Photo By Maj. Shamika Hill | Chilean army Private 2nd Class Valeria Montano, of Santiago, Chile, an engineer and...... read more read more
SAN JUAN OPICO, EL Salvador – Engineer units from three different countries ride together each morning to their designated construction site here, building a hospital clinic for Salvadorans during this year’s Beyond the Horizon mission.
BTH is a humanitarian and civic assistance mission in partnership with the government of El Salvador, which lasts from March to June providing construction and medical assistance to the people of El Salvador.
Among the three different countries, one representative is a Chilean female engineer with 11 years of experience who gets the job done.
Chilean army Private 2nd Class (the equivalent to a U.S. Army sergeant) Valeria Montano, from Santiago, Chile, a drill instructor at the Chilean NCO Academy is one of two female engineers on site. Working with her counterparts daily, she is honored with the respect of a woman but treated as one of the guys.
“I feel like I am treated like a lady,” Montano says, “but I am a part of the team ... the general labor is the same.”
Montano is the first-born in her family and the first to join the military.
“My family is very proud,” she says.
She wanted to be an engineer due to the fact that engineers travel and she also enjoys construction, bridge building and explosives.
Out of the three females currently in her unit, she is the only engineer. Montano benefits from working with the Salvadorans and Americans.
“It has been a good experience with labor and the different cultures,” she said.
In fact, Montano and her team have shown the Salvadorans and Americans a few tricks and tips when it comes to building.
“They showed us how to pack it together (the mortar), so it could be more solid,” said U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Michael Matroniano, from Bloomington, Illinois, a platoon leader with the 485th Engineer Company based out of Rockford, Illinois.
Montano, just like her counterparts, works extremely hard each day to ensure the next milestone is reached before their team departs Saturday.
“We would like to be at course eight (a complete row of bricks laid) before we leave,” said Matroniano.
With Montano’s knowledge and speed, the team will not only reach their milestone of eight courses, but will likely exceed it.
“She is the best,” said Chilean army Second Grade Hector Jorquera, from Chile, an instructor with the Engineer School in Santiago, Chile.
| Date Taken: | 04.22.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.24.2015 12:26 |
| Story ID: | 161151 |
| Location: | SAN JUAN OPICO, SV |
| Hometown: | SANTIAGO, RM, CL |
| Hometown: | BLOOMINGTON, IL, US |
| Web Views: | 68 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Not just one of the guys, by MAJ Shamika Hill, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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