Petty Officer 1st Class Anthony Reed,a boatswain's mate, center, from Alexandria, La., assigned to the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Kristin McBeath, a hospital corpsman from Midland, Texas, assigned to Fleet Surgical Team 7, participate in a spelling competition with students at Barretto National High School during a community service project. Essex is participating in Balikatan 2009, an annual combined, joint-bilateral exercise involving U.S. military and armed forces of the Philippines personnel as well as subject matter experts from Philippine Civil Defense Agencies.