish and is familiar with the dialect spoken by the local people, he said.

“There is an 88-year-old woman who stops by our work site sometimes,” Rosel said. “She always thanks us for the work we’re doing here. She, and many of the other locals, are extremely appreciative of the clinic we’re building for them.”

For Rosel, one of the best parts of this exercise is the kids, he said.

“It’s a great feeling knowing that the kids here will have a clinic close by if they need any medical care,” Rosel said. “That makes the work we’re doing worth it.”

Rosel has been in Honduras since the end of April.

“When I return back to the States I’m planning on making a trip to New York City,” Rosel said. “My mom lives there now so I’m looking forward to seeing her.”

Rosel has been in the Army Reserves for eight years. The BTH exercise is the first time he has travelled outside of the U.S. with the military.

The BTH mission has been coordinated with the Honduran government and is planned hand-in-hand with a variety of other governmental and non-governmental organizations to creatively address the level and scope of care required with the availability of U.S. forces.

• Date Taken: 05.25.2012
• Date Posted: 06.01.2012 10:03
• Story ID: 89287
• Location: HN