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Juneau, Medical Team Complete String of Projects in Balikatan 06

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS060304-01
3/4/2006

By Journalist 3rd Class Adam R. Cole, Task Force 76 Public Affairs

JOLO, Republic of Philippines (NNS) -- U.S Army and Navy teams completed the final Medical Civil Action Projects (MEDCAP) on the island of Jolo, Republic of Philippines, March 2 as part of Exercise Balikatan 06.

Twenty-seven U.S. medical personnel joined 24 members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to conduct seven civil assistance projects in three different locations on the island: Panamao, Jolo City and Maimbang. The joint efforts were able to help 11,373 Filipino people — more than 1,500 per day — and 504 animals.

The MEDCAP/DENCAPs were part of a wide sweeping Civil Military Operation (CMO) effort during Balikatan. Civil engineers of all services simultaneously worked on Engineering Civil Assistance Projects (ENCAP) to build four three-room elementary schools in Jolo—one in Jolo City, two in Panamao and one in Maimbang. Several of the schools celebrated their grand openings on the final day of MEDCAP/DENCAP.

“The island of Jolo was truly in need of medical service, so it was very rewarding to be able to provide treatment to them in a multitude of areas,” said Army Col. David Crudo, Balikatan MEDCAP/DENCAP planner and officer-in-charge of the medical team. “The Filipino people not only appreciated the care we gave, but just our presence and the goodness of our demeanor.”

Crudo is a pediatric endocrinologist at Tripler Army Medical Center and has participated in 10 other projects of this type in the Balikatan series.

During the project, the U.S. medical team was embarked on USS Juneau (LPD 10) of the Forward Deployed Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and launched from its platform into the project sites each day courtesy of aviation elements of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), Joint Task Force (JTF) Balikatan.

The U.S. medical team was composed predominantly of Army doctors, dentists and veterinarians of Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii and Guam National Guard and Navy personnel from the 31st MEU.

“The most rewarding part is the ‘thank you’ that you get from each patient and the smiles, even if they’re toothless,” said Navy Lt. Toni Bowden, a dentist for the MEU’s Service Support Group 31 (MSSG). Bowden has previously participated in a similar MEDCAP with the 31st MEU in October at St. Juliana, Crow Valley and in Camp O’Donnell, as well as to the Operation Unified Assistance (OUA) in Sumatra Indonesia to aid victims of the tsunami there. “It’s a great feeling to know that you can improve the overall health of someone and visibly see that in the happiness they show afterward.”

The name Exercise Balikatan derives from the Filipino word balikatan, which means, “shouldering the load to together.” This was clearly visible during the MEDCAP/DENCAP project as the U.S. and AFP worked side by side to help patients.

That sharing, said Crudo, was a major factor in helping the number of patients the doctors were able to see.

“My sincerest thanks to my medical counterparts from the United States,” said Lt. Col. Yashinda R. Apolinar, part of the medical corps of the Philippine air force in Pasay City. “It was a honor to serve next to them in serving my countrymen.”

The U.S. medical team expressed additional gratitude to the shipboard Sailors and Marines involved in the there-and-back airlifts. In turn, Sailors and Marines aboard Juneau felt glad to have been able to contribute to the civil assistance projects. In particular, air department Sailors rose pre-dawn to man the chocks and chains, while staying long past sunset to secure the helicopters.

“It was hard, but I love my job, especially when we’re doing these types of meaningful missions,” said Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Fuels) 3rd Class (SW) Pablo J. Rodriguez, a Juneau crew member.

Juneau, commanded by Capt. Ronald Horton, is part of the Forward Deployed Amphibious Ready Group, operating out of Sasebo, Japan, and is the Navy’s only forward-deployed amphibious transport dock. The Forward Deployed ARG is part of Task Force 76, the Navy's only forward-deployed amphibious force, which is headquartered at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, Japan, with an operating detachment in Sasebo, Japan.