PACAF team donates to Thai school

  • Published
  • By Capt. Renee Lee
  • Cope TIger Public Affairs
KORAT ROYAL THAI AIR BASE, Thailand --  Pacific Air Forces, along with the Royal Thai Air Force and the Republic of Singapore Air Force, donated school supplies and equipment to a local school in a rural village outside of Korat, Thailand Jan. 30.

Historically a part of the humanitarian portion of Exercise Cope Tiger, the donation to the school was part of a multilateral community relations project, along with the RTAF and the RSAF, whose members also contributed equipment.

PACAF's donation included computers, dictionaries, an LCD projector, toys, and sports equipment.

Col. James Horton, 13th Air Expeditionary Wing commander for Cope Tiger, presented the donation at a ceremony at Ban Don Phawa School along with the exercise directors from Singapore and Thailand.

"I'm very pleased for the equipment," said Mrs. Suwatana Suwan, one of the 16 teachers at the school. "It's important to the students and it's good because the village is poor."

"It's a way to enhance the quality of their education as much as possible," said Maj. Randy Ivall, chief of contingency, plans and operations, 13th Air Force Office of the Surgeon General, and lead planner for the humanitarian mission.

The equipment donation followed a second Medical Civic Action Programs (MEDCAP) mission, led by 13th Air Force Office of the Surgeon General. Fifteen Airmen from across PACAF bases teamed up with respective teams from the RTAF and RSAF at the school to provide medical and dental care to the local residents. The first MEDCAP mission was on Jan. 29.

"It's awesome that we're integrating with the Thai people and use our experience to help those who don't have medical care," said HM2 Jennifer Conlin, aviation medical technician deployed from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, who helped the PACAF team today. "It's really good community relations to establish and let the Thai people know that we are here to help them."

"Medicine is an unobtrusive way to maintain good relations with countries," said Major Ivall.