U.S. Marines pass a soccer ball with children at a day care in Pattaya, Thailand, March 6, 2024. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
PATTAYA, Thailand — Children clad in bright pink polo shirts laughed, danced and cheered during a visit from U.S. Marines taking a community-relations break from two weeks of Cobra Gold military drills.
Around a dozen members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary unit joined more than 40 kids at the Martin Brands Childcare center in Pattaya for local games and a dance competition in the courtyard. Upstairs, Marines did arts and crafts with the younger children.
“I love doing stuff like this — I try to get out and help or interact with the communities wherever I go. I did a lot of this when I was in Japan,” Staff Sgt. Jimmy Sannon, a maintenance chief, told Stars and Stripes during Wednesday’s visit. “I love seeing the smile on their faces; that’s what it is.”
The day care visit was one of several community relations projects the Marines took on as part of Cobra Gold, the largest military exercise in mainland Asia, which drew to a close on Friday.
The day care students, many of them the children of migrant workers, come predominantly from neighboring Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia and are unable to enroll in Thai schools, said Peter Thorand, president of the Navy League of the United States — Siam Council.
At the Martin Brand center, the children are supervised and given Thai and English language lessons while their parents are away during the day, he said.
“I think when you see the result, the kids love it and it’s a good experience for your people,” Thorand said.
U.S. troops rarely interact with people from those three countries, he added.
Members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit enjoy a dance routine at the Martin Brands Childcare center in Pattaya, Thailand, March 6, 2024. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
A U.S. Marine works on an art project with a student at Martin Brands Childcare center in Pattaya, Thailand, March 6, 2024. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. Marines help serve lunch to children at the Martin Brands Childcare center in Pattaya, Thailand, March 6, 2024. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
Thailand, a comparatively prosperous country in the region, is a key destination for “migrants, displaced persons and asylum seekers,” according to a United Nations report from 2019, the most recent on the country’s migration trends.
Before the pandemic, migrants, especially from neighboring countries, were coming to Thailand in increasing numbers and constituted about 10% of the nation’s labor force, the report states.
Thorand, a retired maintenance engineer from Vancouver, Canada, said he and the Siam Council have been involved in Cobra Gold community projects for decades. He said the projects not only benefit the community, they provide an opportunity for Cobra Gold participants to see the “real country.”
“These community relations projects are maybe one of the most important things you guys can do,” he said.
Many students have never interacted with Americans.
“You leave a lasting impression on the people,” Thorand said.
The students also get a chance to practice their English, said Staff Sgt. Kyle Peterson, a utilities specialist with the 15th MEU. Some tried the teach Marines phrases in Thai during the arts-and-craft session, he said.
“Honestly, it’s just really humbling how much they’re willing to learn and how much effort they’re actually putting into it here,” he said.
“I think it’s just as simple as it is; it’s about being where you can be somebody’s hero,” Peterson said. “It’s not just painting butterflies, but just something as simple as going to play with them downstairs or painting pictures with them up here.”
