The Philippines, 2002...

[98Z5V]

Just received a SOFREP article today on the Balikatan Exercise in the PI.  Thought about it for a second, and it's been 20 years since I was deployed there.  We were supposed to do 3-month rotations, but they didn't have anybody to replace me after the first one.  Or the second one.  I ended up going there in Jan 2002, and didn't leave until Aug 2002, eight months of fun and sunshine.  By the time August rolled around, I told them I was burned out and it was time for me to go.  They sent me back to Lewis, no questions asked.  The ASG was dwindled down from their claimed 1,000 strong to 100 weak, running and hiding.  Abu Sabayya  (ASG leader) was dead, supposedly for real this time.  Gracia Burnham was back, no longer a hostage.  I lit up a USMC CPT pretty bad, and ripped into some little E3 fukkin' Air Force kid in Hawaii, over some erroneous reporting they were doing (no situational awareness, because they WEREN'T fukking THERE...).  Some Air Force 1LT thought he'd show how big his balls were, and tried to light up my Army SFC ass - then THAT clown got an earfull.  It went up the chain until my Group CSM got involved, and shut everyone up.  He solved that fast, and had my back.  He knew I wasn't going to back down, either - I was ready to fight the whole Air Force in Hawaii.

If I can recover an old computer, I've got some badass pics to post.  That place was a hoot. 

[Rsquared]

I'm seeing a pattern with your group cooperation skills. When it comes to bull$hit middle management command that is.

[98Z5V]

1 hour ago, Rsquared said:

I'm seeing a pattern with your group cooperation skills. When it comes to bull$hit middle management command that is.

I definitely have a serious issue with some Bullshiit Middle Management.  I have an issue with ALL Management, when they're fuktards.  Badly.  I can't control my Brain Housing Group, and it's connector that runs my verbal responses.  I go into default mode, and climb up someone's ass and spread out like a fucking Spider Monkey.  That's just my default setting, for bullshiit.  It's really not my fault, or a problem - it's just how I'm wired. 

I have a problem with Group Cooperation Skills - when you need my skills, then just ask, and I'll provide.  When I need YOUR skills, and ask you a question, don't fucking give me a blank response, ignore me, and look at me like I've got a dick growing out of my forehead...  Fucking answer me.  That USMC CPT fucked that part up, and just looked at me - when I KNEW that fucker had the information.  I went off like a M67 Frag Grenade...  

Never had another issue out of that dude, the rest of the deployment, either.  He was my bitch - I asked a question about something, he answered, right away, too. 

[98Z5V]

"Hey, Marine Corps Captain, you out-rank me right?"

"yes I do..."

"Well, I'm running this fucking show, right now, and providing MOST of the intel here. Do you agree with that?"

"Yes, you are..."

"So, if you ask me a question, do you get a FUCKING RESPONSE?!!?"

"every time..."

"So, if I ASK YOU A FUCKING QUESTION, YOU BETTER FUCKING RESPOND TO ME, EITHER POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE!!!  DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!!?"

"Yes, Sergeant, I do understand you..."

"I'm TIRED of asking YOU for info, and you look at me like I've got a BIG FUCKING DICK GROWING OUT OF MY FOREHEAD!!!  IF I ASK YOU A QUESTION, FUCKING RESPOND!!!" 

^^^  I really used that line on him.  For realz.  Never had another issue out of that candy-ass, the rest of the deployment.  Never got talked to about it, either.  My 3-letter agency brothers had my back on THAT one.  Those dudes were legit.  I have another story about those guys, too...  I saved their ass, electronically, and one of those fuckers got a $2k bonus for some shiit I did for him.  Crossing files over so he could send them back to HQ, so HQ could listen to them. Proof Of Life shiit... 

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by 98Z5V

[98Z5V]

12-hours shifts, every single day, for 8 months.  Most of my 12-hours shifts were 15 hours, every day.  For 8 months.  Me, and only one other guy that I trusted, ran that shiit, so we were fucked.  All days on, no days off.  2 beers were allowed on Sunday, only.  When someone asked what beer you were on, it was always, "This is my first one..." 

^^^  SF Deployments always have beer... There's always a way to work the beer in, and keep morale up, kinda...   

Edited April 2, 2022 by 98Z5V

[jtallen83]

On 4/2/2022 at 12:22 AM, 98Z5V said:

it's just how I'm wired. 

And exactly why they need people like you in those jobs, that "leadership" crust hates being questioned or called out but they will put up with it when the job gets done, as long as their idiocies don't go public, as long as they can garner some credit for "tolerating" your no bullschit methods.

From the outside one thing about the Philippine theater of this war on terror that stood out was the opsec. It seemed the cards were held tighter there, very little seemed to come out about conditions on the ground and our intentions. They did the news when they made it, past tense, but you just didn't see the propaganda type reports in near the same volume as the other theaters. Why? Theater leadership? Host country differences? Lack of interest from US public? Why were things done in a more old school textbook manner there versus the more propagandized news coverage of the arab theaters? Is it just my imagination and there was no real difference? OPSEC of course but interested in a view of that subject from your perspective. 

[98Z5V]

6 hours ago, jtallen83 said:

From the outside one thing about the Philippine theater of this war on terror that stood out was the opsec. It seemed the cards were held tighter there, very little seemed to come out about conditions on the ground and our intentions. They did the news when they made it, past tense, but you just didn't see the propaganda type reports in near the same volume as the other theaters. Why? Theater leadership? Host country differences? Lack of interest from US public? Why were things done in a more old school textbook manner there versus the more propagandized news coverage of the arab theaters? Is it just my imagination and there was no real difference? OPSEC of course but interested in a view of that subject from your perspective. 

It was all JSOTF-P operations in the beginning, brother.  Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines.  You can look up JSOTF-P and JTF-510, and get good results.  In my humble opinion, it might have seemed so old-school because of 2 things...   It was all SOF-run, from soup to nuts, and the Phils are old-school.  That's what they know and understand.  We got their tech up, which helped in the long run, for them.

[jtallen83]

15 hours ago, 98Z5V said:

the Phils are old-school

They kicked out my old man's unit in the early 60's because they weren't honest about what they were doing. That stuff is about scrubbed from the history books, like they were never there, I've got Dad's paperwork and some written history from the bigger spooks of the day on what went down but google won't say schit. Those Phils always seem to hold themselves at a certain level of respect in the world. I always found something my old man said about the place telling, keep in mind he traveled around a bit in those days, spent time in Vietnam right after the Philippines, he said the Philippines showed him just how cheap a life could really be. You never hear much much about them, like they run grey man style on the world scene.

[unforgiven]

Ghettos the world over have cheap killers.