Three Gaijin and One Yellow Dog

The Philippines: Jobs

PC — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 01:43:46 GMT

Much like Japan, it seems like "everyone has a job". You walk into a department store and there are 5,000 people working there just waiting to help you. You can't look at clothes without being followed around by like 5 sales people (which is kind of annoying). The corollary to that is that the minimum daily wage is very very low...somewhere around 300 Philippiine Pesos (PHP). That's $6...a day. A DAY. The average wage for blue collar workers is maybe a little higher...somewhere between 500-700PHP a day. That's a lot better, like $10-$15 A DAY. I'm not sure about the white collar average wages, but I know that the upper-middle class makes around $10,000-$15,000 per year.

Many of the Filipinos are very well educated. In fact, a lot of the retail sales workers have college degrees. But because of the low wages in the PI, there is a tremendous overseas work force. It seems like at least 1/3 of the US Navy is Filipino (most common ratings are cook, store keeper, and corpsman)!!

Aside from joining the Navy, the next most popular occupation is called Overseas Foreign Worker (OFW). There is even a whole government organization specifically for Filipinos working overseas, called the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). Check out Wikipedia's entry on OFW: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OFW

It is very common for Filipinos to sign contracts to work in the middle east. A typical contract is for 4 years and authorizes/pays for 1 trip back to the PI during that 4 years. People typically work as domestic help, gardeners, cooks, etc. Almost all of the money made in those countries is sent back to families in the PI. I know some people who both the mom and the dad worked overseas for 4-6 years (in different countries) and sent money back to their family who was taking care of their 4 kids. It's a totally different outlook on life.

Having said all of that...guess what? Almost every Filipino you talk to is HAPPY. Sure, they're always striving to make more money and provide a better life for their family, but they're happy. They're filled with joy. They have families to love and cherish and that's what's most important.

One family I know, the man works for about $30 a day (his wife works too) and he's able to send his kids to private school. We happened to be talking about the Apple iPhone one day, and he said that he can send one of his kids to private school for a year for the same price as an iPhone ($800). Amazing.

The Philippines is very much a third world country with amazing people who work hard to provide for their families. Be thankful for what you have and the life you're able to provide for your family. The next time you look at buying the iPhone or pull yours out of your pocket, remember what I said. Don't look down on these people or have pity on them, respect them for who they are and what they do. If you can help them, do so.

The Philippines: Security

PC — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 01:22:13 GMT

I figured I would hit this one first and get it out of the way. Before you travel to any country, you should visit the State Department's website and view any and all travel warnings. The website for the Philippines (or PI as it's known) is here: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_t ... s_999.html.

Yes, there is a travel warning for the PI. Read it, understand it, and determine if you want it to rule your life. I determined long ago that I was not going to let some asshole terrorists impact where I go and what I do. I am, however, a smart traveller. Your mileage may vary on this topic. The reality is, I have to go to the PI to represent the Marine Corps as part of the Pacific Command's (PACOM's) "Struggle for Influence". That's a fancy phrase for saying if we show our presence and do good things in a region, those people are less likely to sympathize with terrorists. It's a preventative measure and I think it's incredibly successful. Anywho, I had to go there for work most of the time, but I did bring my family on one occasion and I would be more than willing to do it again.

As I said earlier, it is not without risks. One week after my family and I left the PI in 2007, a bomb exploded at the mass transit station about 2 blocks from our hotel in the rich district of Manila called Makati. During multiple exercises in the region, we've had terrorists take pot-shots at our Marines in outlying camps. When I was there last week, we had just finished meeting with the governor of a southern Luzon province and her motorcade was gunned down by terrorists. I think, however, our presence there and our tourism dollars help this whole "Struggle for Influence" thing.

In my opinion, crime is the worst problem in Luzon, more so than terrorism. In large part due to the corrupt government, scams are very popular. Paying off cops is pretty common. Not being a stupid traveller will get you by most of these things. Try following these tips:

-Don't travel alone
-Don't talk to strangers
-If you can, travel with a local national (more on that at the end)
-Don't carry a lot of cash
-Don't ride the trikes (motorcycle's with sidecars) or jeepney's unless you know the deal
-Don't ride the public mass transit system
-If you ride in a taxi, make sure the meter works and is turned on before you start moving
-Try not to use your credit card except in a hotel

In my opinion, Manila does not have all that wonderful of a nightlife. I'll touch on the whole sex tourism thing later, but that's not what I consider "nightlife". So, keeping that in mind, the Marine Corps has a popular phrase "nothing good happens after 2am".

I highly highly recommend if you go anywhere in Luzon to hire a driver and a van. For every exercise and conference I go to, we have the same van drivers to drive us around (we're not allowed to drive in the country) and I've gotten to be really good friends with about 6 of them. They know the areas and will keep you out of trouble. If you're with a local, people are less likely to screw with you. I can put you in touch with these guys if you're interested, just shoot me an email or use the contact form on the right. I won't take my family to the PI without hiring a driver. Nuff said.

That's all I'm gonna say about security. Don't let terrorists rule your life (if they do, then they are winning!) but don't be stupid.

The Philippines: Overview

PC — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:57:46 GMT

The running joke around the neighborhood is that I'm stationed in the Philippines and go TAD to Thailand and Okinawa from time to time. ha ha ha. Lisa doesn't think that's so funny

As I was standing in the Manila airport on Saturday, I realized that I've been to The Philippines about 12 times in the last three years and never really blogged about it. So, here ya go...multi-part expos�, just for you, Internet.

Just a tiny bit of background for you first, brought to you by Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines!!

There are many wonderful things about the country and just a few drawbacks. Out of all of the asian countries, it is probably the most Americanized. Almost everyone speaks english, shopping is like in the States only cheaper, a lot of similar food, etc.

One of the drawbacks, however, is the security. The main island in the Philippines is called Luzon (where Manila is) and it is the safest. Many of the southern islands, however, are not safe. In fact, it's the only place in the Pacific that the US military deems a "combat zone". The main island in that area is called Mindanao, which is filled with muslim extremists. We have an active presence in that country as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, called Operation Enduring Freedom - Philippines (OEF-P). More on all of that later...

There are a few island resorts (Cebu and Boracay are two of the most popular) and some rich history dating back a long time. If you want to experience Asia, but aren't so sure about different types of food or don't want to attempt to try and understand a foreign language, give the Philippines a try.

For the rest of the expos�, I'll break it out into the following categories:

-Security
-Jobs
-Food
-Sex (sorry, but I have to explain this!)
-Manila/Makati
-Places to visit

And The World Forgets...

PC — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:45:02 GMT

Dear Main Stream Media,

I would like to thank you for your less than one month coverage on Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. You reacted quickly and provided a lot of information during that time. However, nothing has changed in that country since devistation occured. Your pictures and words may have touched millions of lives, but they did nothing to actually help. Aid is still not flowing where it should be, the US is still limited to the delivery mission as we have been doing for the last month, and there are still hundreds of thousands of people suffering.

You tend to highlight the world issues that you want to and push the political agendas that help your organizations and that's about it. It's good to know that once the link is removed from your homepage (as it was a few days ago on news.google.com, cnn.com, and others), it the world stops caring about these people. The suffering is still occuring in Myanmar and China. The atrocities never stopped in Africa.

Keep pushing the important news like "Clint Eastwood and Spike Lee Go to War!" because that's what we really should be focusing on as a nation. Who cares about these third world countries and their devistation...they're not real people anyway, right?

Thanks again,
PC

Heart Wrenching

PC — Sat, 24 May 2008 06:55:27 GMT

I found this online while I was reading some news from Myanmar. All I can think about is that the people in Myanmar are waiting for aide and we're waiting to give it to them. I come to work early every morning HOPING that we're given the green light to expand beyond the 5 C-130 flights a day we're doing. It's so heart wrenching to know that we're right here with an incredible ability to deliver and distribute aide to all of the affected areas and we can't do anything. I just want to scream: WE'RE RIGHT FUCKING HERE, LET US IN!!! This is really taking a toll on us.

Burma's Non-Political Flood
by
Thu I Sann

Water, water, all around me
But I am so..so� thirsty.
Here, there, human bodies' everywhere
But none alive accompany me and share.
And I look at myself
Broken hopes and empty handed.
And I look further around
Just like a post heavy-battled ground.
Wild cyclone has wiped all things down.

Where are those kids from innocent playground?
Where are students in the green and white uniform?
Where is my town always singing along country rock songs?
Where are my mates who search for freedom and independent?
Where are those local chicks with new-leaf-color lips?
Where are those parents with a too busy habit?
All my questions disappear,
All my answers whisper�and whisperer.

Collaborated disaster of the nature and the dictator!
And I constantly hear voices from my empty stomach
Asking me food, forcing me speak out and stand up.
I silently speak with my loudest, to the entire world
Then mankind's sympathies come and knock my door.

Let me now open my door
'Cause those sympathies will help to fix my wounded floor.
Let me invite them with an open heart
'Cause those sympathies will help my life reconstruct.

Hello Mr. militarists,
Your guns are currently useless,
My demands are urgently needed,
Here, I'm alive, not a corpse yet,
Neither much time left.
Together, let's work out as a nice diplomat!

(Dedicated To My Mother And People Of Burma Who Lost Lives And
Who Are Hardly Survived Under Both Natural And Political Weathers!)

Mae Sot or Bust!

PC — Sun, 11 May 2008 05:00:50 GMT

More info to follow soon, but I'm now a Thai TV star. I've been told by a few people out in town that they saw me on TV.

Duality

PC — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 23:55:02 GMT

So, we're running through the infamous Walking Street of Pattaya this morning and we realize that there's something weird going on. Not only are there girls and boy/girls trying to sell themselves, but there's also a bunch of monks, incense, what look like offerings, and other stuff. It seems that today must be Chinese New Year! It's an odd scene to see 9 monks standing in front of a club and blessing it while some of the girls are praying and others are yelling various comments to the passers-by.

Bussaracum

PC — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:29:19 GMT

Just a quick catchup for all of you who don't read Lisa's blog or need a recap because I only post on 2 month centers as Marc so statistically pointed out: After Bangladesh, we went to Hawaii for a week, spent Christmas and New Years at home, got sent to Korea for a week on 8 hours notice, and am now in Thailand. Nice recap.

I've decided that when I eat at a restaurant that I would like to go back to in the future (especially those in foreign countries) that I will blog about them in my own personal review. Hence: Bassaracum.

The Internet told me that this restaurant was excellent and has been since the 1980s, serving primarily "Royal Thai Cuisine". You can read all about that on their website if you click on the "related link" below.

So tonight, I drug my friends all the way over there to check it out. It turned out to be a very elegant restaurant in an unlikely setting. More of a cross street than an alley, but it sure felt like an alley. The people were exceedingly pleasant and eager to serve. As appetizers we tried the Chicken Sate with peanut sauce (of course), shrimp spring rolls, Krathong Thong (like a pastry cup with shrimp, pork, corn, and peas). For my main course, I had massaman curry (in Lisa's honor since it's her favorite). It was outstanding...I dare say even the best I've ever had. To top it all off, we shared a mango and sticky rice dessert (which my faithful followers should know is one of our favorite desserts of all time).

In review: weird location, great atmosphere, pleasant people, outstanding food, good price. The total bill for three people with drinks and everything came out to be around $65. So this is inline with the cost to eat in any of the big western hotels here, but more expensive than a non-tourist restaurant. I'd give it 5 stars and would go back there again.

Digg'n Dhaka

PC — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:28:09 GMT

This is my placeholder because I need to write about "life in Bangladesh" for two weeks.

ClustrMaps

PC — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:05:45 GMT

Lisa added a utility on her blog that shows where in the world her readers are.

Operation Sea Angel II

PC — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 14:42:16 GMT

On November 15th, Cyclone Sidr came in from the Bay of Bengal and devastated the country of Bangladesh. A few days later, III Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) sent a Humanitarian Assistance Survey Team (HAST) into the country to assess the damage and what role, if any, III MEF would play in the Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HA/DR) to the country.

On Saturday, 24 November Lisa, Nathan, and I were at some friends house eating dinner when I got a call from my unit saying that I was being called in to work the next day in order to prepare to leave for Bangladesh on Monday morning. Wow...talk about short notice! I do have to admit that packing was pretty easy since I hadn't unpacked from when I got back from the Philippines! Needless to say, Lisa was not happy with the line: "I don't know how long I'll be gone for...it could be a couple of days to a couple of weeks to a couple of months". That kind of ruined the four day weekend for us.

Sunday came and went. I spent the entire morning through afternoon planning the movement and communication pieces of our mission. Granted, we didn't entirely have a complete mission yet. That's okay, cause we kind of made it up as we went along. Essentially there were going to be three Marine Expeditionary Units (MEU) in the area providing relief, so the MEF commander wanted to send a Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) command element to sit on top of the three MEUs. The short lesson in Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) doctrine is that a MEF is the largest combat organization in the Marine Corps. A MEB is smaller than a MEF and a MEU is smaller than a MEB. All ya need to know

So my role in all of this was to provide communications and command & control functions to the MEB Air Cell (pilots from my unit) as they directed the MEU aircraft when to go where. Sounds good to me!

Monday came and went, waiting at the passenger terminal on Futenma just to hear that the flight slipped to Tuesday. Tuesday came and we finally took off...with my 3,000 pound pallet of comm gear!! Hey, it's better to take it and not need it than it is to need it and not have it. Due to the distance we needed to travel, we ended up staying in Pattaya, Thailand for a night. When I say night, I really mean it. We got to the hotel around 10pm and left at 7am. Most people took advantage of the endless..."nightlife" and rested on the plane the next morning.

When we landed in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Wednesday the 28th, it was full of the hurry up and wait game. After a few hours going through immigration and what not, we finally made it to the hotel and headed to the Embassy. After some SNAFUs there, we finally were allowed in and tried to scout out an area that we'd be working.

The next week and a half was full of 16 hour days trying to command and control these forces in order to meet the priorities of the local government with the resources we had. It was exhausting but very rewarding to say the least. Most of the damage was along the coast in southern Bangladesh rather than around the capital of Dhaka, but we could see remnants of the cyclone around us as well.

Below are some links to articles on the web about this high profile cyclone and our efforts in the country. Stay tuned for my next post about the experience of being in Bangladesh.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000. ... endocument
http://www.e-mela.com/page.php?id=1845
http://www.pacom.mil/special/0711bdesh/index.shtml
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000. ... endocument
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000. ... endocument

Placeholder

PC — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:09:53 GMT

I was in the Philippines for the last month. Maybe there will be more to come later. Maybe not. Ahhh...the mysteries of life!

Typhoon Man-Yi

PC — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:16:40 GMT

Typhoon Man-Yi graced us with its presence last night and all day today. Yesterday evening I took everything that was outside and put it in the storage closet except for our trash cans. I kept thinking: "oh, all the previous typhoons ended up being nothing, so I'll bet this will be the same way!" Well, I ended up obsessing over it until about midnight when I ran outside in the rain and pulled the trash cans and recycle bin inside. Uggghhh.

This morning, I awoke to winds that felt and sounded like it would break all the windows of the house and ran being thrown about. 120 knots (140 mph)!! My first question was "how am I going to let the dogs out to go to the bathroom?" Well...see the picture below:

There's nothing like a good flak and kevlar to protect you from flying debris!! It was actually a pretty bad storm! Note the video below (and one more picture if you click the related link at the bottom of this post).

My Whale Shark

PC — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:15:23 GMT

On Sunday I got to do something that I'd wanted to do for the last year or so (since I first heard about it). About a mile off Torii Beach, there's a net with three whale sharks inside. A Japanese diving company runs tours out there so you can dive with them. For only $115, you can dive with the largest fish in the sea...sounds good to me!

Since Lisa doesn't dive, I figured it would be a perfect thing to do while she and Nathan were gone. So, on Sunday I saddled up with two friends and we went out there. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I can't really even explain what it's like to have this huge fish coming towards you with it's mouth open and nudge you into the net. Or to run your hands across it's back from the mouth all the way down to the tail.

Click on the related link below for some (bad) pictures. I also took all the videos that Brian took with his underwater camera and made a little consolidated video shown below. Enjoy!

(Click the Play button in the window below for the video to start)

Take THAT, adoring fans!

PC — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 22:46:26 GMT

HA. I'm blogging more than Lisa now! And she has like 18 baby sitters at the Cabin in Minnesota, so she can't use Nathan as an excuse.

4th of July

PC — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:39:49 GMT

Happy July 4th! I'm on duty today and if you've read any of my other posts while I'm on duty, you know that this will be corny too.

Some of us are sitting in an office watching TV, surfing the Internet, reading, etc waiting for something to happen. We represent the command while everyone sleeps. We're armed with email, telephones, cell phones, M9 pistols, and quite a bit of ammunition. In a sense, we're the lucky ones because we're standing duty in an environment where the worst thing that is likely to happen is that someone does something stupid and we have to report it up the chain.

There are other types of duty standers today though. Those are the people currently deployed all over the globe in harms way. The difference is, people are actively trying to kill them. They are acting on behalf of our country to help secure independence and freedom for the countries they're in. Freedom from tyranny, oppression, violence, terrorism, etc.

For everyone who looks up at the sky tonight and sees fireworks instead of mortars, hears joyous pops in the sky instead of car bombs in the distance, and thinks about what our country had to go through over the last 231 years versus thinking about your best friend who was just killed in combat: Happy Independence Day.

On this day, don't think about the military, Iraq, war, etc. Look within yourself and your family to find ways to improve our homefront. Are we better or worse off than when our founding fathers declared our independence from Britain? That's what I think you all should be thinking about today.

They're Off

PC — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 06:55:51 GMT

Well, Lisa and Nathan successfully made it back to the States yesterday/today. We got to the airport an hour and a half early (normally that's WAY too early, but we figured Nathan would like to play on the inside playground for a while). As soon as we walked in the terminal, we saw like 500 people in a line that snaked across all of the ANA counters and into the middle of the building. We looked at each other in utter disbelief...never has it been so busy in our small little airport!!

Lisa waited in line with all the stuff while Nathan and I went and changed his diaper, played on the airplane playground, watched the airplanes and airport trucks drive around the tarmac, etc. It wasn't until 11:20am that Lisa finally got up to the counter (for a 12:00pm flight)!!! After about 20 minutes, Lisa got all their tickets AND an ANA escort to take them to the plane. I couldn't go past security, so it was kind of a quick goodbye. After talking to Lisa today, she said that the airline lady walked them all the way to their seats and helped install the car seat too!!

I'll let Lisa tell the rest of the story on her blog, but that's the beginning part.

So, what did I do with my new found bachelorhood? Mowed the lawn, cleaned the house, read my book, and tried a GREAT new ramen restaurant. I'd been wanting to go there for the last year or so, but it just never worked out (they open late). Anyway, the place is basically a shack on the side of the road but their ramen is awesome! Just like the stuff we had in Sapporo. The have a set menu where you choose what type of ramen you want (soy sauce, miso, etc) and you get a drink, gyoza, japanese salad, and garlic fried rice all for about $8. Definitely a keeper.

Iwo Jima

PC — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 13:23:23 GMT

Last Friday, I had one of the greatest opportunities of my career: to go visit Iwo Jima. That was one of the very few things I really wanted to do before I left Okinawa and I'm stoked that I got to go. Our Ops Chief was re-enlisting and was able to get a flight from Okinawa to Iwo Jima for 40 people. He swooped up most of the officers and SNCOs of the unit and off we went!

With only 4 hours on the deck and an hour and a half hump up to the top of Mt. Suribachi, we didn't waste any time. We humped up to the top, took some pictures, did the ceremony, humped down to the beach, walked up the beach, got some sand, jumped in the shark infested ocean, and finished humping back. All in all, it was amazing.

On a more somber note, if you're not familiar with the battle of Iwo Jima at all, here's a little history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima

Over 27,000 US troops (mostly Marines) were casualties. Over 6,000 were killed in a battle that lasted a little more than 30 days. More than 20,000 Japanese soldiers died. This battle is one of the most important battles in the history of the Marine Corps, which is why it was such an honor to be able to walk those same grounds.

"Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue"�Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

BTW, I made this image by merging a photo of the landing with one of my photos. I think I'm going to mount it in a shadow box style frame and put some sand in it. What do you think?

Click the related link below for some more pictures.

HR Mission

PC — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 22:04:06 GMT

About two weeks ago I got back from a conference in the Philippines with about 11 other Marines. Without going into too many details, we had an entire KC-130 to ourselves. A few days before coming back we were told that the primary mission of our flight had changed from "picking us up" to what's called an "HR mission" or Human Remains mission.

Apparently a Navy Chief who was on terminal leave (meaning he was a few weeks shy of retiring) in the Philippines had drowned and we needed to take his body back to Okinawa to make it back to the US. This was my first opportunity to be part of the transportation of remains and it was really neat. One of the other officers with us had worked at an I&I unit (Inspector & Instructor == basically a handful of active duty Marines who run a reserve center while the reservists are at their civilian jobs). Unfortunately, the I&I units have been doing the majority of all burials since the war began which means they have a lot of experience with this kind of thing.

We formed a 7 man honor guard and practiced the ceremony of loading the casket onto the plane and then removing it on Okinawa over the period of an hour just before the casket came. As the hearse drove up, we unexpectedly saw a large number family members which we didn't expect at all. We performed our ceremony, took off, then unloaded the casket in the same manner on Okinawa.

I have to admit, although we didn't know this person and he wasn't even a Marine, we all felt a sense of obligation and duty to make sure that we showed his casket the same amount of respect we would want someone to show us. A few days later the LtCol who runs the Joint US Military Assistance Group (JUSMAG) in the Philippines wrote an email to our Commanding General and his boss thanking us for the cermony we put together on such short notice. He mentioned that the family was in awe of the dignity we showed this person.

It's the little things that make me feel good about what I do.

How do it know?

PC — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 11:17:34 GMT

Nathan has this book that is the Airplane Alphabet. Of course, under "R" is the F-22 Raptor. Every time we get to that page, he starts pointing outside of his room because he remembers that we went to see the F-22 this last weekend. How do it know? How does he know that? Amazing.