By Mortz C. Ortigoza
My experienced rubbing elbows with Huey's combat chopper gunners and crew was in 1981 when I was in my second 3rd year highschool (Yes Virginia, I was a repeater because of bad behavior) at the air force base in Sasa, Davao City where my father used to be assigned.
At 7 pm while I was sleeping in one of the military double decks ( just like those you saw in the flick's Full Metal Jacket) there, a town mate and neighbour Airforce First Class (AIC) Ronnie Nietes woke me up to borrow my new white Converse leather sneakers my father and I bought earlier in Gaisano. "To, hulamon ko anay sapatos mo ma baligya lang kami gas sa Davao City (Toto (my nickname) Ì'll borrow your shoes we are going to sell our stolen (a drum) gas (of the helicopter) to kerosene reseller in the City," he whispered to me. I acquisced with some bitchings.
9 pm he woke me up again to join their drinking spree at a residence in the "barrio" - a short distance from the barracks- of one of the crew.
"To, this one is a gunner and that one too. The fat one was the gunner of that film Scout Rangers (about the Ranger's hero Julius Javier -an Ilonggo- who visited our house at PMA in Baguio City when he was a cadet)," Ronnie proudly introduced them to me. He was, by the way, a highschool dropped out but was enlisted to the AirForce using fake diplomas and the intercession of an Uncle who was a Colonel and a C-130 cargo plane's pilot. Another reason why he always clad with those hands me down expensive fire proof U.S made fatigue Pilot's jump suits.
While imbibing a bottle of cold San Miguel's Pale Pilsen I saw there too some of the crew and gunners who did not only relish the spirit of the beers and the delicacy of the adobong aso as finger foods from the earnings of the stolen gas but got stoned smoking marijuanas - the narcs of that time - while listening to rock bands' Scorpions and Nazareth.
"Mga kawatan at adik pala ang mga ito. (These guys are gas theives and junkie)," I quipped to myself.
The boy in me was flabergasted. These were our braved young men in the air force who have countless experiences "spraying" those lethal bullets of their M-60 machine guns attached at the two sides of the U.S made helicopter (just like in the photo) against Communist and Muslim guerillas in the hinterlands of Agusan, Davao, Maguindanao, and Cotabato Provinces.
MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.
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