Photo By Master Sgt. Teri Eicher | U.S. Air National Guardsmen assigned to the 134th Civil Engineer Squadron, listen to...... read more read more
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When Airman Adrian Bautista and Airman 1st Class Marco Pukl, electrical apprentices assigned to the 134th Air Refueling Wing, found out they’d be traveling with their unit to Spain for a deployment for training, they expected to be doing electrical work. After all, the trip was planned as series of construction projects that five different Air National Guard units would work on over a period of ten weeks.
However, they soon found out more would be required of them than the skills they’d learned at technical school.
Morón Air Base, located in the Andalusia region of Spain, is owned by the Spanish air force. A small unit of U.S. Air Force personnel are based here as well, but it mainly serves as a contingency location for staging aircraft, or a stopover location on longer trips from the U.S. to other regions. As such, the majority of full time staff at Morón are Spanish citizens who work for the Spanish air force — not Americans or U.S. contractors.
While preparing for the trip, leadership was notified that the staff in charge of the projects on location did not speak much English. As such, the question was asked if any Airmen on the trip spoke Spanish, which led to two young Airmen taking on an unexpectedly important role in the trip: serving as impromptu translators.
Despite initial trepidation, both Bautista and Pukl agreed that they were happy to put their skills to use.
“It was pretty intimidating, just because verbiage and accents are pretty different here compared to what I grew up with,” said Bautista. “The biggest challenge is asking for specific material or equipment that I’ve never worked with back home, so I don’t even know the correct verbiage to ask for it here.”
The Airmen, both relatively new to their career fields, were tasked with translating on a variety of projects that spanned the breadth of careers in the Civil Engineer Squadron. With little to no working knowledge of the work or tools, they still managed to successfully convey information across language barriers to accomplish the mission.
“I understand a lot more Spanish than I can speak, so often I’m just listening to them describing what the tool does and translating it in my head for the team,” Pukl said. “I don’t know the words in Spain for a lot of tools, because they’re named differently back home, so sometimes I’ll have to explain what it does in order to ask for something we need.”
In terms of a first temporary duty assignment with 134th CES, both agreed they were fortunate to find themselves in Spain.
“I’ve never been out of the country before and didn’t think the first country I’d visit would be Spain, so I feel pretty lucky to have this experience,” said Bautista.
“Spain has been a great experience for my first deployment for training,” Pukl agreed. “I’ve been able to help navigate outside the base and understand how to get around. I’ve enjoyed seeing some of the area while we’re here.”
Of course the primary mission was the construction projects, for which both Airmen played an instrumental role in completing.
“I’m incredibly proud of both Bautista and Pukl,” said the DFT Senior Enlisted Leader Chief Master Sgt. Chris Gragg. “They didn’t hesitate to step up and take on whatever was asked of them, and the mission would have much more difficult without their help. They’re both fantastic Airmen and I look forward to seeing them grow with the unit.”
Over the course of the 17-day trip, 134th CES completed nearly a dozen separate projects. Bautista and Pukl switched off on translating duties, which enabled them to learn new skills and spend more time working side by side with the rest of 134th CES. Naturally, one of the invaluable benefits from these kinds of trips is building bonds with your coworkers that will last a lifetime.
“As a new Airman, it’s a good feeling to know my skills helped my team complete the mission,” said Bautista. “I’ve been able to get to know people from 134th CES better, and this trip has made me even more confident that I chose the right unit.”
| Date Taken: | 06.27.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.02.2025 15:22 |
| Story ID: | 502163 |
| Location: | ES |
| Web Views: | 20 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 134th Airmen overcome language barriers during DFT to Morón Air Base, by MSgt Teri Eicher, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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