Photo By Staff Sgt. Justin Huffty | U.S., Thai and Indonesian officials hold a photo of a new multipurpose building during...... read more read more
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Students and faculty from the school came together to enjoy traditional music, dance, food and static displays showing what they learn in school and to provide entertainment for the celebration.
“This project started on January 22nd and it was completed on February 20th, 2018,” said Major Robert Vandertuin, the head of the Combined Joint Civil Military Operations Task Force. “It is intended to be used for educational purposes and at this moment the construction is entirely complete, and the building is ready to be delivered to the Thung Song Hongsa community.”
The new building features three separate classrooms, allowing the school to diversify their curriculum and promote an increase of students in the near future. The structure was built by the U.S. Army 411th Engineer Battalion (U.S.), 12th Mobile Development Unit (Thai) and the Indonesian Army Engineer Detachment as part of the Humanitarian Civic Assistance (HCA) portion of Exercise Cobra Gold 2018.
The distinguished visitors in attendance at the ceremony were Suwit Kamdee, the Provincial Governor of Chachoengsao, General Porniphat Bengasi, The Royal Thai Army Chief of Staff, Peter Haymond, the Deputy Chief of Mission to Thailand and Brigadier General Edison Simanjuntak, the Expert Staff to the Tentara National Indonesia Commander in Chief.
“Thanks to the Soldiers and the military engineers for the work you have done on this project and around Cobra Gold,” said Haymond. “It benefits your training and the communities, and it helps maintain peace and security in this great region”
Haymond also stated that projects like this have a lasting effect in the communities of Thailand.
At the end of the celebration, a plaque was unveiled in dedication to the hard work of the service members, and all of the distinguished visitors help plant trees in front of the school.
The project took many man-hours to complete and relied on the support of the local community. The school’s director, Mr. Wanching, a retired Royal Thai Army Master Sergeant, along with the school staff and village members, showed their support and gratitude by assisting in the process of completing the structure on time, and they helped by laying some of the concrete and by performing other tasks around the project.
“It was such an honor to work with The US and Indonesian military,” said Flight Lieutenant Somngam Funtha, the head of Thai construction team. “I am so proud and happy that everything went smoothly. This building is now the property of the school and the people in this village. It was rewarding when all of the villagers put in a lot of effort to help and support us because we didn’t have enough manpower. I want to say thank you to The US military for funding the project and for making our community better.”
The U.S. military and partner nations completed a total of six buildings in six different school locations during Cobra Gold 2018. They also conducted community health engagement events where a Joint Medical Team interacted with children from the schools and adults from the nearby villages in efforts to improve dental hygiene, dietary nutrition, and general health. These real-world Humanitarian Civic Assistance activities were overseen and facilitated by the Combined Joint Civil Military Operations Task Force.
Altogether, six separate school projects were completed this year during Cobra Gold, including the Wat Sombum Naram School in Rayong, the Ban Pan Mo School, and Wat Khlong Phlu School, in Chanthaburi, the Thung Song Hongsa School in Chacheongsao, the Nong Phai Phadungkij Witthaya school in Korat and the Ban Khao Tien school in Lop Buri.
Overall, engineer efforts placed 124 pillars and 15,444 concrete blocks, poured 8,332 square feet of concrete, installed 72 windows, and more than 23,000 man-hours were spent in completing these projects.
Exercise Cobra Gold 2018 is an annual exercise conducted in the Kingdom of Thailand held from Feb. 13-23 with seven full participating allied nations.
| Date Taken: | 02.22.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 02.23.2018 00:44 |
| Story ID: | 266908 |
| Location: | TH |
| Web Views: | 111 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Cobra Gold 18: Engineering Civic Action Program Dedication Ceremony in Chacheongsao, by SCPO Ahron Arendes, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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