One month of construction means years of change for a small island

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Victoria Meyer
  • 13th Air Force Public Affairs
YAP, Federated States of Micronesia --  Eighteen Air Force civil engineers and Navy Seabees spent 41 days on the outer islands of Yap, Micronesia, remodeling and rebuilding a high school that desperately needed their help, as part of Operation Pacific Unity, a humanitarian civil engineering effort finishing Sep. 22.

"The buildings needed a lot of work," said Master Sgt. Marco Thresher, 13th Air Force A-7 lead planner at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. "They could have continued classes for only a couple more years before safety issues would have closed the doors."

As part of the project, U.S. Air Force civil engineers and U.S. Navy Seabees, made up of 18 electricians, structures, plumbers and other specialist, replaced walls, doors, windows and otherwise remodeled the three main buildings of the school and rebuilt two bathroom buildings that were not able to be used prior to their arrival. A total of seven buildings were repaired, remodeled and repainted by the team.

"It was a complete overhaul," Mario Sukulbech, a community leader, said about the humanitarian construction project. He said some volunteers had come in the past to do small projects but never anything to this scale. "This team did everything," he said.

But they didn't do it alone. The community pulled together to make it happen.

"The local leaders put a call out to all able-bodied men on the outer islands," said Capt. Michael Pluger, team captain from the 374th Civil Engineer Squadron, Yokota Air Base, Japan. "They came from all over to help us unload the supplies. And practically everyone else on the island came to watch. It was a big event for them."

Accomplishing the mission proved to be a challenge because the location was a remote island 415 nautical miles from Guam. Unlike many of the outer islands, Falalop has the advantage of having a runway. However, it is only 3,000 feet long which isn't long enough to land a C-130 Hercules.

Since almost all the building materials had to be purchased in Yap, the challenge was transporting the material 122 nautical miles from Yap to Falalop. To transport everything to the small island, the team used every means available including a barge, a small propeller aircraft, and even fishing and dive boats.

The barge transported the most, but it took more than 22 hours to get to the outer island. The small nine passenger propeller plane also carried supplies when they could but the most unique and challenging method used was fishing and diving boats to transport sheets of plywood and other building materials.

"It is a small island where everyone knows what everyone else is doing, and the community really wanted to help. The owners of the fishing and dive boats came to me and told me they would haul supplies to the outer islands," Thresher said. "It was a real challenge to load these boats because they were not made for this stuff. So it was our priority to make it safe for the crew."

Even with the logistical issues they encountered, the team still managed to push through and complete the project on time.

At the closing ceremony, U.S. Ambassador Peter A. Praha challenged the community to see this as a fresh start and to take pride in the new school.

"This project brought the community back to how it used to be", said John Rulmal Jr., a graduate of the high school and now owner of a small hotel on the island that housed the CE and SeaBee team while they completed the project.

Everyone in the community helped with the project and people from the outer islands came together for the dedication ceremony. "This is how the islands used to be in the old days," said Rulmal.

But rebuilding the high school wasn't the only impact this team had on this close-knit community. The young Airmen and Sailors made quite an impression on the locals.

"Before they came to the island the community leaders got together to prepare a plan in case the military got here and went wild," Sukulbech said. "No one really knew what to expect from a group of military guys."

That all changed once the team arrived. By the end of the first week, the local men were taking the team out fishing and treating them like family--even inviting them into their homes. The leaders of the community said they were very impressed by the young engineers and hoped the local students would look to them as role models.

"They were very welcoming. They were also very appreciative that they were included in the project," said Staff Sgt. Phillip Jacob, 374th CES engineer. "We also had movie night once a week for the kids. One of the guys set up a projector in the local church and played movies for the kids on the island."

The leaders of the community said they were very impressed by the young engineers and hoped the local students would look to them as role models and adopt their work ethic.

"This was an extraordinary effort for our CE and Seabees and the Yap locals who were involved in this engineering effort," said Col. Mark Bednar, 13th Air Force director of Installations and Mission Support. "These efforts will allow more than 150 Falalop students each year to be educated in a much better class room environment, and I couldn't be more proud of these efforts."

"We are hoping everyone views this as a fresh start and shows a new commitment towards education on the islands," Sukulbech said.

Thirteenth Air Force conducts various civil engineering and medical humanitarian efforts throughout the Asia-Pacific region to help cultivate common bonds and foster goodwill in support of the U.S. Pacific Commander's engagement efforts.