Photo By Sgt. Brian Marion | Lance Cpl. Andrew D. Hoisington, left, Philippine Navy Seaman 2nd Jefrando de Castro...... read more read more
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ALBAY, Philippines - Philippine Navy sailors worked alongside U.S. service members to prepare a three-classroom building for renovation Sept. 23 and 24 as part of a bilateral engineering civic assistance project for Amphibious Landing Exercise 2014 at Taysan Elementary School, Legazpi, Albay, Republic of the Philippines.
The Philippine sailors are with Naval Forces Southern Luzon and the Naval Construction Brigade, and the Marines and sailors are with Marine Wing Support Squadron 172, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force.
The project began Sept. 25 with a ceremony and will last until Oct. 10. However, the Marines and their counterparts prepared the site before the ceremony by making frames to pour in concrete, cutting and securing rebar to the tops of walls, and reinforcing the foundation of the rear wall.
“Things have been going quite well these past few days, and it helps that we have a good crew here to work on everything,” said 2nd Lt. Brianna L. Burgett, construction platoon commander with MWSS-172.
During planning, AFP and U.S. military planners visited various locations in coordination with local officials to determine the sites for the civil military operations.
“It is very nice to be here and help Taysan rebuild their building,” said Captain Edmund Mendoza, chief of staff for Naval Forces Southern Luzon. “We are seeing an increase in the population and seeing an increase in the number of children attending the school. So given the timeline and what the Marines brought with them, we decided Taysan’s project would be the best one for us to work together on.”
For the next 16 days, the Marines and their Philippine counterparts will reinforce the foundation of the building, construct support beams, reconstruct the roof, and install new windows, doors and electrical wiring.
Humanitarian and civic assistance projects, such as the engineering civic assistance project, enable the Philippines and U.S. to break learn about each other’s culture, train together, and improve interoperability while providing services to the local community.
“It has been a good partnership between us,” said Burgett. “The integration between the two services went well; and once we got over the language barrier, we started to mesh. The Seabees know the material and different ways to work with it, and they are teaching my Marines and our Philippine counterparts those techniques. They’re giving them a chance to learn things they would not learn elsewhere.”
PHIBLEX 14, which includes forces from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, 3d Marine Expeditionary Brigade and III Marine Expeditionary Force, is designed to improve interoperability, increase readiness and enhance the ability for a bilateral Philippine-U.S. force to respond to natural disasters or other regional contingencies.
| Date Taken: | 09.25.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 09.30.2013 01:23 |
| Story ID: | 114459 |
| Location: | TAYSAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, LEGAZPI, ALBAY, PH |
| Web Views: | 340 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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