BY MIKE PUIA
THREE members of the visiting United States of America Navy Vessel USNS Millinocket are pleased to be part of the Pacific Partnership 2015.
Lieutenant Ursula Smith, Carla Burdt and Nina Gaglio said they are pleased and are enjoying their involvement with the Partnership Partnership 2015 programme.
The Pacific Partnership Mission is currently here in Solomon Islands with deployment of United States Pacific Fleet forces in cooperation with regional governments, partner military forces, humanitarian, and non-government organizations.
Besides providing medical and humanitarian assistance, the Pacific Partnership’s overarching goal is to improve the interoperability of the region’s military forces, governments, and humanitarian organizations during disaster relief operations.
Burdt said she is excited to be here to experience firsthand the culture and admitted Solomon Islands is an amazing country.
“Solomon Islands is an interesting country and we are very welcomed here. We like the culture, the people and the experience has been amazing.”
She added that the first week was very exciting. They engaged with communities, assisting them in health and medical services and also provided engineering support with the renovation of classrooms at Vura School.
“We did a lot of work with the children and the experience was good.”
Burdt also added that Solomon Islands and the US had long history together since the World War II and sees no reason why they should not come down here to assist and interact with the communities.
For Lieutenant Smith, she said what excites was playing futsal with children at Lawson Tama Stadium.
“Apart from playing indoor soccer, we also visited the Youth@Work programme office to find out that there are lot of young people who are struggling with employment.
“We also talked to the youths about our military experiences and about ways to go about employment.
“It’s also great to learn about how the Youth@Work deal with unemployment. We also told them about how we in the US deal with employment. Overall, it’s a great and exciting opportunity to be part of the Pacific Partnership Mission to actually come down to Solomon Islands and experience new things.”
Ms Gaglio said what excites her about being part of the Pacific Partnership is she was able to meet different people and stated that the people of Solomon Islands has a very knit culture and it was wonderful experience.
The Pacific Partnership 2015 is now in its second week and will close on Friday.
