Photo By Chief Warrant Officer James Marchetti | Chinese and U.S. soldiers stand in formation during the column raising ceremony for a...... read more read more
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LOP BURI PROVINCE, Thailand - A combined force of U.S. Army, Thai and Chinese military engineers have been at work since Jan. 19, 2015 in constructing a new multipurpose school facility for Thai children. The operation is in part of Exercise Cobra Gold 2015 and, Jan. 24 2015, the engineers’ efforts were celebrated in the building’s initial column raising ceremony.
Sirens of slicing steel and rumbling heavy equipment vehicles have been commonplace during production at Ban Nhong-Plong elementary school, located in Chai Badan District, Thailand; nonetheless, the community’s mayor, Pisan Boonchutanogam, believes that he speaks for everybody when he said the operation is welcomed with open arms.
“We are very grateful that this project is happening for our village,” Boonchutanogam said. “Last night we had a meeting and decided we must help (the service members) and clean the construction area for our opening ceremony Feb. 19.”
Aspects of the ceremony included the tossing of coins into the structures foundation, binding of a banana plant onto the column and the laying of wooden blocks into footer by representatives from each nation’s service.
Army 1st Lt. Mark Lero, the construction site’s officer in charge 797th engineer company (Vertical), remarked that even though this is his second iteration of CG, such traditions were a new, but enlightening, experience.
“The Thais said that (the traditions) are good luck, so we rolled with it,” Lero said. “It’s commemorative to the hard work each nation has put into this work.”
Despite an the workload on all fronts, the combined force has melded together and trudged along to keep on schedule.
And though the placing of these columns was but a small step in this project’s concept of operations, Lero believes his consolidated crew has the ball rolling and is prepared to tackle whatever challenges lie ahead.
“It’s been hard work, no joke; ‘Special Forces engineers’, is what I call them,” chuckled Lero. “What’s going to get us through this next month is teamwork.”
The facility, once completed, will serve as a school cafeteria for children ages 4-12, and also as a village meeting center. Its dedication ceremony is slated for Feb. 19, and the building will open thereafter.
| Date Taken: | 01.24.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 02.07.2015 08:13 |
| Story ID: | 153878 |
| Location: | LOP BURI PROVINCE, TH |
| Web Views: | 474 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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