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http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/01/ap_airforce_singapore_mountain_home_012310/

Singapore pilots adapt to life in Idaho

By Kathleen Kreller - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Jan 23, 2010 14:21:18 EST

MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho — Capt. Edmund Teo is learning the finer points of operating a spanking new fighter jet while he masters more mundane tasks like shoveling snow.
Teo, a weapons system officer, is among the first wave of forces from the Republic of Singapore Air Force training with U.S. pilots at Mountain Home Air Force Base.
His experiences may help smooth the way for the hundreds of Singaporean pilots and support personnel expected to follow him onto the base over the next 20 years.
Teo brought his wife, Jessica, their two young children and the family dog. More than 250 other pilots, support staff and their families, dubbed the Buccaneers, are also on base.
So far from home, the young Teo family has had to make adjustments, like getting used to Idaho’s cold winter weather and finding homey comfort foods. The base exchange took care of the food by bringing in special noodles. But the cold has been difficult, Jessica Teo said. The family had to invest in coats, hats and boots.
“Shoveling the snow off the walk is a new experience for me,” said Jessica Teo, who is a businesswoman in Singapore. In America, she’s a stay-at-home mom.
Another shock of life in the U.S. is all the open space.
“I will miss the drive to town every day,” she said. “It’s really beautiful here. It’s so nice. Our eyes can look to the horizon.”
Singapore is roughly 240 square miles, not even the size of Mountain Home’s massive training range. It is warm and humid — a stark contrast to Idaho’s four seasons and dry desert climate.
Edmund Teo fondly refers to his country as a “concrete forest.”
Life in Singapore is centered on family, neighbors, dense apartment living, mass transit, walking and convenience.
Edmund Teo said he misses living next door to a doctor. It was difficult to adjust to making medical appointments for days after you call, he said.
Col. John Bird, 366th Fighter Wing commander, said it is interesting to watch the Buccaneers families furnish only a small portion of their base housing because they are used to much smaller apartments at home.
“We’ve had a couple we had to teach how to drive in snow and how to pump gas,” said Rashelle Pickens, a convenience store clerk in Mountain Home. “They are really sweet and polite.”
The Teo children, 3-year-old Ariel and 2-year-old Joshua, were born in Arizona on a previous joint mission, so the family has been in America for years. They’ve been in Idaho for about a year. Precocious and active, the children have grown up like American kids. While Capt. Teo is busy at work, Jessica’s American interactions have come through daily life.
“I get to meet more local people because my kids go to (Montessori) school,” she said. “We have also made very good friends within our own group.”
The Buccaneers squadron has become like a family, Edmund Teo said.
Capt. Patrick Doyle, an American F-15 pilot, is one of the program’s trainers. He’s been impressed with his Singaporean counterpart’s education.
“Learning their values has been an intriguing opportunity,” Doyle said, citing an expansion of his culinary world into curries and of his vocabulary.
“They have shared bits,” Doyle said. “And it’s not always the most formal form of the language.”
The official language of Singapore is English. Other languages spoken are Chinese, Malay and Tamil.
Most of the Singaporeans already know American culture, Doyle said. One difference: All young men in Singapore are conscripted into the military.
“But we don’t compare things,” Doyle said. “We have polite debates.”
Doyle said the Buccaneers he works with will stay friends for the rest of his life.
The Teo family had its first Christmas tree in 2009. And the family loved Halloween and dressing up in costumes, Jessica Teo said.
The Teo children will have a new adventure when the family heads home to Singapore for good in five or six months. Since being sent to the U.S., the family has twice traveled to Singapore.
“The kids are like tourists,” Jessica Teo said. “We miss our families.”
 
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