Pacific Unity 12-6 builds Philippine partnership by building a school

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Sarah Bergstein
  • Operation Pacific Unity Public Affairs
ANGELES CITY, Philippines --  The driver pulls down a small side street busy with activity and I realize my finger is already set on the shutter release button of my camera. I am unsure of what I am about to see, but ready to capture whatever is in store.

He parks in front of the gates of the school under a sign that reads, "Welcome Pacific Unity 12-6," but already my eyes look past the gate into the school grounds where I see a group of Airmen, some in U.S. Air Force uniforms, others in Philippine Air Force uniforms. Some of them are painting, others are sweeping, while the rest of them are playing with the children.
It's a hot afternoon. The humidity makes it feel as though it's about 110 degrees, but no one is complaining. These Airmen have been out working in this heat for the last 28 days.

There are so many different wonderful things going on in foreground, all because of what has been happening in the background.

Behind these Airmen is a schoolhouse. Seven classrooms were renovated, and one brand new building was constructed from the ground up as a result of the hard work, dedication and teamwork of the Airmen of the 647th Civil Engineering Squadron, Joint-Based Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, the Airmen of the 355th Aviation Engineering Wing, Basa, Philippines, and local contractors.

A group of about 15 students run up and surround me. "Hi ma'am! What is your name?" they all ask me in unison as some are putting up their hands to give me a high five, others are showing me their muscles and the rest are laughing and running around. As I take a minute to fully understand the scope of this project, I am overwhelmed at how important Pacific Unity 12-6 really is to so many people.

Pacific Unity is a bilateral Engineering Civic Action Program (ENCAP) conducted in the Asia-Pacific region in collaboration with host nation civil authorities and military personnel under the direction and coordination of 13th Air Force A7, Joint-Based Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. It is one thing to see USAF Airmen working hand-in-hand with PAF Airmen and to know that this relationship helps build peace and stability in the region. It generates an entirely different sort of emotion to hear about what it means to these Airmen and contractors and their community.

Lilyan Ann, sixth grade teacher at Cacutud Elementary School told me that she was under the impression that it would solely be U.S. Air Force Airmen coming out to work on the school and build the new schoolhouse for her students. She excitedly expressed to me that the community was even more grateful to learn that the USAF would be working hand-in-hand with their PAF Airmen and local contractors to complete this project.

Before Pacific Unity 12-6, Ms. Ann told me her classroom was, "Not conducive to teaching and learning." As she walked me around the outside of her classroom and then the inside, she showed me and told me about how the Airmen from the USAF and PAF and the contractors installed lighting, replaced windows, and created drainage outside of her classroom so that when it rains, the rain will run off through the new drainage system whereas before she spent a rainy day stepping over puddles while teaching because the rain would drain right through the front door and into her classroom.

"I have been asking my students how this changes school for them and they are filled with excitement to come back to class because of the work that has been done here," said Ms. Ann. "This excites me and the other teachers because they have a new willingness to learn and we now have a facility where we can better teach them."

The USAF Airmen have worked very hard, but they are extremely humble. They will tell you they received hands-on training doing a number of different projects--many of them outside their skill set. They will tell you about how they worked hand-in-hand with the PAF Airmen and learned some of the ways they work, but what you don't see is the camaraderie that has developed in the last month between these two services and the relationships these Airmen have developed with the students and teachers and members of the community.

"It's fulfilling both personally and professionally for myself and my whole team to be able to come here for this mission," said 1st Lt. Andrew McPherson, 647th Civil Engineering Squadron public works officer and Pacific Unity 12-6 officer in charge. "I think I speak for my whole team when I say there's nowhere else we'd rather be and no other job we'd rather be doing."

Lt McPherson told me all about the scope of the project--how they added new roofs to the existing classrooms, how they put in new windows, renovated the toilets and installed sinks to the bathrooms so the kids can now wash their hands. They created drainage for runoff water when it rains, re-cemented the classroom floors, and painted the buildings among several other projects. The most impressive part of the project is the brand new school building they built from the ground up that will serve as an additional classroom.

As I walked around and looked at all the work that had been done by this team I was amazed at how much they have accomplished in such a short time.

"A lot of these guys who have been in for a number of years, they come here and say this is the best mission they've been on, said Lieutenant McPherson. "Being in the military, we're warfighters. But you come here for a humanitarian mission where our mission is to help people and train and build relationships, so to help people--that's my dream job and it has been a lot of hard work, but at the same time, it's the easiest work we've ever done because we enjoy what we're doing."

The students really seemed to have developed a relationship with a number of the servicemembers. When they're not busy learning inside the chapel that serves as their temporary classroom, they are outside interacting with the Airmen.

Staff Sgt. Derek York, 647th CES water and fuels systems maintenance craftsman and a plumber for Pacific Unity 12-6, spent a good portion of his time playing and having fun with all the students and getting to know many of them by interacting with them on a daily basis over the course of the project.

"We're here to build a school," said Sergeant York, "But we've fully realized the humanitarian aspect of the mission that we're doing and how much help this school really needed. We've learned a lot from our Philippine counterparts, as they've learned a lot from us in return. Some of the ways we do things in the States is not beneficial for their way of life here, and so we've learned to adapt to their way of constructing things so that we can provide the best possible service to them that is sustainable."

I walked down the street with one of the PAF officers as he took a break from his work and he told me about how thankful the community is for the job they've done.

"This is great for our country," said Lt. Rex Barrameda from the 355th AEW and PAF Pacific Unity 12-6 officer in charge. "We're here shoulder to shoulder, hand-in-hand as one, sharing skills and ideas. But this is not just for our Air Force to get civil engineering training. This joint project is for the children--it is for the people of the Philippines. I believe that what we've made will last for a very long time. For years to come, students will have a better place to come to school."

Pacific Unity helps cultivate common bonds, foster goodwill and improve relationships between the U.S. and the Philippines by conducting bilateral humanitarian and civic assistance operations. The relationships built and sustained with Asia-Pacific region partners through exercises, civil military operations, and military exchanges help tremendously in humanitarian efforts and in preserving peace and stability.

By working together on exercises and exchanges such as Pacific Unity 12-6, it increases the ability to respond quickly and effectively together to provide assistance now and for future disasters or crises.

The success of Pacific Unity 12-6, however, is not measured solely by the renovated classrooms and new schoolhouse, but by the camaraderie of two nations working hand-in-hand and the long-lasting relationships that have developed over the course of this month-long project.

The real success of Pacific Unity 12-6 can be seen on the faces of the community--on the faces of the parents who are happy to send their children to a better educational environment, the teachers who are eager to begin teaching their students in a more conducive schoolhouse, and most importantly, the students of Cacutud Elementary School who couldn't be more excited to back into their newly finished classrooms.