Cobra Gold 19: Thai-American returns to Thailand as a US Marine [Image 2 of 2]

U-TAPAO, THAILAND

02.06.2019

Photo by Staff Sgt. Matthew Bragg 

III MEF Information Group     

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Jiratat Rattanawimon, a logistics embarkation specialist, Marine Wing Support Squadron 172, is a Thai-American now serving in the U.S. Armed Forces and is supporting exercise Cobra Gold 19 at Phra Maha Jetsadaratchao Camp, U-Tapao, Kingdom of Thailand, February 2019. “I was born in 1996, May 14, in Los Angeles, California. I lived there for six years, but I didn’t really get a chance to grow up in LA. My parents stayed together for about a year after I was born, and my father went back to live in Bangkok. As for my mother, being a single mother, she couldn’t really take care of me because there was no one else to watch me when she went to work. We didn’t have any relatives in the U.S., so she said since I speak Thai, she would send me back to live with my grandmother in Bangkok. When I went back to Thailand, my father was involved for a bit. But he eventually met someone else and sort of left me behind. You could say I was a rebel in my younger years, because I used to get in trouble here and there. Like, I would skip school and wouldn’t do my homework. So, my grandmother would discipline me with spankings every time until I learned my lesson, haha, and know not to go down that path. She’s the sweetest and kindest person I’ve ever met, and every time she would discipline me, she would go hide and cry because I guess it hurt her more than me getting spanked. I respect her more than anyone. After a while, I developed an urge to see my mom again. Most of my family here in Thailand thought I would have a better education in the States, and I was already a U.S. citizen, so why not go back and take that chance to go to good schools? In Thailand, everything is a competition. You have to test-in to go to a certain high school and you even have to test-in just to take a certain class. It was very hard to leave my grandmother, because she was both a father figure and a mother figure. If I ever get to see her again, that would be great. By the time I reunited with my mother in the U.S., I was around 12 or 13 years old. After high school I knew I wanted to serve in the military to gain that experience, and I walked in to my local recruiting station. However, the Marine recruiter wasn’t really interested in pulling me in. He said, ‘Oh, you want to join? Cool. You have to earn it. Here’s a pen and piece of paper. We have an ASVAB practice exam in the computer room in the back. Go see what you’ve got.’ I failed many times. I mean, my first ASVAB score was nine, hahaha, after that I felt like giving up. So, I took the college route. Then I wanted to test my knowledge again. I went back and performed way better than my previous attempts two years prior. I said, ‘This is it. I’m going to do it. I’m going to join.’ Even though I didn’t get the job I wanted, which was military police, I told my recruiter, ‘You know what? I don’t care. I just want to be a U.S. Marine.’ and here I am today. This is my first time returning to Thailand since I left, and it feels amazing. You can definitely tell, like the air is different. I haven’t smelled this air in years and to be able to interact with the people and eat food I haven’t eaten for so long, it’s definitely a morale booster. I think it’s a dream to be here as part of Cobra Gold with me being able to speak the language and being part Thai. It makes me want to give back for both countries and being back here is definitely the proudest moment of my life." (U.S. Marine Corps illustration by Staff Sgt. Matthew J. Bragg. This photo was is composite using multiple photos, which were stitched together to create a shallow depth of field. This technique is most commonly known as the Brenizer method.)

• Date Taken: 02.06.2019
• Date Posted: 02.07.2019 21:27
• Photo ID: 5085478
• VIRIN: 190206-M-DP650-0500
• Resolution: 5245x3595
• Size: 14.23 MB
• Location: U-TAPAO, TH
• Hometown: BANGKOK, TH
• Hometown: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, US