Photo By Sgt. Ricardo Hurtado | Exercise Cobra Gold 2015 is a combined forces exercise, taking place across Thailand...... read more read more
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LOP BURI, KINGDOM OF THAILAND - The Combined Joint Civil-Military Operation Task Force began Humanitarian Civic Action missions across the Kingdom of Thailand late January 2015.
The operations are part of the Engineer Civil/Humanitarian Assistance Program (ENCAP) portion of Exercise Cobra Gold 2015.
CG 15 is a combined forces exercise taking place across Thailand from Feb. 9-20 and is designed to advance regional security and ensure effective responses to crises in the area. This year’s focus is on humanitarian civic action, community engagement and medical activities to support the needs and humanitarian interests of civilian populations in the region.
The CJCMOTF has the lead on that HCA focus, and is responsible for delivering multipurpose buildings for local schools in different regions across Thailand.
“The main mission of the [CJCMOTF] is to build interoperability and working relations with multiple nations throughout the country of Thailand,” said Master GySgt. Owyn Pelletier, CJCMOTF non-commissioned officer in charge and engineer chief. “Currently we have four different locations, in which we’re building some construction projects to support the local schools in multiple provinces throughout the country.”
U.S. Marines assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron 171; Marine Forces Pacific; U.S. Sailors with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4; U.S. Army Soldiers from 797th Engineer Company, 411th Engineer Battalion, 9th Mission Support Command; 176th Engineer Co (Vertical), Washington National Guard; 122D Public Affairs Operations Center, Washington National Guard, and 303rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade; along with servicemembers from Royal Thai Armed Forces, Indonesian Armed Forces, Malaysian Armed Forces, Peoples Liberation Army and Indian Armed Forces constitute the multinational force of the CJCMOTF.
The four construction sites are located in under-served areas, distributed among Lop Buri, Saraburi and Chanthaburi provinces. The outcome of the projects will be full construction of 7.8-by-20-meter multi-purpose, masonry buildings for each site. The structures will be used by the schools as libraries or classrooms, and by the villagers as community centers or even farmers markets.
The CJCMOTF seeks to improve and support the local communities’ quality of life by facilitating the new assets in those areas, as well as maintain multinational relationships and enhance ongoing teamwork throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
“The CJCMOTF's management of multinational engineers [improves] multinational inter-operability at the tactical level,” said U.S. Army Maj. Alejandro Buniag, deputy commander for the CJCMOTF. “[It also] allows U.S. engineers to experience combined training with several regional partner nations, which significantly enhances their wartime and peacekeeping readiness levels.”
Lance Cpl. Dakota Hazel, a combat engineer with MWSS 171, who is assigned to a construction site in the district of Khok Samrong, Lop Buri province, said that being able to work with multinational teams has been a key factor during the project.
“This is really a joint project,” added Hazel. “Obviously we could build this [building] ourselves and they could build it themselves, but we’re working together … and that’s how we are doing everything; through integration.”
Leaders of the task force agree with Hazel’s statement, and believe that the integration will enhance construction capabilities at all levels.
“There is no [single] correct way to construct, but there are many ways, and everybody has a different point of view on how to build a building,” said Pelletier. “The benefit for all the engineers is that they see someone else’s perspective on how to get to the end result, and that alone opens their minds and lets them be more proficient engineers later on in their careers.”
The CJCMOTF command group is also scheduled attend the ‘Emerging Global Health Threats: Ebola and Other Infectious Diseases’ Medical Symposium and table top exercises, which will take place during the final week of CG 15.
All structures are scheduled to be completed by Feb 19. They will be officially handed over to the local community through a dedication ceremony at each site, which will take place after the structures have been completed.
For more information on exercise Cobra Gold, please visit the official Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ExerciseCobraGold.
| Date Taken: | 02.13.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 02.16.2015 22:22 |
| Story ID: | 154580 |
| Location: | LOP BURI, TH |
| Web Views: | 183 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, CJCMOTF Brings New Assets to Thai Communities across Thailand, by Sgt Ricardo Hurtado, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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