Courtesy Photo | U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Emilio Valle, a medical corpsman with 3rd Air...... read more read more
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FORMOSA, Brazil --Emelio Valle's parents emigrated from El Salvador to the United States in the 1970s to escape the political turmoil that gripped their home country at the time. They settled in Los Angeles in pursuit of stability and opportunities for their family. One such opportunity was service in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
"My brother Chris is much older than me, and when I was a kid, he was already in the military," Valle recalled. "He was in the Marines from 2003 to 2008. When I would talk to him, he often spoke about the corpsmen he served with and how much he admired and respected them. Those stories inspired me when I was younger and made me want to follow in his footsteps, joining the military and becoming a Navy corpsman."
Valle initially served four years of active duty in the Navy before transitioning to civilian life, where he took the opportunity to travel. While traveling across Europe, he met his girlfriend, who was originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He decided that he should learn Portuguese to communicate better with her.
"My parents are from El Salvador, so in my house I grew up speaking Spanish,” he said. “So, when I learned how to speak Portuguese for my girlfriend, I already had a head start because of the similarities in the languages," Valle said.
Growing up in a home where Spanish was spoken, Valle had already developed a strong foundation allowing him to recognize familiar words and phrases in Portuguese. The similarities in vocabulary and pronunciation made the transition smoother, enabling him to pick up the language more quickly and effectively.
After some time away from active duty and having traveled Europe,Valle found himself drawn back to the Navy. He recognized his desire to continue serving as a corpsman while balancing other aspects of his life. He decided to join the Navy Reserve, a choice that allowed him to balance his desire to be a corpsman while exploring new opportunities in his civilian life. Valle was soon assigned to 3rd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, in Bell, California, a U.S. Marine Corps unit that specializes in combined arms, fire support and communications capabilities with partner forces. His unit would be sent to Brazil to participate in the Brazilian Marine Corps’ Exercise Formosa 24.
During Exercise Formosa, Valle played an essential role in the relationship between U.S. Marines, U.S. Navy and Brazilian marines by translating for both sides throughout the exercise at a small-unit level. His fluency in Portuguese helped dismantle the language barrier, facilitating meaningful interactions and enabling the two militaries to work effectively together "I originally learned Portuguese to be able to talk to my girlfriend’s family, and friends better, I never expected it to come in handy while being a corpsman, but my time at Formosa was just another reason I'm happy I learned the language," Valle said.
Valle's fluency in Portuguese came into play during a Tactical Combat Casualty Care course. In this course, U.S. and Brazilian medical personnel worked together on simulated casualties to learn essential medical skills. Valle moved between the groups to help translate and clarify instructions. His goal was to ensure everyone understood the lessons and help members of each group communicate with each other.
"It was a great course where both groups taught and learned from each other. Going between the groups and helping translate was a great experience for my small-unit leadership skills, and sharing knowledge with our allies and absorbing their knowledge was great. It made both sides realize they have place for improvement in how they operate," Valle said.
Valle also helped Joint Air Traffic Controllers communicate with their Brazilian and Mexican counterparts during the exercise by translating both Portuguese and Spanish. As they practiced communicating close-air support, Valle helped the coordination required for close-air support drills. This aspect of the training was critical, as effective communication is vital for the success of operations involving air support, where precision, timing and clear communication can greatly impact mission outcomes.
Valle's translation work also helped the U.S. Marines and Brazilian marines build bonds and find common ground. His ability to speak Portuguese allowed both groups to talk with each other, trade patches and other items, share stories and find similarities through their experiences in the military despite serving in different countries.
"The junior Marines on both sides got along great with each other, joking around and sharing their experiences where they found a lot of similarities in each other," Valle said.
Valle's language skills played a vital role in fostering cooperation and friendship while keeping a clear line of communication between U.S. Marines and Brazilian marines during Exercise Formosa. His ability and willingness to bridge communication gaps facilitated the exchange of vital information and medical training.
Valle's experiences highlight the importance of cultural understanding and communication in military operations, proving that effective communication is critical to building lasting relationships and achieving success in Joint exercises such as Formosa and UNITAS.
"I would honestly love to return to Brazil and participate in an exercise like this again," Valle expressed. "This partnership with Brazil offers great benefits for both sides as we've learned so much from one another and demonstrated how well we work together. These exercises also highlight America's diversity and showcase that our military is made up of individuals who are multilingual, capable of effective communication with our allies and can build strong bonds with their troops. Not many other countries can claim that."
U.S. Marine Corps Forces, South is the U.S. Marine Corps component of U.S. Southern Command, responsible for building and maintaining relationships with our allies and partner nations in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. MARFORSOUTH builds capabilities and capacity with like-minded democratic nations through a range of military engagements and other security cooperation events to demonstrate the value and utility of the Navy and Marine Corps team through joint and mutually supporting operations and engagements. MARFORSOUTH cultivates partnerships across the region to promote the rule of law, which is essential for security, stability, economic prosperity, and personal liberty. Additionally, strong partnerships, shared knowledge, and joint and multinational interoperability enables burden sharing and crisis response while strengthening the common defense, fostering stability and defeating threats.
| Date Taken: | 11.04.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.04.2024 16:56 |
| Story ID: | 484622 |
| Location: | NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, US |
| Hometown: | LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 10 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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