Photo By Chief Warrant Officer James Marchetti | Thai citizens gather with U.S. Marines from Marine Wing Support Squadron 171, based...... read more read more
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LOP BURI PROVINCE, Thailand – Flower petals and Baht coins spill from the hands of multi-national service members and Thai villagers into a freshly-dug footer – the stable new home to a lone concrete column, raised and nestled in the corner of a buzzing construction site. A crowd of locals arrive to the site, pay homage and collectively pray for the safekeeping of this multi-national project that is in betterment of their youth, community and country.
This was highlighted in the final moments of the column raising ceremony at Ban Khong-Plong elementary school, located in Khok Samrong district, Lop Buri Province, Thailand, Jan. 25, 2015.
For many U.S. Marine engineers with Marine Wing Support Squadron 171, based out of Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, the spectacle is a new experience. Some participate, many watch – they all soak in what these moments represent.
“If you bless the foundation the Thais believe everything else will go smoothly,” said Cpl. Ryan Gamino, an assistant engineer with MWSS-171. “It’s a lot like we do in America with a wishing pond - just throw change in there and make a wish.”
The ceremony was but the first step in a month-long (marathon) for the combined forces of U.S., Thai and Malaysian military engineers whom are participating in the humanitarian civil aid aspect of Exercise Cobra Gold 2015.
Each and every individual on site, regardless of nation or service, has put in long days under the tropical sun in order to ensure timely, efficient progression.
“The Thai engineers’ work ethic is outstanding,” Gamino said. “They have some guys out here who are 53 years old and they work hard; even harder than us sometimes. The way they adapt, the way they overcome with the bare minimum, they just don’t stop until the mission is done.”
CG15 also serves as an intensive training exercise for the Marine engineers. In an unfamiliar environment with strict deadlines to meet, the Marines and their counterparts are put to the test mentally and physically on a daily basis; a challenge that, they are keen to hurdle and learn from, as their officer in charge 1st Lt. Daniel Novotny stated.
“(CG15) is great because we have a month’s time together,” Novotny said. “In Iwakuni, at the end of the day, my Marines go back to their barracks, some of them go back to their homes, and I go back to my place. Out here we live next to each other and work close together every day. It really helps us integrate.”
As the service members from each nation work together and engage on a daily basis, they inevitably familiarize themselves with the cultures their counterparts represent and express.
The Marines received a taste of Thai citizens’ hospitable nature during the ceremony, and Royal Thai Army 2nd Lt. Atwiat Singpitah explained that, over the course of construction, his soldiers received a treat of their own.
“We all cooperate, every sector,” said Singpitah laughingly. “We have all come together to make this happen.”
Once the heavy equipment vehicles and welding materials are gone and the project’s blueprints are brought to life, Ban Khong-Plong elementary school’s campus will be left as a multipurpose building to serve as a library and village marketplace; and a gift from their troops, whose mission is in support of the people, even in peace.
“We can make a difference without war,” Singpitah said. “If children can’t get their education, our nation can’t develop in the future. This is for the future, for our children.”
| Date Taken: | 01.25.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 02.07.2015 08:50 |
| Story ID: | 153884 |
| Location: | LOP BURI PROVINCE, TH |
| Web Views: | 173 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Constructing Tomorrow Today – Thai, Malaysian, U.S. coalition gives back to Thailand, by CW2 James Marchetti, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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