{"id":134941,"date":"2024-03-04T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=134941"},"modified":"2024-03-06T00:43:31","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T00:43:31","slug":"cobra-gold-24-brings-washington-guardsman-back-to-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=134941","title":{"rendered":"Cobra Gold 24 Brings Washington Guardsman Back to Roots"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Washington Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Sotheara Chum, shown preparing for takeoff during helo cast training on American Lake outside of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., June 25, 2021, is participating in Cobra Gold 24 in Thailand. (U.S. National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jason Kriess)
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CAMP RED HORSE, Thailand \u2013 Sgt. 1st Class Sotheara Chum has spent time as a Green Beret and an Army Ranger, with deployments worldwide. This time, Chum is training in Thailand at Exercise Cobra Gold 2024, but unlike previous trips, this one feels like coming home. Born in Thailand but raised in the United States, Chum is a living bridge between Thai and U.S. cultures.<\/p>\n

Chum\u2019s storied Army career has brought him to the Special Operations Detachment – Pacific with the Washington Army National Guard, based out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, serving as both the readiness and operations noncommissioned officer for SOD-PAC.<\/p>\n

By serving in the Washington Army National Guard, Chum has reconnected with his ancestral homeland.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be back here in the homeland, it\u2019s almost unreal \u2026 to not only see the land, breathe the air, feel the hot muggy sun, and to relay that all back to my family,\u201d said Chum. \u201cWith the circumstances that we had coming over the border [from Cambodia] I should not have made it this far.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he was born in Thailand, Chum claims Lakewood, California, as his hometown. Chum\u2019s family fled from southeast Asia and came to the United States due to political instability in their home countries. His family settled in a refugee camp in eastern Thailand near Sakeo and eventually settled in the United States as refugees.<\/p>\n

After traveling around the United States in his childhood, Chum joined the U.S. Army.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started off in the infantry \u2026 but I wanted to do commando stuff, so I joined a Ranger regiment.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his time as a U.S. Army Ranger, Chum wanted a new challenge. U.S. Army Special Forces became his new home and brought him new opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not learn how to speak Thai until I went to the Special Forces,\u201d Chum said. \u201cAfter finishing the school house, one day at dinner, [my mom] was talking in Thai and I was responding in Thai, I knew what she was saying. It was a great awakening moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Exercise Cobra Gold 2024, Chum has been working with the 1st Force Special Forces Division Headquarters Element, Royal Thai Army. Chum has connected with his Thai counterpart, a noncommissioned officer who has also spent time as a Thai Ranger and in the Royal Thai Special Forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been talking in English, talking in Thai, and I have been talking in Cambodian with him,\u201d said Chum. \u201cIt is funny, it is surreal, and I am so glad to be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more National Guard news<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard X<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Sotheara Chum, shown preparing for takeoff during helo cast training on American Lake outside of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., June 25, 2021, is participating in Cobra Gold 24 in Thailand. (U.S. National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jason Kriess) (Photo Credit: Sgt. 1st Class Jason Kriess) VIEW […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134943,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134941"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134944,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134941\/revisions\/134944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/134943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}