Thai students get rare opportunity to visit air force base

  • Published
  • By Capt. Genieve David
  • 13th Air Force Public Affairs
UDON THANI ROYAL THAI AIR FORCE BASE, Thailand --  The Royal Thai Air Force opened its gates here to the public for the first time March 10 for an open house featuring U.S. Air Force aircraft and people.

Approximately 50 students from Ban Phaknam School, located about one hour away from the base, visited with Airmen participating in Cope Tiger 2010. The aerial field training exercise involves U.S., Thai and Singaporean forces training together March 1 to 12.

The children got an up-close look at the A-10 Thunderbolt II, C-17 Globemaster III and C-130 Hercules, all of which are deployed to Thailand for the exercise.

The young visitors also had the opportunity to have lunch with members of the 25th Fighter Squadron from Osan Air Base, South Korea, and visit with other Airmen from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska; Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam, Hawaii; and Yokota Air Base, Japan.

The open house idea came from Chief Master Sgt. Alan Ogata, deployed to Cope Tiger 2010 from the 204th Airlift Squadron at JB Pearl Harbor Hickam, after previous experiences coordinating donations for other international community relations events.

"We wanted maximize participation, and in previous years only a small number of people get to experience working with the children," Chief Ogata said. "I thought, what if we brought the students here to Udon Thani? So we worked with the Royal Thai Air Force and the base commander to make it happen, and it was a great success."

After days of preparations, the Udon Thani Cope Tiger team donated more than $2,000 worth of school supplies, sports equipment, t-shirts and food. They also covered the cost of transportation to the base.

Ms. Krairat Kaewsai, a teacher from Ban Phaknam, said she was extremely grateful to have the U.S. and Royal Thai Air Forces allow the children and teachers a glimpse of the base and aircraft.

"We have never done anything like this before," said Ms. Kaewasai. "This was great for the children, and we enjoyed spending time and learning about the Air Force. We are very grateful for the generosity."

Officials from the RTAF said they were pleased with the positive outcome of the event and hope to make it a recurring community relations program in future Cope Tiger exercises.

Cope Tiger 2010 is a multilateral exercise involving the U.S. Air Force, Royal Thai Air Force and Army, and Republic of Singapore Air Force. U.S. participation is led by 13th Air Force at JB Pearl Harbor Hickam, on behalf of Pacific Air Forces.