The Postal Sailor

By Mark Nojiri

A United States navy man gets stationed at the Subic Naval Base Post Office for his last tour of duty and happens to meet out in town, in his rented home, General Osmea, immediately after she and her parents return from a funeral in Mindanao after the death of a very close cousin. They are locked out of their house, and he happens to be present as they attempt to get in. Soon, she goes down to Mindanao to battle with the insurgents who caused the death of her cousin. Later, she is promoted to the rank of four stars in the Philippine Marine Corp and is placed in command of coalition forces to battle with Islamic extremists in the nation of Somalia. While the ship on which she is serving is deployed, Mike works in the Subic Naval Station Post Office, handling mail for much of the coalition forces. As her command ship returns to the Philippines, crossing the Indian Ocean, she is involved in a shellback initiation, and soon after her return to Subic, Mike and her get married.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514449592

Mark Nojiri

Mark Nojiri is retired from the United States Navy and was in from 1972 until 1992 and was a veteran of Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of South Vietnam in 1975, and in 1990 and 1991, was involved in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, the liberation of Kuwait. He served for thirteen years on four US Navy ships and frequently visited Subic Bay, Philippines.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Mark Nojiri.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 01/11/2016

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

733369

CONTENTS

1    Welcome to the Philippines

2    The Rebels

3    Subic Navy Base

4    Mindanao

5    Somalia

6    Pentagon

7    Manila

8    The battle begins

9    The war ends

10    Subic

1

Welcome to the Philippines

He stepped off the airline and the heat and humidity hit him like a sledgehammer. Here it was, in January, and he had just arrived from Chicago, where it was below freezing and snowing, and now, here in Manila, Philippines, while it was about 9:00pm, but still in the 80s and the humidity was around 90 percent. At least, once he entered the terminal, he felt air-conditioning again. He walked up to immigrations and handed them his military ID card and his orders, and they waved him through. He walked to the baggage area, found his sea bag, walked through customs, then out to the terminal.

He stood there, having no idea where he was, in his winter blues, feeling so stupid. Then someone approached him.

Petty Officer Mike Haneda?

Yes, that is me.

I am Petty Officer Jim Wilkins, welcome to the Philippines!

Hi. Man is it hot here!

Yeh, and you are in your winter blues! You must be hot.

Hey, I just came from Chicago, where it is below freezing and snowing.

Well, for the next couple of years, you will not need those blues!

I hope not!

Is that all you have, one sea bag?

Yup.

Well, I have my car here, or rather, the duty van here. Better to travel that way rather than the victory liner or taxi cab. Let me carry your sea bag.

How long have you been stationed here?

Two years, but I will be extended here a year. I got married to a Filipina.

Where did you meet her?

Ah, in a bar. When we get to Olongapo, where the base is located, you will understand. I would say about half the guys who get stationed here, get married. You are single, right?

Yeh, I have no girl friends right now.

Trust me, you will probably have one real soon. However, watch yourself, a lot of girls here want to marry an American, so they can get out of here. You will soon see why, so do not ask. Oh, one other thing, while you will get settled into the barracks as soon as we get to the base, you will probably want to move out into town. Housing is real cheap here, and the barracks rules are, well, they treat you like a prisoner here. You will see that real quick. Most guys do end up living out in town. It is real easy here.

Oh, how much is the rent?

Depending on how luxurious you want to live, maybe about $30 a month.

$30 a month?!

Yeh, but you have to see. For instance, no air-conditioning, only a fan. Cold water showers. When you flush the toilet, you pour a pail of water down the toilet, no tank. You will see.

How long have you been married?

"Oh, maybe about a year. She is fantastic, in fact, almost too good. She keeps the house spotless. She loves to cook. She got a job at the Navy exchange as a cashier. She is a hard worker. I call her ‘Miss Philippines’. She is the most beautiful woman I have met. Once we get to Olongapo, you will see, which will be in about an hour. One thing, you do not have to worry about meeting attractive women here. There are literally thousands of them, and when you meet them, they all want to marry you. Trust me, you can be as picky as you want. If you do not like one of them, there are plenty waiting for you.

Do you drink beer?"

No.

Do you like sex?

Actually, although I am sort of getting up in years, I am waiting until I get married before having sex. Trust me, the temptation has been there many times, but I have been able to resist it.

"Well, even for the strongest, it will be difficult to resist the temptation. The women here do not care, virtually, about anything. They will do virtually anything to get you to have sex with them. However, as you said, if you can resist the temptation, my hat is off to you.

As they approached Olongapo and Mike started to look around, he could not believe the poverty. Most of the homes were made of wood and looked like tinderboxes ready to go up in smoke if there was a fire. The traffic was crazy. He could not believe all the filth. No traffic lights. Then he saw some of the women. He could not believe it, they were beautiful. He was in love!

Then he smelled something terrible.

Welcome to Shit River and the Subic Naval Base, and get used to it. Shit River is the sewage between the base and Olongapo."

They stopped at the gate and showed the guard their military ID cards. Then, the guard made them open the trunk to check the contents, then closed it and let them through.

Jim took him to the base duty office to check him in.

Petty Officer Haneda checking in, sir.

Welcome to the Subic Naval Base. I am the officer of the deck. I see someone with you. He could check you into the barracks and help you with your things. What do you know about this base?

Nothing. In fact, I have never been outside the US until now.

I guess not. You will not have to wear those blues for a while. Anyway, have a pleasant stay here. You should enjoy it here. Keep your act together and you will have a wonderful time here. Few people will leave here unhappy with their stay here.

Thanks, I think.

As Jim drove him to the barracks, he turned to Mike.

"My wife and I can help you either rent or buy. I think you can buy a decent house for about $25,000, or you might be able to rent a house for about $150 a month. In fact, since we corresponded with each other the first time, or at least as soon as I found out I was your sponsor, my wife and I have been looking around for a decent place for you to live. Yes, I have lived in the barracks. I lasted about two months, and got sick of being treated like an irresponsible little kid, and moved out into town.

Thanks. I think I will look into that, maybe even this week. I have lived in barracks before and hated it.

I know, room inspections once a week, having the keep the lounge outside your room clean once in a while. They treat you like an irresponsible little kid, despite saying that you are a mature adult. Tell you what, I will take you to the barracks, get you checked in, you can get your linen, drop off your sea bag, then take you to the post office. One thing, if you want a real cheap, but liveable home, there will be no hot water, and it is best to drink bottled water.

Are you kidding or are you serious?

I am serious. Actually, in this hot weather, it does not take long to get used to cold showers.

They stopped at the barracks.

Checking in?

Yes, however, I do not plan to live here very long.

Do not worry. You have plenty of rooms available. Most sailors want to live out in town. They hate the rules here in the barracks. I do not live here. Anyway, complete this form and I will give you your linen.

What do I do when I want to move out?

Simple, tell us. We will inspect your room to make sure you did not trash it out, take your linen and room key, and you are gone. Very simple.

They went to his room, he dropped off his sea bag and changed into his working uniform, then went to the post office.

They entered the main office to meet the postal officer.

Good afternoon, petty officer Haneda, I am Lieutenant James Daily, the base post office manager.

Pleased to meet you, sir.

"Now, do not let looks be deceiving. This facility is a lot larger than you think. If all we had was a simple navy base, we would have a small staff and not much to do and, when there are no ships in, yes, things get boring. However, when there is a bunch of ships, like a task force on deployment, basically all leaves and liberty is cancelled and we are on 12 hour shifts. We have three warehouses, which are empty right now, but when there is any action in the Pacific, trust me, those warehouses will be full. However, for the moment at least, not much is going on. We do handle the mail for both Subic and Cubi Point.

At this moment, yes, you can take your time getting settled in. Right now, we are allowing postal members plenty of liberty, which do not feel guilty about asking for too much. Trust me, when the mail starts coming in, believe me, liberty with be worth its weight in gold!"

2

The Rebels

The jeepney pulled up and stopped in the middle of the basketball court and out jumped a dozen Muslim rebels. The Filipino female commander jumped out from the front of the jeepney.

We are from the Muslim Liberation Movement, MLM. Get any and all known Catholic worshipers out here, now!

Rebels went door-to-door, banging on them, grabbing and pushing anyone whom they felt were Catholic. Villagers were directed to the center of the basketball court. A woman in one of the homes bordering the basketball