US, Philippines Reach Deal on Troops: AP

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Jim Gomez, US, Philippines Reach Deal on Troops. Associated Press, Apr 27, 2014.
www.philstar.com/headlines/2014/ ... s-reach-deal-troops

Note:
(a) The report says, “The [ten-year] Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which would give American forces temporary access to selected military camps and allow them to preposition fighter jets and ships, is due to be signed Monday,” and that “[p]re-positioned materiel will allow for timely responses in the event of disasters — natural or otherwise.’”
(i) We all know that preposition is a noun only (not a verb, at least in www.m-w.com and Oxford dictionaries), referring to “on,” “in” etc.
(ii) pre-position (or simply preposition)
(vt; origin 1960–65, pre- + position): “to position in advance or beforehand <to preposition troops in anticipated trouble spots>”
Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Dictionary
dictionary.reference.com/browse/preposition

(b) Second Thomas Shoal
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Thomas_Shoal
(also known as Ayungin Shoal in the Philippines, Ren’ai Jiao/Ren'ai Ansha in China and marked as Jen-ai'Chiao on nautical charts; named after Thomas Gilbert, the Captain of East India company tea-clipper HMS Scarborough)
(i)
(A) Scarborough, North Yorkshire
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarborough,_North_Yorkshire
(a town)
(B) The English surname Scarborough is after this town which is composed of “Old Norse byname Skarði + Old Norse borg ‘fortress’, ‘fortified town’”
Dictionary of American Family Names, by Oxford University Press.
(ii) For the positions of First and Second Thomas Shoals and Scarborough Shoal, see
South China Sea
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_China_Sea
, where map 2 show Scarborough Shoal west of Manila (but not First or Second Thomas Shoal). In map 2, the bottom rectangle is marked "See 'The Spratly Islands'" which is map 3 in this Wiki page.

In map 3, at the intersection of latitude 10 degree N and longitude 116 degree E is “Second Thomas Reef” (under the flag of the Philippines, which has effective control over it). Just south of the Second is the “First Thomas Reef.”  Wiki does not have its own page for the First Thomas Shoal (or Reef).