MANILA, Philippines — A US Navy aviation machinist's mate credits from La Union credits lessons learned back home for helping serve Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 28, which flies MH-60S Seahwaks for missions like air assaults and search and rescue.
According to a US Navy release, Petty Officer 3rd Class Patrick John Braga has helped maintain the squadron's helicopters since joining the Navy two years ago.
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"Back home, I learned to be a hard worker and to treat everyone with respect no matter how young or old they are," Braga is quoted as saying. "When you treat people with respect, you get respect back."
Braga was recently recognized for excellence at his job.
"I'm proud of being named 'Dragon Whale of the Week,' which is special recognition for doing a good job," he said. "I earned that distinction for finding an important piece that had fallen off a helicopter and reported it, which made us safer."
This undated handout photo from the wesbite of Commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic shows helicopters of the US Navy's Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 28
According to a June 2022 release by the US Navy on a historical highway marker in Virginia Beach, Virginia to honor Filipinos who have served the US Navy, Filipinos have been joining the navy since the US Civil War.
"[They] began enlisting in larger numbers after the US took possession of the Philippines following the Spanish-American War," it also said, referring to the US colonial period in the Philippines that ended in 1946.
"Over the next four decades, about 35,000 Filipinos served in the Navy, initially as stewards and mess attendants. Eligible to serve in all enlisted and officer positions by the 1970s, they later rose to the Navy's highest ranks. Filipino American communities often developed near naval bases; one of the nation’s largest such communities is here in Hampton Roads."
"I know that serving in the Navy makes my family proud," Braga said. "I'm proud to uplift my family's name and leave a legacy we can be proud of."
Many families in the Philippines have relatives serving in the US military and elsewhere abroad, which is seen as a means of leaving poorer economic and employment prospects back home.
The Philippines and the US are kicking off the Balikatan joint military exercises — a set of drills to enhance interoperability that the Visiting Forces Agreement allows — next week.
An enhancement of that agreement — which activist groups protest puts the Philippines at risk of being dragged into geopolitical conflict and have made the Armed Forces of the Philippines dependent on America — allows US troops to preposition supplies for operations like humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in designated Philippine military facilities.
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