TUY HOA, Vietnam - Now in its 18th year, Pacific Partnership is the largest annual multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission in the Indo-Pacific region. The mission kicked off in Tuy Hoa, Vietnam earlier this month, and will conduct missions throughout Southeast Asia and the South Pacific Islands.

For Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Patrick Dang, a native of San Jose, Calif., Pacific Partnership 2023 was a particularly personal mission. His connection to Tuy Hoa goes beyond his hospital patients.

“My family from my dad’s side is actually from this area,” said Dang, whose family immigrated from Vietnam in the 1980s. “My dad grew up in Tuy Hoa.”

Dang joined the Navy in 2019, and that same year, his grandmother passed away while he attended bootcamp. Laid to rest here in Tuy Hoa, Pacific Partnership 2023’s mission stop in Vietnam gave Dang the opportunity to pay his respects at her burial site.

“I didn’t expect that this city was the city that she was buried in,” said Dang. “It’s surreal that four years later I would get a chance to say ‘goodbye’ to her. It’s pretty fortunate.”

At the invitation of host nations, Pacific Partnership’s mission partners conduct tailored humanitarian civic action preparedness activities in areas such as engineering, disaster response, public health, and host nation outreach events. This year’s mission will feature nearly 1500 personnel, and was a joint effort on behalf of Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

“Pacific Partnership 2023 has been such a meaningful moment for me personally,” said Dang. “It's been a blessing, especially that I was able to go back to a city I have roots in.”

For more information about Pacific Partnership, visit www.facebook.com/pacificpartnership, www.instagram.com/pacific_partnership/ and https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/C-LGWP.