AMPOT, CAMBODIA -- Idaho soldiers from the 116th are back overseas, but this time it's in friendly territory. We met with them before they left, and we checked in with them again on Friday to see how things are going.
About 60 soldiers from the Idaho Army National Guard Citizen Soldiers made the trip to Cambodia for a humanitarian mission where they are learning just as much as they're teaching.
Last Friday members of the 116th Cavalry Brigade prepared to leave for a foreign country. Now they're in the heart of it.
"We're learning beside them, we're learning from them, they're learning from us and, in fact, I would have to say that I'm learning more from them than maybe I'm teaching them personally, individually anyways," said Lt. Casey Seckel.
Seckel is there as part of a medical civic action program. He and about 20 others are seeing anywhere from 250 to 600 patients a day.
"The majority of the stuff we're seeing is stuff you wouldn't normally see in America, a lot of musculoskeletal injuries, high blood pressure, that kind of stuff," said Seckel.
Working alongside the Cambodian Royal Army in the Kampot Province in Southwest Cambodia Lt. Seckel is providing health care to people who normally don't have access to doctors.
"I think that the experience that I'm gaining here is something that I have never been able to experience in the past and it would only greatly improve my knowledge and skills to provide health care to people in the future," said Seckel.
Major Ryan Robinson, Commander of the 145th Battalion, says he and his group make up the remaining 60 soldiers. They're working with the Cambodians to share military training.
"We bring in our expertise from what we've learned deployed to Iraq and come to and learn from each other," said Robinson.
The Idaho soldiers will be training until March 23rd, at which time they'll return home. By the time the mission is over, the 116th estimates the medical personnel will have seen over 5,000 Cambodians.
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