U.S., Vietnam conclude Pacific Angel mission

  • Published
  • By Capt. Timothy Lundberg
  • 36th Wing Public Affairs
TAN THOI, Vietnam --  U.S. and Vietnamese military personnel and non-governmental agencies concluded Pacific Angel 2010 during a ceremony here May 17 to recognize the joint and combined humanitarian assistance efforts provided to the Tan Thoi and Truong Thanh communities.

Operation Pacific Angel 2010, which allowed more than 50 U.S. military members to work alongside the Vietnamese military, non-governmental organizations and civil health personnel in medical and engineering efforts here, is a joint and combined humanitarian assistance operation conducted in the Pacific area in support of U.S. Pacific Command's capacity-building efforts. It also provides an opportunity for civil and military operators to train to together with a focus on civic assistance.

"We're honored to have been a part of these on-going efforts through our Pacific Angel program," said Maj. Gen. Jan-Marc Jouas, U.S. Pacific Air Forces director of Operations, Plans, Requirements and Programs at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam, Hawaii, during the ceremony. "It is very satisfying for the United States to use our airlift capabilities to quickly move in doctors, engineers and supplies to far flung regions in order to assist local efforts and to team up with other nations and non-governmental organizations in the Pacific region to provide medical, dental, and engineering civic assistance."

During the ceremony, participants in the mission planted a tree and held a ribbon cutting at the village medical clinic here where construction work was completed as part of the mission. Pacific Angel civil engineering teams refurbished 21 rooms at two clinics here and in Truong Thanh, including installing lights and ceiling fans along with general electric work. Additionally, masonry, utility lines, new signage, metal siding and doors and windows were installed at the Tan Thoi and Truong Thanh clinics to increase the maximum capacity of the clinics. These two clinics provide service for 16,000 and 15,000 people respectively.

In addition to work provided by civil engineers here, U.S. and Vietnamese medical teams have provided care for 4,601 Truong Thanh Village patients, with 7,822 patient visits made to the pediatrics, family practice, optometry, dental and women's health clinic respectively. Of the 7,822 patient visits, 2,028 were at pediatrics, 2,729 at family practice, 1,763 at optometry, 2,261 at dental, 419 to the women's health clinic and 16,199 prescriptions were provided to those patients seen. NGO and military members donated all the remaining dental and medical supplies to the newly renovated village medical clinic as a gesture of goodwill to the residents of Tan Thoi and Truong Thanh.

The Honorable Michael W. Michalak, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, noted that after 15 years of normalized relations between the U.S. and Vietnam, Pacific Angel missions were an important step in celebrating that milestone.

"This Pacific Angel mission is an excellent addition to the numerous celebrations commemorating the 15th anniversary of the normalization of relations between the United States and Vietnam," said Ambassador Michalak. "The fact that our two countries are here in the Cuu Long Delta working together to learn from each other to make ourselves better medical professionals and engineers is an excellent example of how far we have come over the last 15 years."

General Jouas thanked everyone who made Pacific Angel 2010 in Vietnam as success.

"I'd like to express my thanks to all those in the local area here, to those in the Ministry of Defense, to those in the Ministry of Health, and in our own defense attaché's office that have made this possible for us and particularly to all the volunteers that are on our team that have come from the Guard and Reserve and Active Duty. We also have the U.S. Navy that is part of this team and we have NGOs like East Meets West that are here. This is a tremendous team effort that is doing immense good for the people of Can Tho," said General Jouas.

Operation Pacific Angel is a Pacific Air Forces program led by 13th Air Force at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam, Hawaii.