SATTAHIP, Thailand - Electrical power is the backbone for operations here and Marines with the Camp Commandant power support worked around the clock to ensure that power was being produced.
Four Marines from 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force performed checks, troubleshot and maintained power generation for the duration of Exercise Cobra Gold 2012 here.
The exercise is an annual multinational combined joint training exercise held throughout the Kingdom of Thailand. It is the United States' largest multilateral exercise in the Asia Pacific region and offers more than 20 participating countries critical training opportunities improving interoperability in conducting multinational operations.
When power support first arrived to Sattahip, they only had to support a few buildings and personnel but within days the exercise began and increased the power need for a few dozen Marines to a few hundred, said Cpl. Micheal E. Hensell, non-commissioned officer in charge of the camp’s power support.
Throughout the exercise, the Marines maintained about 40 air conditioners, and troubleshot two contracted generators, scheduled over 30 power outages to change generators and maintained 24 hours of uninterrupted power, he said. Sometimes the Marines ran into obstacles.
“We received a generator late at night from the Thai and the generator [had a problem with it],” said Lance Cpl. Eric D. Landis, a generator mechanic apart of 3rd MLG. “We didn’t have a translator so we had issues resolving the problem.”
Lots of the equipment used during the exercise was something the Marines never experienced working with before but the Marines successfully provided power, said Hensell. The Marines cross-trained and were trained by civilian contractors during the exercise and before the exercise they received training on how to use seven of the contracted generators used during the exercise.
“When we got out here we had so much work to do and we cross-trained,” said Lance Cpl. Brandon A. Morgan, generator mechanic, 3rd Marine Logistics Group. “It’s been great! I think its so much better being deployed. I now have experience with other [military occupational specialties].”
Working hand-in-hand with their Royal Thai Marine counterparts, the Marines successfully integrated the power generation from both entities and together designed signs that read “Danger! High Voltage” in Thai, Korean and English, said Hensell.
“It’s been an awesome experience training with different militaries and I enjoyed seeing how they do their jobs,” he said.