Contracting officers assigned from U.S. Army Contracting Command support Army and Joint operations around the world. One of those missions is an enduring mission to provide contracting support at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras. Contracting teams rotate through Soto Cano on nine month missions. Sgt. 1st Class Jerome Sonnier assigned to the contracting office answered a few questions about the people and the mission
Where are your home stations?
The contracting office consists of military and civilian contracting officers. The 677th Contracting Team, consisting of Maj. Melinda Latting, Maj. Ismail Khan, myself, Staff Sgt. Francisco Hernandez, and Staff Sgt. Jenny Zuniga, is part of the 916th Contracting Battalion, 410th Contracting Support Brigade out of Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.
We work hand-in-hand with a wonderful and talented team of five local Honduran civilians, Roberto Aviles, Yesica Valladares, Doris Santos, Jose Mendieta and Berilda Medina, who are the backbone of the Soto Cano office. They provide the continuity and institutional knowledge to help the contracting office run.
Why are you there?
Our mission at Soto Cano Air Base is to provide operational contracting support within the entire Central American region, including customer support for U.S. Southern Command, all of its subordinate units and stakeholders operating within the region such as Joint Task Force-Bravo and the Army Support Activity. Some of the missions and exercises that we support are Countering Transnational Organized Crime, Beyond the Horizon 16 Guatemala, FAHUM 16 - an Allied Force Humanitarian training exercise, and Fused Response.
What sets this mission apart from other missions?
This mission provides opportunities to step out of our contracting mission and participate in various volunteer opportunities. Besides providing operational contracting support to our customers, we feel it is important to be visible and contribute to the various community outreach programs supported by the JTF-B command and facilitated by the JTF-B chaplain's office.
On a weekly basis, there are around 20 opportunities for us to volunteer our time to making a difference in the communities around us. Since our arrival in July at least one person from the office has participated in a volunteer activity each week. On average, as a team, we each volunteer for at least two events per month.
One of the most inspiring and notable outreach programs is the regularly scheduled Chapel Hike that takes place every six weeks. The Chapel Hike program began humbly in 2005 with just four hikers and it has grown to over 180 hikers. The program supports a different village each week with the hiking distances ranging from a little over two miles to seven miles. Each hiker carries approximately 23 lbs. of food such as beans, rice, canned goods and powdered milk to families located in some of the most austere and poverty stricken villages of the region. It is enough food to feed a family of four for two weeks.
Chapel Hike 64 took place on Oct. 31 and it took us to the village of Las Moras. Approximately 120 volunteers hiked more than two and a half miles each way with an elevationincrease of 1600 feet to reach the village.
Other volunteer opportunities include visiting local orphanages. The towns surrounding Soto Cano Air Base are home to various orphanages such as the Missionaries of Charity, Horizontes Al Futuro, San Antonio Boys Home and the Jesus of Nazareth Children's Home. There are nine orphanages that volunteers from Soto Cano visit every week. The orphanages are home to more than 540 people ranging from infants to the elderly. One of the orphanages is the home for kids infected with HIV.
Once a month, there is an opportunity to volunteer for Homes for Hondurans, which is similar to Habitat for Humanity in the U.S. Volunteers go out and help build low cost housing for the low income families in the city of La Paz, Honduras.
Once a week our medical team goes out and provides community health and physical therapy services to the local communities. Hernandez and Zuniga have volunteered their time to serve as translators for the medical providers.
We volunteer for these events to see the joy that are in the faces of the children when you show up. We want to show them that they are loved and not the unwanted child or elderly person that was dropped off at the door of these orphanages. We want to give them hope and joy, even if it is just for the nine months we are here. Being with these children not only brings them joy, but it also fills us with joy to know that we are making the difference in a little child's life.
As a team, we decided to spend our free time wisely and contribute to causes that are worthwhile. So far it has been a blessing to continue to accomplish the mission and give back to the people of Honduras.
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