Trinidad & Tobago Deployment

[Reya]

Hey everyone ! Currently, I am being stationed in Trinidad and Tobago with my unit on a humanitarian mission. I have been here for about a month now and have had a really memorable experience here. My unit has been visiting several villages and towns opening clinics and offering free health care, eye care and dental care to the people here. The work has resulted in really long days but at the end it was all worth it. I wanted to post some pics of my journey here

This is Port of Spain where we flew in. It is really pretty here and really really humid!

This is where my unit stayed the first few weeks of our operation. My room had a beach side view!

Here are one of the schools we set up a clinic at. The walls look like horizontal blinds that open and close. Since there is no central AC, this allows for passing wind to move through the building to cool it. Needless to say, it is still really hot inside.

This is Steve! He is the baby bat that lives outside of my room !

I got the once in a life time opportunity to visit Matura. This place is very special because it is the only place in the world you can see Giant Leather Back turtles. They are the largest turtles in the world! We found this female laying eggs on the shore. Turtles go into a trance while laying eggs so we were able to get very close to her and even touch her! She was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It was such a humbling experience. This turtle was 6 feet long and 3 feet wide, she weighed 800lbs

On the way back to the vans we found a nest of about 60 newly hatched baby turtles!!!

This is me at one of our mission sites

Well looks like it is time to go for now! I will post more later!

 

[Mirewen]

I've always wanted to go there. Now that I've seen the bat and turtles, makes me want to go even more ;p

 

[Anttaru]

I use to go there every year to visit family.

National Geographic once had an issue about Paraman hill in Maraval, which is just north of Port of Spain. We were laughing so hard to see the familiar locals in the magazine. I stay at my Father's house high up in the hills whenever I go there. Usually in the morning there is a type of consistency in the air. Like little water particles with slight mist. But from a distance it looks like full blown clouds. Looking over at a neighboring hill, (These hills are like mountains) they appear to be clouds from the sky at ground level.

Trinidad is a very nice place.

I'm curious though. Why is America offering free health care and other health benefits to the citizens of Trinidad ?

Trinidad has a strong economy with their gravel pit and they are enriched with oil.

 

[Reya]

I'm curious though. Why is America offering free health care and other health benefits to the citizens of Trinidad ?

Trinidad has a strong economy with their gravel pit and they are enriched with oil.

My unit deployed there as a part of a partnership with Army South for a humanitarian mission. The areas we worked and set up clinics were at poorer rural areas of the country where the closest host nation clinic was a good distance away.

I'll be honest though, there were times where I just felt like a dog and pony show for their government ;(

Here are a few more pics!

Here is me and a SSG in my unit breaking down meds @_@ sooo many pills

This is me with a few other soldiers in my unit as well as some of the host nation RPs

 

[Hexx]

Nice to know you are out there providing a much needed service! And as a reward youre in a beautiful part of the world! Yay you! Keep it up! ^^