SANTA ANA, Philippines — Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Jose Antonio, a corpsman now attached to the community health engagement group in Cagayan Valley, the Philippines, is happy to be back in his homeland.
“II was originally scheduled to go to South Korea for some training,” he said, “but then I was told it was possible I would be going to the Philippines, and I was pretty excited.”
Antonio was assigned to support Philippine Amphibious Landing Exercise 33, an annual U.S.-Philippine military exercise that combines amphibious capabilities and live-fire training with humanitarian civic assistance efforts to strengthen interoperability and working relationships between the two nations.
Ten-Year Navy Veteran
Antonio was born and raised in Quezon City, the Philippines, and he and his family relocated to San Jose, California, when he was 20. Over his 10 years in the Navy, he has served in several countries, including Kuwait, South Korea, Germany and Afghanistan.
In PHIBLEX Antonio conducts biomedical technician operations with the community health engagement group attached to 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, but since arriving in the Philippines, he has done much more.
“We have been able to send him with small teams into some of the local clinics to fix some of the older equipment, so he’s been putting in a lot of hours on the work days,” said Navy Lt. Jacqueline Clerc, a medical officer with the community health engagement group attached to 3rd MEB. “He’s fixed an X-ray, electrocardiogram and a ton of things.”
Language Specialty
Clerc said Antonio’s ability to speak Tagalog has helped out in many ways, such as explaining medical techniques and procedures in a way that local people can easily understand.
“From what I’ve heard, all of the places have really liked him, because he is very friendly and open, but also because he can speak Tagalog,” said Clerc, who hails from Middletown, Indiana. “The material we are teaching has been able to come across much easier than having to go through a translator.”
Though he has been afforded an opportunity to visit his homeland on his own a couple of times since moving to the United States, Antonio said, this is his first time participating in a military exercise in the Philippines.
“I joined to serve, and what better way to serve then to come back to your homeland?” Antonio said. “There’s no better feeling than knowing you are serving both your countries: Philippines and the U.S. -- at the same time.”