Marine returns to first home in support of Cobra Gold

Photo By Cpl. Daniel Flynn | Staff Sgt. Siriporn Nakphinphat, right, administration chief for Marine Corps Base Camp S.D. Butler, Okinawa, Japan, stands beside a fruit vender in Pattaya, Thailand Jan. 3 as she holds rambutan fruit, which happens to be her favorite fruit. She came to Thailand in support of Exercise Cobra Gold 2009, a joint and combined exercise focused on maintaining and improving military interoperability among its participants.  

02.25.2009

Courtesy Story

III Marine Expeditionary Force   

By Lance Cpl. Daniel A. Flynn
III Marine Expeditionary Force Public Affairs

OKINAWA, Japan - After living in the United States for 19 years, with 15 as a U.S. Marine, Staff Sgt. Siriporn Nakphinphat recently returned to her childhood home of Thailand to support exercise Cobra Gold 2009.

Nakphinphat, who arrived in Okinawa in July 2007, was born in Ratchuburi, Thailand. Her grandmother, Suon Soiouwan, and grandfather, Lean Wongyai, raised her in a small fishing village called Bangkunsai.

At age 16, she moved to the United States joining several family members in Kansas City, Mo.
There, she attended four years of high school and enlisted in the Marine Corps shortly after.
Nakphinphat decided to join the Corps because she came from a military family, having one uncle in the Royal Thai Navy and another uncle in the Royal Thai Army.

A Marine Corps recruiter called Nakphinphat one day and she immediately went to the recruiting station after the conversation. Upon arrival, all she asked was, "How soon do I leave?"

When she told her mother, Mayuree Newland, she joined the Corps, the only thing her mother asked was, "Why not the Navy?"

Newland was very proud of her brother in the Royal Thai Navy, and had hopes one of her children would follow in his footsteps.

Nakphinphat's answer to her mother was elegant in its simplicity.

"I don't like white uniforms," she said. "I joined for my future and for you."

Nakphinphat set off for recruit training at 19 years old. Only her mother and one of her cousins believed she would last, she said.

Despite her family's doubts, she completed recruit training and said it was easier for her than most of the other recruits in her platoon.

"The way I was raised was like boot camp. You just do what you are ordered to do," Nakphinphat said.

"I have matured and learned a lot by [serving] in the Marine Corps, and I love it," she added.
Nakphinphat is currently the administration chief for Marine Corps Base Camp Butler.

She said she is very thankful for the opportunity to return to Thailand to support Cobra Gold, an annual joint coalition exercise.

"I know for sure that with my language background, I can contribute to this exercise," Nakphinphat said.

Nakphinphat sees Cobra Gold as a "demonstration of friendship between the United States and Thailand" -- the two countries she calls home.

Nakphinphat plans to retire one day from the Corps and return to her family in Kansas City. Nakphinphat said she may eventually move back to Thailand.

• Date Taken: 02.25.2009
• Date Posted: 02.25.2009 02:22
• Story ID: 30408