Photo By Yasuo Osakabe | Members with the 374th Medical Group taught drill commands and aspects of military...... read more read more
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Right face!...Left face!...Drill commands echo across the field as bewildered Japanese students receive orders from uniformed men and women, directing every move they make.
However, this isn’t a military school, it’s students from the Musashimurayama Fifth Middle School and members with the 374th Medical Group as they participated in the 13th Annual School Festival mini boot camp obstacle course, July 2. The festival is designed as a “Job Fair” type of event, over 25 local specialists teaching their skills to the students.
“This is the only program I know that allows for military to interact with local students,” said Staff Sgt. Gervon Hamilton, 374th Medical Support Squadron NCO in charge customer service. “From our perspective it was quite the experience to visit a Japanese middle school and interact with the students.”
The course taught over 30 students in the 9th grade to perform facing movements, marching and how to complete an obstacle course. According to Maj. Angela Prescott, 374th Surgical Operations Squadron doctor, some of students wait 3 years to go through this boot camp course.
“We only had about 20 minutes to teach attendees something it takes us normally one week to learn,” said Hamilton, who also led the drill course. “Additionally, while the students have taken English courses there is still as language barrier. Regardless, the student did a great job recognizing the commands and marching in formation.”
In addition to experiencing military culture and tradition, the program provided the students an opportunity to hear native-speaking English first-hand.
According to Hina Yamaguchi, a Fifth Middle School student, she and her classmates were nervous about their English proficiency, but they became more comfortable throughout the experience and began to recognize the commands.
“First and foremost, this is a golden life experience for those Japanese and Airmen, and it shines a positive light on our presence here in Japan,” Hamilton said. “I hope that, later in life, when those students are reflecting on their experiences, they remember the fun they had at the course.”
Overall, the training allowed the students a two-hour break in their daily activities, introducing them to aspects of Air Force.
| Date Taken: | 02.07.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 07.15.2016 02:24 |
| Story ID: | 204030 |
| Location: | MUSASHIMURAYAMA, TOKYO, JP |
| Web Views: | 53 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Yokota airmen provide a mini boot camp to local middle school students, by Yasuo Osakabe, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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