- Alright, so let's talk about Thailand. You guys probably know it
from it's beautiful beaches, islands, cities, or temples. And of course, well, those are incredible. But what you might not know is that Thailand is actually home to longest running multinational
military exercise in the world. Yeah, that was a mouthful. Now the exercise goes by the name Cobra Gold and dates all
the way back to 1982. It's a demonstration of
the partnership between the US military and the
Royal Thai armed forces, in addition to over a dozen
other partner nations who participate each year. For two weeks, soldiers,
sailors and Marines gather across Thailand to train
and learn from one another in a variety of different
exercises and events. Now this year, due to COVID-19,
things were scaled down quite a bit, as the safety
of all participants remained the top priority. However, even during a
pandemic, the importance of Cobra Gold is still prevalent. And so when I received word
that I had been selected to help out with the media coverage
and travel all the way from St. Louis, Missouri to Bangkok, Thailand, I was pretty excited. After doing some quick
math, I realized that this would be the longest
trip I'd ever taken. Over a month living abroad in
a country 8,747 miles away. Yeah, that's pretty far. But to be honest, I couldn't wait. And so as I navigated my way
through airport after airport and flight after flight, I
finally landed in Thailand, my new home for the next month. But before things officially kicked off, I was going to have a
little bit of downtime, which I guess leads me to my
first stop on the journey. - Quarantine. Now, at the time I'm filming this video, Thailand requires all international
passengers to complete a mandatory 15-day quarantine upon arrival. So yeah, for the next two weeks, I'm pretty much stuck right
here in this hotel room. Now I'm not going to lie, I'm
a little bit worried about having no access to
fresh air and pretty much zero human interaction. But on the bright side, the
hotel room is pretty nice, I've got an awesome view
here of downtown Bangkok, and the food that's delivered
to me three times a day is not too bad. So for the actual Cobra Gold exercise, it only runs about 14
days, but because of this mandatory quarantine, I
had to come to Thailand about a month early. But once I'm done, I'll
be able to leave the hotel and then travel down south
to the town of U-Tapao, where I'll begin helping
out with the exercise. Now it is almost nine o'clock
in the morning here in Bangkok, which means my
breakfast should be delivered, which is honestly my
favorite part of the day. So I'm going to go grab that,
then I'll show you guys around the room and give you a little
taste of what I'm going to be up to for the next two weeks. (Jazz music plays) - Alright, so today I've
got what this hotel calls the "Western Breakfast".
So it looks pretty good. They've got eggs, sausage,
a few veggies, some bacon, a couple of pieces of toast
with butter and jelly, a fruit cup, and then my
favorite thing right here. This is pineapple juice,
which is amazing, so. I'm going to scarf this
down and I'll see you guys in a little bit. (Jazz music continues) So I just finished up breakfast
and it was pretty good. I'd give it a solid 7.5 out of 10, definitely a fan of the
Western Breakfast there. But anyways, as promised, I'm going to go ahead and
give you guys a tour of the quarantine hotel room here.
So I hope you're ready. Alright, so to start things
off, this is the main area here. It's pretty much just one
big room but I'll take you to my favorite part, which
is of course these windows. So yeah, this is Bangkok. I'm about 30 stories up right now. You can see the rest of the
hotel here, but it's beautiful. I imagine I'm going to spend
a lot of time here by these windows, just imagining
when I'm able to get out and actually enjoy what
the city has to offer, but. Pretty cool. So over here, this is my bed of course, it's pretty comfortable. And I actually brought my
computer, mic, mouse, keyboard, headphones, that sort of thing. So it's a little makeshift,
workstation. Do some editing. This is the living area right here. Pretty comfortable couch, got the TV. And then I was super
worried about fitness. You know, two weeks without
like having anywhere to exercise is not the best. So I was pretty excited that
they brought a treadmill in for me. Got some weights and
then a yoga mat as well. Kitchen as you guys already saw. So stove, dishes, fridge. Pretty nice. But my next favorite part is the bathroom. It's beautiful, so. What's up? Yeah. Got an awesome shower. Gorgeous. So there you have it. This is where I'm going to
be for the next two weeks. Hope you enjoyed. Cause, yeah. I'm gonna have a lot of time here. (Jazz music continues) - So there you have it, my
home for the next two weeks. Don't worry, I'm not going
to show you guys every second of the next 14 days, because
that would be pretty boring. But I will say that I had a lot of time to be productive. And so, yeah, that's exactly what I did. But in all seriousness, I did
start to get in a routine. I'd wake up in the
mornings, hit a workout, crush a few emails, and then
I'd spend my free time reading, watching some Netflix,
and of course, staring out the window, imagining
what freedom would be like. Before I knew it, the days were flying by, and I was starting to find
that quarantine really wasn't the worst thing in the world. (Pop music continues) (Raindrops patter and thunder booms) - What's up guys just wanted
to pop in and say that I have officially hit my halfway
point here in quarantine. I just want to add that the
hotel staff here is so sweet and so nice to work with. Look what they got me today.
They brought this little surprise thing to the door. So
little flowers and a little, hey, it's your halfway point. So we're on the home stretch.
Just a few more days. So bear with me because
we're going to be out of here in no time. (Pop music continues) (Snoring) - Alright, good morning guys. I'm super excited 'cause
I officially made it to the final day of my quarantine here. I'm going to assume that that
was probably the quickest 14 days you guys have ever seen go by, but for me it was a little bit longer. But I'm all packed up here.
You can see all my stuff. I'm going to head out to
check out in the front lobby and head on to my next destination. So thanks for sticking with me. Now the trip has officially
started and I can't wait. (Pop music fades out) (Upbeat music begins) - All right, guys, we made
it. Welcome to Pattaya. This is my home for the next month. It's beautiful hotel room here that I'm super excited about. And it's going to be pretty
cool to kind of have this location as my home base, but
then I'm going to be able to go out and about, explore different areas, and help out the different locations where the exercise is going to be going on. So with that being said, I'm going to kick back and
relax for a little bit, kind of enjoy having a little
freedom after that two weeks of quarantine, then I'm going
to go check out the beach, check out what else there is
to do around here, and show you guys around a little
bit. So, super excited. (Upbeat music plays) - All Right just wanted
to stop for a second, and show you guys this view
over the end of the hotel here. Beach extends for quite
a ways, which is awesome. So I'm gonna head down
there and check it out. (Upbeat music plays) - I mean, this is amazing. It's already super hot and humid though. So that's going to be
fun. I'm already sweating. But look at this. It's
going to be awesome. I'm dying to get in the water. I guess it's the Gulf of Thailand here. So I'm going to run in
for a second and just see what it's like. (Upbeat music plays) (Funky music begins) - Guys, I think I love Thailand. Now I'll admit that thought
might be a little bit inflated because I spent the
last two weeks in quarantine, but seriously, it feels
just awesome to be able to go outside, run around,
and see a little bit about what Thailand has to offer. Now with that being said,
tomorrow is my first day on the real job. So I'm going to be be
throwing on my uniform here for the first time in a couple weeks, and a heading out into
the field to start my job here with exercise Cobra Gold. I'm not exactly sure what to expect, but I've heard a lot about the exercise. So I can't wait to get
out there to get started. But in the meantime, I'm
going to head to bed, but I'll see you guys bright
and early in the morning. (Upbeat music begins) - Now, as I made my way into the van that would be taking me
to my first destination, I met up with my incredible
translator, Isabel, who's actually been working
Cobra Gold for over 20 years. Now we did have almost a
two hour drive ahead of us, so she definitely kept me
busy practicing my Thai. Isabel taught me how to
say "I'm Lieutenant Sam" (Speaks Thai) That's right, right? Yeah?
- That's right - (laughs) - Now, as we made our way north
from the U-Tapao province, I enjoyed just being able
to sit and watch all of the different villages pass by. Before long, we made it to
the front gates of where we were headed, and after
a few guards pointed us in the right direction,
I was finally ready to start my job with Cobra Gold. Well, good afternoon, everyone. It is a super hot and
humid day here in Thailand. I am sweating like crazy, but
right now I'm in Chon Buri, which is where they have one
of the Thai Army bases where they're actually training
up a new recruits. So I can see them marching
around and walking off in the distance here. Definitely
brings me back a little bit. But right now I'm headed to meet up with the US Army Security
Force Assistance Brigade. So they're in-country helping
train the Thai on different techniques, tips, and
tricks, that sort of thing. So I'm going to be shooting a
video to kick off Cobra Gold, and I'm looking forward to doing it. So I'm going to go meet up
with them, and then I'll tell you guys a little bit
more about what I'm up to. (Upbeat music plays) - Alright guys, so I
found my spot right here. I'm going to be shooting in
front of this building right here. We're going to put
up a flag, make it look a little nicer. But the
whole point of this video is to kind of have some
of our US soldiers speak some common phrases in
Thai, in recognition of National Thai Language Day,
which is actually on Thursday. So I wrote down a few
phrases and had the help of my interpreter, Isabel,
kind of say, you know, what sounds a little bit
more accurate in terms of how to say it in Thai. More than I could do on
Google Translate, I guess. And then we're going to have
some of these soldiers just say those phrases and make kind
of a fun Buzzfeed-style video here, so. Excited to get set up and go ahead and get started. (Upbeat music plays) - Alright, so nothing too
crazy of a setup here, but one thing I've noticed that,
because it's so humid here, when I take my cameras out
of my bag, if they've been in the hotel room or
they've been in the car, like it takes a good 20
minutes for them to, like, get the moisture off and like
acclimate to the climate. Cause all the lenses fog up. So I brought everyone out here
and was ready to hit record and then I realized all
the footage was trash because it was like, fogged over. So just a note for next time, you know, put your camera bag out in the humidity to adjust for at least a half hour. Anyways. (Upbeat music plays) (Speaking Thai) (laughs) - Alright, one more time. (speaking Thai) - All right, I'll do better at like, hearing you do it back there. - (Sam) Okay, sounds good,
yeah. Whatever works for you. (Speaking Thai) (cheering) - (Sam) Nailed that, that's it. - All right guys, just finished up. I'm excited to see how
the video turns out. I mean, those guys were
super fun to work with, so made my job enjoyable. But yeah, I mean, not a bad first day. It was exciting being out here and just, it's cool to meet different
Thai people and just learn a little bit about their
military experiences and how it differs from us here in the US. But hope you guys enjoyed that. This was just the start and
I'm excited for what the next couple of weeks here have to offer. (upbeat music fades) - Now, when I say the
next few weeks were busy, yeah, they definitely were. After the opening
ceremonies were underway, my first job was to head
out to the field with the Marine Engineering Support Battalion. Their job was to assist the
Thai forces with constructing counter-mobility obstacles. It was honestly really cool to
see the teamwork between both countries, and I had a blast
spending some down time in the shade with the Thai
Marines learning about their culture. I then had the chance to
cover the amphibious assault vehicle training, which, if
you've never seen an AAV before, they're pretty incredible. Now for the next couple
of days, I spent my time with the US Army Stryker
Brigade Combat Team. There was a lot going
on here and each day was something different. I started out in the classroom
covering some instruction on company level defense operations, essentially a lesson on
battlefield, maneuvers, and tactics. I then moved on to take
some photos of the mortar proficiency training, where
the Royal Thai Army was working alongside members of the
US Army on how to operate various infantry mortars. (Upbeat music) Last but not least, I moved
on to the firing range where members of the 5th
Security Force Assistance Brigade were instructing Thai
soldiers on how to handle and fire various weaponry. (Upbeat music plays) Honestly, lunchtime was something
I always look forward to because we would try different
local Thai street vendors and the food was really good. (Upbeat music continues) Now, as you can imagine,
the days were pretty long. And so when I did get back
to the hotel each day, I did my best to squeeze in a
workout and then head to the pool to relax before grabbing
dinner and going off to bed. Things were busy, and
as the days passed and the closing ceremony for
Cobra Gold approached, there was one more mission
in particular that I was scheduled to go out on. And let's just say that this
one was something I had really been looking forward to. (Pop music begins) - All right, good morning guys. I am super excited for today
because I'm actually going to be headed to the Thai province of Sa Kaeo, which by car it's about a
three hours drive to the north. However, I was able to
get a spot on the Army's UC-35 aircraft, so I get to fly there, which is going to be amazing. Now, essentially what's
going on is there's a ribbon cutting ceremony for
a new building that's opening, so we have several of the
higher-up leaders from the US military that are going
to be there to support that. And of course they needed
someone to cover down on all the photo and video. So
that's going to be my job. But with that being said,
I've got to head out to the airport right now,
so I'm excited to bring you guys with me and see what
this adventure has in store. (Upbeat music plays) - When I climbed on board the
UC-35, I realized things were a little tighter than expected. I happened to be the
lowest ranking passenger, which meant I was given a
very special seat all the way in the back. It actually happened to be where
the facilities are located. Not that I would be needing
them, but I guess good to know. Once we took off, it was
really cool to see Thailand from such a unique perspective. It really is such a
beautiful country, and having this experience to cap off my
month-long trip was awesome. (Upbeat music plays) - After we landed, I grabbed
all my gear and stumbled my way out of the airplane,
where we had vans waiting to take us to the site of
the dedication ceremony. We passed a few villages and
drove out into the countryside where members of the local
community were already gathered to celebrate the opening
of this new building. (Upbeat music continues) - All right, guys, I made it
here to the Sa Kaeo province. The building behind me is
actually the one that was just built, so it's going to be
the one that's going to have the ribbon cut here in a little bit. A bunch of important people
are here right now for the ceremony, people flying in
from Bangkok and all over. So some of those higher-up
leaders are in the main room. So I'm going to head over there
to get started taking some photos and videos. But yeah, should be fun. (Upbeat music continues) Every year Cobra Gold
incorporates an engineering civil assistance project
where US service members work alongside the Thai to
construct a building that gives back to the local community. Now this year, the project
involved a new school here in the Sa Kaeo province
that will be used for both education, community
gatherings and even English classes for the
young Thai children. From everyone I talked to,
this is definitely one of the most rewarding parts
of the exercise and for me personally, it was really cool
to see all the little kids so excited to have a new place
to go hang out and learn. (Upbeat music plays) - All right guys, well, that's a wrap on today's events here. It was really cool to be a
part of it, I'm not gonna lie. I mean, this building is
going to be used for kids in the local community to
come to school, and also just for the community in
general to come gather. So it's really cool to see
kind of what the US is able to build alongside the Thai. Now, with that being said,
we're going to head back in the van, back to the
airport, and then catch a flight back to our hotel here. I know I need to shower and (laughs) yeah, looking forward to that for sure. (Upbeat music plays) (Upbeat music continues) - Guys, take a look at this view. That is gorgeous. Well guys, that about does it
for my time here in Thailand. And I was just thinking, I mean, I've been here over a month
now and it's crazy how quickly everything's flown by. But at the same time, I can officially say that this has been one
of my favorite trips I've ever been a part of.
I mean, everyone here, all the Thai people in this
country are so kind, so generous to all the Americans
participating in this exercise. Definitely made us feel like home. And I've been trying to practice
the language a little bit. So I think I'll end by saying one of the phrases I've
picked up, which is (speaks Thai) which just says, "I'm so happy and excited to be here in Thailand". As always, thanks so
much for tuning in guys. Hope you learned a little bit
and had a little bit of fun for this month long vlog. And as always, well, I'll
catch you in the next one. (Pop music plays)
