Photo By Staff Sgt. Aaron Rognstad | U.S. Army Sgt. Richard Mercedes, an interpreter with the 190th Forward Support...... read more read more
BARAHONA, Domincan Republic - For Sgt. Richard Mercedes, U.S. Army National Guard, annual training in the Dominican Republic means a little something more this spring.
He's come back “home.”
Mercedes, a civil engineer with the Puerto Rico Army National Guard's 190th Forward Support Company, spent the first 18 years of his life in the Dominican before moving to Puerto Rico with his family.
“There's a lot of emotion,” Mercedes says, who talks in a thick Caribbean Spanish accent. “To be working with the people and be part of the team that is helping them feels good.”
Mercedes stepped out of his traditional job in the ARNG to serve as a translator for his annual training. Training that consists of various construction projects being built by Army and Air Force engineers. Escorting his fellow Soldiers and airmen to job sites surrounding Barahona, D.R., (the Air National Guard, Army Reserve and National Guard's base of operations for the duration of the training.) Mercedes plays a vital link in the success of the entire mission by not only bridging the language barrier between his native-born people and his fellow military personnel, but also serving as a guide and a subject-matter-expert on the surrounding countryside.
“I'm sure I'll be very busy over these next few weeks,” Mercedes says. “Lots of translating and going here and there. Whatever they need, I'm just here to help and make things less difficult.”
Mercedes found himself in La Guazara, a small village about 20 minutes north of Barahona, on the his first full-day of training conversing with the locals. Airmen of the Ohio and New Mexico Air National Guard's 200th and 210th RED HORSE (Rapid Engineer Deployed Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer) Squadrons were building an addition to a small elementary school with Mercedes translating between them and the locals.
“This is fun work,” Mercedes says. “It's not even really work for me. It's just talking to my people. Getting out into the community and showing everyone that we're here to help them.”
U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Nathan Sobieck of the 200th CES says the aid of an interpreter is an invaluable resource on these types of missions.
“It wouldn't happen without them [interpreters],” says Sobieck. “A couple of our guys know some Spanish but to get a local who is one of us is a win, win situation.”
Mercedes, 37, grew up in Barahona, the country's 15-largest city at an estimated 75,000 people. His childhood was spent with his two younger brothers enjoying the beach, playing in the area's rivers and running He and his immediate family moved to Puerto Rico after he graduated high school to gain better economic prosperity. Mercedes married shortly thereafter and started a family. He joined the Army National Guard in 2008 and is currently working full-time on military orders at Puerto Rico Joint Force Headquarters in San Juan while in school part-time working toward his bachelor's in business administration.
When asked if he misses the D.R., he says it's his family and friends that he yearns to be around the most. He still has a grandmother, uncles (one literally two blocks from the current post he is temporarily at in Barahona), aunts, cousins and friends in the country. He hopes he gets to see at least one of his family members or friends, but understands his days will be busy and the opportunity might not present itself. With Puerto Rico only a 45-minute flight to the west, he can always hop on over to his native island another day if need be.
Although he realizes he might not get to see his family this time around in the D.R., Mercedes is always happy to be back in his original country, especially on an Army humanitarian mission.
“My people here are proud of me,” Mercedes says. “It feels good. I am a liaison between the U.S. military and them. I tell them that I'm from here; I was raised here, and they're impressed that I'm helping out here.”
| Date Taken: | 06.02.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 06.02.2014 21:52 |
| Story ID: | 131871 |
| Location: | BARAHONA, DO |
| Hometown: | SAN JUAN, PR |
| Web Views: | 67 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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