Helping in Honduras: OSF Airman earns medal following four-month deployment

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Connor Burkhard
  • 931st Air Refueling Group Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  Imagine being in a third-world country, thousands of miles from home, where the native population doesn't speak English. Now imagine your mission is to communicate with locals and provide them with important information and services to improve their quality of life.

While this would be a challenging scenario for some, one 931st Air Refueling Group Reservist used her bilingual skills to turn this challenge into an opportunity.

Staff Sgt. Marina Coronado, 931st Operation Support Flight information manager, spent 125 days deployed to Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, where she was assigned to the Medical Element of Joint Task Force-Bravo.

When Sergeant Coronado learned about the medical administration tasking, she knew that it was something she wanted to do.

"They weren't looking for someone bilingual, but it definitely helped me," said the Matamoros, Mexico, native. "My main duty was administration but they used me almost every day for translating."

Sergeant Coronado not only translated for the military doctors and the Honduran military patients on base, she helped doctors and Honduran villagers communicate during humanitarian missions.

"One of my favorite parts of the deployment was the humanitarian missions we had," said Sergeant Coronado. "We went to the remote villages and my main duty was preventive medicine."

Sergeant Coronado mainly provided Honduran villagers with hygiene classes taught in Spanish to help improve the general health of the population. Classes were conducted once a week and were attended by about 100 patients per day. During these humanitarian visits, she also served as a liaison between the Spanish-speaking patients and doctors.

In addition to her job and the humanitarian missions she participated in, Sergeant Coronado was also the noncommissioned officer in charge of the Orphanage Visitation Program. She coordinated fundraisers and made weekly visits to the orphanage, which housed about 200 children.

"I ordered them pizza and brought candy, clothes, and other things that they don't get a lot," she said.

Sergeant Coronado used the fundraiser money to buy food, clothing and supplies for the children at the orphanage. Supply shipments from state-side military personnel accounted for much of what she gave the orphans too, she said.

While it was difficult for her to see the conditions that many of the local people were living in, she said she really enjoyed being able to help them.

"It was a great deployment," Sergeant Coronado said. "I loved the helping part. The people looked at me like I was a good person and they loved me."

She misses the people she met while in Honduras, both military and the local people.

"I would love to go back," she said. "I know they will remember me, especially the kids."

Sergeant Coronado was awarded the Joint Service Achievement Medal on March 14 for her many accomplishments during the deployment.

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Click here to see Sergeant Coronado in the Spirit Spotlight.