U.S.-Philippine service members repair third school during PACANGEL

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. J.C. Woodring
  • Operation Pacific Angel-Philippines Public Affairs
AMLAN, Philippines --  A team of 27 U.S. Air Force and Marines joined with 26 Filipino counterparts from the Armed Forces of the Philippines to complete the renovation of the third and final school here March 9, during Operation Pacific Angel-Philippines 2013.

The engineers completely restored a classroom at Bio-Os Elementary School here, which will serve as a computer room.

"We rewired the entire building, added additional electrical outlets and put fans on the ceiling," said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Carlton Hill, an engineer from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

Besides the electrical work, the team repaired the plumbing for the restroom, replaced the drywall throughout the building, added windows, and created a room divider. Then, they painted the inside and outside of the building, the school's perimeter wall and its main gate.

"It was great to team up with our American counterparts," said AFP Pfc. Michael Durno, who painted along-side U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Jay Mesa, from Guam Air Nation Guard at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

Durno said, as an engineer, he is used to repairing buildings like schools, but working with the Americans was a nice change.

"I learned some things about how they do things and I think they learned about ways we do things as well," he said.

As the engineers completed work at each site, they would redistribute the people to cover the other sites.

"All of our guys worked hard to get as much accomplished as possible before we need to leave," said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Peter Stewart, the lead engineer planner for the mission. "If we have the supplies, we are going to do what we can to help."

Other renovation projects within the Negros Oriental Province were at Pamplona Elementary School in Pamplona and Tugawe Elementary school in Dauin.

Operation Pacific Angel is a U.S. Pacific Command humanitarian mission that sends primary care, dental, optometry and civil engineer experts to different countries each year to partner with their militaries and other non-governmental organizations. This marks the sixth year of the operation, and Pacific Angel-Philippines is the first trip of the year.
The official closing ceremony for the operation was March 11.