Strengthening The Brotherhood
by U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Dana Beesley October
26,
2022
As MSgt. Ramchand Francisco stood saluting
the Philippine National Flag during the teleconferenced KAMANDAG 6
Opening Ceremony in Palawan, Philippines; he blinked back tears. It
was the first time he had hailed his home country's colors while
wearing the U.S. Air Force Uniform.
“I was thinking to
myself, this is [surreal] - I’m home,” he said.
Thanks to a
partnership between the United States Marine Corps and the Language
Enabled Airman Program (LEAP), Francisco - alongside Capt. Timothy
Nolan and Tech Sgt. Cesar Salilican - embedded with the 11th Marine
Expeditionary Unit (MEU) Command Element (CE) as Tagalog
interpreters during exercise KAMANDAG 6 aboard Marine Base Rudolfo
Punsalang, Palawan, Philippines. For both services, the alliance
unexpectedly became an unbreakable bond across cultures.
From left to right - U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Cesar Salilican, MSgt. Ramchand
Francisco, and Capt. Timothy Nolan, Tagalog interpreters
attached to the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Rudolfo Punsalang, Palawan, Philippines
on October 14, 2022. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Dana Beesley)
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LEAP
accepts applications for prospective linguists across the Air Force
two months out of the year. Those who complete the program must
maintain their certifications yearly and become eligible for a
Training Partnership Request (TPR). To be considered for a TPR, a
LEAP scholar must retain a current Defense Language Proficiency Test
[DLPT] score, which assesses an interpreter’s listening, reading,
and speaking proficiency. When a requirement arises from the Air
Force or a sister service, the pool of TPR-eligible Airmen receives
a notification.
Within minutes of getting the TPR for
KAMANDAG 6, Nolan remembered reaching out to his command in hopes of
being accepted.
“All we were told in an email was that the
Marine Corps was looking for three Tagalog speakers for an
assignment in the Philippines,” Nolan said. “We didn’t know until we
got to Palawan there were about 130 applicants for this specific
assignment.”
For Nolan, the desire to become an interpreter
through LEAP initially stemmed from his deep love for his native
language and Filipino culture. After moving to the U.S. from Manila
at 21 years old, he was commissioned into the U.S. Air Force as an
MQ-9 Reaper pilot. Shortly into his career, he discovered LEAP, and
after applying to the program twice, he was accepted and began
intensive Tagalog studies. He quickly realized that learning
military colloquialisms in Tagalog was challenging at first.
“As we were growing with the program, there was a lot of education
in learning the military terms and formal speech, which I think
helped equip us for this specific assignment,” Nolan said. “All
those words we weren't used to using conversationally were
reinstilled in us.”
Francisco and Salilcan had played
basketball together while stationed at Ramstein Air Force Base in
Germany, but neither had met Nolan until they arrived at the
airport.
“From day one, we were a team,” Nolan said. “I
think this is a friendship and brotherhood that will last for the
rest of our lives.”
When Salilican first came to the U.S. at
13, he experienced culture shock after growing used to the Filipino
way of life.
“Nowhere were there Filipinos around me, so
there was a time when I just stopped using the language because
there was no one to talk to,” Salilican said. “There were times when
I felt like I was slowly losing the language but I knew deep down it
was still there and I felt it every time I came home.”
Salilican’s natural ability to retain the language proved to be a
virtue - he passed the DLPT with a perfect score and became a LEAP
scholar in 2021. He said his background as a systems operations
flight chief in a special operations wing and deploying with joint
services ultimately helped him better integrate with the Marines and
sailors of the 11th MEU CE.
“I hope the Marines and sailors
can take a lot of skills away from the Filipinos, including their
ability to improvise and adapt,” Salilican said. “When they are out
in the field they will find ways to create something, like making a
jungle antenna out of pipes. When they’re in deep forest and don’t
have communications or signal, they’ll throw a rock over a tree and
pull up an antenna to continue working despite the conditions around
them.”
The number of proficient Tagalog speakers in the Air
Force is extremely high, which made the selection of the three
Airmen an even greater honor, Francisco said. As a young man, he
remembers meeting a Filipino Air Force recruiter by happenstance
while in processing for the U.S. Army, who empowered him to make the
choice to switch branches. For KAMANDAG, he said the mix of military
occupational specialties between the three was a significant factor
in getting the approvals of their respective commanders.
“Tech Sgt. is communications, I’m logistics, and Captain’s a pilot -
based on the needs of this assignment, we could compliment the MEU
much better because of our positions,” Francisco said.
Nolan’s ability to understand Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) from his
pilot training helped him integrate with Marines as they employed
the RQ-20B Puma and the MAG Aerospace SuperSwiper II.
“The
translation for small unmanned aerial systems was easy for me
because I knew the technical terms; when it came to Tactics,
Techniques, and Procedures (TTP) development or airspace
considerations, my level of expertise was right there with it,”
Nolan said. “MSgt’s real- world experience leading troops as a
senior NCO made him well suited for the leadership symposium. Tech
Sgt’s experience with Communications - there was a pretty good
language barrier between the U.S. side and the Filipino side - he
was able to bridge that gap.”
While the trio began their
mission under the impression that their role would strictly be to
translate exchanges between U.S. and Philippine Marines, they found
a more profound cultural connection than any of them could have
imagined.
“By day two or three, we felt like we had become
more than just translators; we had become bridges between cultures,”
Nolan said. “The Marines would look to us to provide the ground
truth without stepping on toes and providing cultural considerations
to scenarios. Your expertise, leadership, and everything you do as
an Airman ties in because your input is just as valuable with other
things outside of just language and culture.”
Throughout the
first week, the Airmen began to notice the Philippine Marines
opening up more in classes and asking questions of their U.S.
counterparts, knowing they had Filipino brothers in the room who
would take care of them.
“Seeing our countrymen’s eyes light
up and see that we are one of them, even though we wear a U.S. Air
Force uniform…they want to open up and ask questions,” Fransisco
said. “They feel safe.”
Nolan noticed that the language
barrier proved to be an easy obstacle to overcome because of the
natural bond between the U.S. and Filipino Marines. During the
exercise, the two nations shared multiple “Boodle Fights” -
traditional Filipino meals eaten using hands, a sign of respect and
trust from one culture to the next. Many exchanged unit shirts and
memorabilia, and the Filipino love for karaoke soon became a shared
pastime on Marine Base Rudolfo.
“When U.S. and Philippine
Marines find a common interest, they become inseparable,” Nolan
said. “They exchange information and joke around and laugh.”
As the Airmen departed the Philippines, what once was an assignment
for them to communicate between two partners developed into a
cultural bridge and lifelong bond.
“We were welcomed with
open arms by the U.S. Marines and they allowed us to expand our
borders by letting us do what we do best,” Nolan said. “Being in the
presence of our Filipino counterparts is truly honorable for us, and
the MEU has in turn epitomized respectful guests. In my heart and
mind as a Filipino, I appreciate that a lot.”
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