In our Foreign Service, we select our assignments throughout our careers. Towards the conclusion of each assignment, be it foreign or domestic, we submit a list of our choices for the onward assignment that are called "bid lists," since we are literally "bidding" for jobs. These assignments are predicated on several factors. First and foremost, of course, is our desire to serve in that assignment - do we want to work in that job and live and work at that place? Secondly, and perhaps equally important - is that job career enhancing or is it some place that you simply want to go so you can sight-see or play golf! Of course, the job position and your grade have to match, a junior officer can't very well apply for position of a Deputy Chief of Mission, a Consul General, or a Counselor (Political, Economic, or Administrative)! Additionally you must have other job qualifications, such as language for that particular country, etc. So, in military terms, if you are a Major, you apply for jobs as a Major. You can request a stretch into a Colonel's job, but if there is a Colonel applying for the same job, you won't get it, no matter how good you may think you are!
Once you submit your list, normally, the personnel tries to get you the number one job on your "bid list." Your name and personnel file goes before an assignment panel and the panel decides after reviewing your qualifications. If the number one job on your list doesn't work out, then your name goes up for the number two job, so on and so forth until you are "paneled" or assigned. Normally, you will get your first or second choice, unless your selections were totally unrealistic! So, throughout your Foreign Service career, you are submitting assignment choices and end up serving in jobs and places that you selected, although it may have been the last place on your list! The one exception to that situation is when you reach a certain stage in your career and are at FS-1 grade level (equivalent to Colonel or O-6 in the military), then, you may be selected for "Senior Training" and assigned to the National War College or one of the other Military War Colleges (Army, Navy, or Air Force). This is the training that most Foreign Service Officers receive before being promoted into the Senior Foreign Service (equivalent to Flag or General Officer in the military). Of course, with the military it is mandatory for officers to receive War College training before being promoted to the senior ranks.
When you are assigned to attend "Senior Training," you really have no choice, you take it. If you refuse, your career will be dead in the water, since you are essentially saying that you don't want to be promoted! Generally speaking, about 70% of those selected for Senior Training, receive offers for the National War College. The National War College always has a few slots reserved for civilians from different agencies, mostly State, Defense, and Justice. Sometimes there are openings in the other services' War Colleges and some Foreign Service Officers are selected for training there. There is also one slot open periodically at Harvard's Center for International Affairs (CFIA) for an academic year as a fellow. This program is not the same as the JFK School of Government in Public Administration at Harvard. That program is open to middle grade officers, usually FS-3 or FS-2, equivalent to military ranks of major and lieutenant colonel. For this program, Foreign Service Officers list it in their "bid list" just like any other job for onward assignment.
Harvard's CFIA Fellows Program was established by Henry Kissinger when he was a professor there and also chaired the CFIA. It selects various "promising" Foreign diplomats, government officials, and even people from private sector (usually influential journalists!), to spend an academic year at Harvard's CFIA. The United States is represented by officers of O-6 grade from the three branches of service (Army, Air Force, Navy/Marines) and one officer from the State Department Foreign Service. This is, of course, an all expense paid deal. So, for foreign representatives it is a pretty good deal! The idea is to expose the foreign representatives to the academic life at Harvard, at the same time, familiarize them with the United States and also establish contact with other foreign representatives. There have been many, many foreign notable officials who were products of this program. It was designed to make friends for the United States as well as allow for development of personal contact between various foreign officials. An interesting concept that does seem to work.
At the end of my Guayaquil assignment in 1992, before I could submit my onward assignment "bid list" choices, I received a call from Washington notifying me that I had been selected for Senior Training and I was asked if I would be interested in Harvard's CFIA Fellows program. I was told that because of my academic background, I was a better fit for the CFIA program than the National War College for which I had apparently been selected first. But an opening had occurred in the CFIA program so I was given an opportunity to switch, which I did without hesitation. Frankly, I was not in any position to say "no," besides, I was pleased with the assignment, I thought it would make for a nice break from the typical overseas assignment and government work.
So, rather than preparing to go for another overseas assignment, Jo and I prepared to spend some time in the states. It was a new experience after all those years abroad! We came on home leave to Arizona and contacted a real estate agent in Cambridge area and looked for a place. We found a place and rented it for a year, sight unseen! It was going to be just the two of us and our dog Brandy and two cats. Our daughter Natalie was completing her final year of undergraduate studies at Sonoma State in California and our son Tony was in the army, at a place called Fort Polk, Louisiana, which he didn't seem to like very much.
When we got to Harvard, I discovered that I was in a relatively small group of Fellows in the CFIA program. Apparently, usually the Fellows program had about 30 or more participants, but ours was small, a bit over 20, representing only 18 different countries. Some countries were represented by two - UK, South Korea, Canada each had two representatives. The host country, the U.S. had four, one each for Army, Navy, and Air Force, and me representing the State Department. It was a fascinating collection of people. Finland was represented by their top woman television news anchor. Thailand was represented by a very influential congresswoman, and Greece was represented by George Papandereau who was the Interior Minister at the time. The rest were representatives of their country's Foreign Ministry or in case of those that had two members, one Foreign Ministry and one Interior or Home Ministry.
It was a fascinating academic year at Harvard. As fellows, we were all granted the privileges of faculty members, so we all had membership to the prestigious Harvard Faculty Club. We were all given office space, computers, etc. Obviously, Harvard was not operating on a shoestring budget! Family members of the fellows, could audit classes free of charge, so Jo got to audit some interesting classes! It also just so happened that Natalie, after graduating from Sonoma State, decided to come and stay with us and attend Harvard for her graduate work. This made it much cheaper for us, since she could stay with us and not have to pay for a dorm or apartment rent and eat a home! Luckily she was at Harvard for only two years for her Masters, so we essentially got away cheap the first year!
For me the highlight of the program was when we were invited on a five country Asian trip in the spring of 1993. We travelled to Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand, at the invitation of each respective government, all expense paid. Of course they wined and dined us and we spent about two weeks going from one country to another. It was amazing how much respect and clout Harvard had in each of those countries. It seems that being a Harvard Fellow carried an awful lot of weight. Some of us had spent time in some of those countries as U.S. officials, I had been in Japan as a diplomat, and my U.S. Army colleague had been in Korea as a Colonel and the U.S. Air Force colleague had just been on Okinawa (Kadena) as a Colonel. They all admitted that they had never been treated with such respect before! Amazing how academia in general and Harvard in particular is viewed in some parts of the world! At any rate, it was a fascinating experience, a real eye opener.
It seems everyone benefited from that year at Harvard. I don't know what happened to my U.S. Navy colleague, but the U.S. Air Force colleague was almost immediately promoted to Brigadier General and assigned as Commanding Officer of an air base in Japan! Lucky son of a gun! My army colleague was also promoted immediately to Brigadier General and assigned as the Commanding General of 173rd Airborne Brigade in Italy! George Papandreau, my Greek colleague went on to follow his father's footsteps and became President of Greece! Of course, under his watch, the Greek economy went to hell, so I don't know if Harvard helped! My Thai colleague ran for Prime Minister's office but didn't succeed, so I don't know what happened to her. All in all, everyone seemed to have done well. Perhaps the most intriguing and interesting case involved my Burmese (now Myanmar) colleague who was Burma's UN representative at the time he was at Harvard. Several years after, in late 1990s, I saw his photo appear on CNN and there was news coverage about his involvement in an illegal weapons purchasing scheme on a very large scale. Not pistols and rifles, no small stuff, but missiles and bombs, etc.! Apparently he was trying to purchase weapons illegally for an opposition group that was trying to overthrow the Burmese (Myanmar) government at that time. Don't know what happened to him, but obviously, he didn't benefit from his Harvard experience!
Friday, April 29, 2016
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Cairo - The Center of International Intrigue
If you are to believe Hollywood's portrayal of the Egyptian city of Cairo, then you would think of it as being the center of international intrigue. No other non-European city has been portrayed as much on the silver screen as being such a busy nest of espionage activity as Cairo. Perhaps it is the location, perhaps it is because of the political nature of Egypt, whatever the reason, in popular fiction as well as film, Cairo has always been the center of espionage and other clandestine activities.
During my three year tour of duty in Cairo, from 1994 to 1997, I saw and witnessed some very unusual and interesting activities that would make good material for fiction or film. Some were right out of a Hollywood script, others were more subtle, more tame. But all in all, with the exception of my tour in Paraguay where I encountered various characters ranging from Nazi fugitives to Chinese triad members, no other place had as many unusual and interesting characters and incidents as Cairo. One such incident took place in early 1997, before my departure from Cairo that summer.
In the 1990s, our policy towards Russia and the various countries that were a part of the former Soviet Union, were quite different from what they are today. Russia, and all the former Soviet Republics were struggling. All of them had gained independence only a few short years earlier back in 1991 when Soviet Union fell apart. Boris Yeltsin was the Russian President and we had very friendly relations with Russia. In fact, we were instructed to extend a helping hand to our Russian and former Soviet Republic colleagues, whenever we could. Times were sure different then, and all those countries were in desperate economic situation! It was rather interesting to see the switch, considering that only a few years earlier, we were constantly on the watch for KGB activities and for the most part avoided contact. Now we were encouraged to make contact!
One particular day in January of 1997 I received a call in the morning from the Charge d'affairs of the fledging Ukrainian Embassy in Cairo. He said that he wished to have a private meeting with me to discuss a personal matter. So I invited him to come to my office at his convenience. The Ukrainian Charge d'affairs showed up that very same afternoon. He was a tall, scholarly looking man that I had met earlier at a reception. Without any preamble, he immediately told me that he was concerned about his son who was presently visiting in Cairo. His son, it seems, had graduated from the University of Washington, in fact, he had just completed his Masters in Computer Science. He said that his son was immediately hired by a well known company with a lucrative salary, and that he had come to visit his parents before returning to Seattle to start his new job. I asked him what his concerns were, and he said that his son left Seattle before he had solidified his status in the U.S. He said that his employer had filed a petition with the immigration service for him to receive a "work visa." Actually it was an immigrant visa that would make him a permanent resident and eventually a citizen of the U.S.
I asked him if his son had all of his documents in order, and he said that as far as he knew, everything was in order. I told him that if that was the case, then his son had nothing to worry about, that he should enjoy his stay with his parents and when he was ready to leave, come to the US Embassy and submit his documentation for an immigrant visa. My Ukrainian friend was visibly relieved. He said he was concerned that his son may have somehow broken our laws by leaving the U.S. before he had his status changed from student to resident. I told him not to worry, that you can change status in-country or if you have all the proper documentation, leave the country and re-enter as an immigrant. Much relieved, he proceeded to tell me about his son and himself.
Prior to the break-up of the Soviet Union, my friend was a member of the Soviet Foreign Service. He had spent almost his entire career being assigned to either the U.S. or Canada. His son had attended all his schooling, K thru 12 in the U.S. or Canada, graduating from an American high school. He had just completed six years at the University of Washington where he received a Bachelors and Masters degrees. According to the father, his son was more American than he was Russian/Ukrainian. When Soviet Union broke up, his son had just started college. Former Soviet diplomats who were from other republics were given an option to stay and become members of the new Russian Federation Foreign Service or join their newly formed foreign services in the former republics. My Ukrainian friend chose to go with the Ukrainian foreign service. He said that it was more or less a lateral move. He said his country was struggling, but no different than it was with Russia!
About a week later a young man came to our embassy and requested to see a consular officer about a visa. The receptionist at first thought he was an American, because his American English was flawless and directed him to the American Citizen Services! There it was discovered that he was in the wrong office and redirected to the Visa Branch. One of our visa officers interviewed the Ukrainian and issued him an immigrant visa without a hassle. The visa officer told me that he thought the young man was an American! They chatted about the Seattle Supersonics NBA season because both of them were basketball fans. The visa officer was very impressed and made a remark to the effect that, "We should have more immigrants like him!"
I am sure the young man, who is now middle aged, has done well and is an American citizen now. I hope his parents are doing well too. When all that mess was taking place with Putin taking over the eastern part of Ukraine and Crimea, I thought of my friend from Cairo often. That particular incident certainly did not involve any international intrigue and was not somthing for a spy movie! It was one of the more "tamer" incidents that I remember from Cairo.
During my three year tour of duty in Cairo, from 1994 to 1997, I saw and witnessed some very unusual and interesting activities that would make good material for fiction or film. Some were right out of a Hollywood script, others were more subtle, more tame. But all in all, with the exception of my tour in Paraguay where I encountered various characters ranging from Nazi fugitives to Chinese triad members, no other place had as many unusual and interesting characters and incidents as Cairo. One such incident took place in early 1997, before my departure from Cairo that summer.
In the 1990s, our policy towards Russia and the various countries that were a part of the former Soviet Union, were quite different from what they are today. Russia, and all the former Soviet Republics were struggling. All of them had gained independence only a few short years earlier back in 1991 when Soviet Union fell apart. Boris Yeltsin was the Russian President and we had very friendly relations with Russia. In fact, we were instructed to extend a helping hand to our Russian and former Soviet Republic colleagues, whenever we could. Times were sure different then, and all those countries were in desperate economic situation! It was rather interesting to see the switch, considering that only a few years earlier, we were constantly on the watch for KGB activities and for the most part avoided contact. Now we were encouraged to make contact!
One particular day in January of 1997 I received a call in the morning from the Charge d'affairs of the fledging Ukrainian Embassy in Cairo. He said that he wished to have a private meeting with me to discuss a personal matter. So I invited him to come to my office at his convenience. The Ukrainian Charge d'affairs showed up that very same afternoon. He was a tall, scholarly looking man that I had met earlier at a reception. Without any preamble, he immediately told me that he was concerned about his son who was presently visiting in Cairo. His son, it seems, had graduated from the University of Washington, in fact, he had just completed his Masters in Computer Science. He said that his son was immediately hired by a well known company with a lucrative salary, and that he had come to visit his parents before returning to Seattle to start his new job. I asked him what his concerns were, and he said that his son left Seattle before he had solidified his status in the U.S. He said that his employer had filed a petition with the immigration service for him to receive a "work visa." Actually it was an immigrant visa that would make him a permanent resident and eventually a citizen of the U.S.
I asked him if his son had all of his documents in order, and he said that as far as he knew, everything was in order. I told him that if that was the case, then his son had nothing to worry about, that he should enjoy his stay with his parents and when he was ready to leave, come to the US Embassy and submit his documentation for an immigrant visa. My Ukrainian friend was visibly relieved. He said he was concerned that his son may have somehow broken our laws by leaving the U.S. before he had his status changed from student to resident. I told him not to worry, that you can change status in-country or if you have all the proper documentation, leave the country and re-enter as an immigrant. Much relieved, he proceeded to tell me about his son and himself.
Prior to the break-up of the Soviet Union, my friend was a member of the Soviet Foreign Service. He had spent almost his entire career being assigned to either the U.S. or Canada. His son had attended all his schooling, K thru 12 in the U.S. or Canada, graduating from an American high school. He had just completed six years at the University of Washington where he received a Bachelors and Masters degrees. According to the father, his son was more American than he was Russian/Ukrainian. When Soviet Union broke up, his son had just started college. Former Soviet diplomats who were from other republics were given an option to stay and become members of the new Russian Federation Foreign Service or join their newly formed foreign services in the former republics. My Ukrainian friend chose to go with the Ukrainian foreign service. He said that it was more or less a lateral move. He said his country was struggling, but no different than it was with Russia!
About a week later a young man came to our embassy and requested to see a consular officer about a visa. The receptionist at first thought he was an American, because his American English was flawless and directed him to the American Citizen Services! There it was discovered that he was in the wrong office and redirected to the Visa Branch. One of our visa officers interviewed the Ukrainian and issued him an immigrant visa without a hassle. The visa officer told me that he thought the young man was an American! They chatted about the Seattle Supersonics NBA season because both of them were basketball fans. The visa officer was very impressed and made a remark to the effect that, "We should have more immigrants like him!"
I am sure the young man, who is now middle aged, has done well and is an American citizen now. I hope his parents are doing well too. When all that mess was taking place with Putin taking over the eastern part of Ukraine and Crimea, I thought of my friend from Cairo often. That particular incident certainly did not involve any international intrigue and was not somthing for a spy movie! It was one of the more "tamer" incidents that I remember from Cairo.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
A Haven for Nazi Fugitives - Paraguay
Back in October of 2014, I posted a blog entitled "Fugitives" in Paraguay. In that blog I talked about how Paraguay was known to be a haven for all sorts of fugitives, from plain criminals to Arab terrorists, to former Nazis. The Oktoberfest used to be a major celebration for the German community at the numerous "German" Clubs scattered about the country. Most (at least some thirty years ago) still had a significant number of former Nazis present, banging their beer steins on wooden tables and singing the old Nazi war songs! It was as if they were in a time warp, aging (60 to 80 year old) former Nazis reminiscing about the old glory days! There were, of course, other Germans in Paraguay who had nothing to do with the Nazis, like the somewhat quirky German butcher where we used to buy our meat products. His meat shop was possibly the cleanest shop I have seen anywhere, it was absolutely spotless! He was not a Nazi by any means, but he was weird, insisted that the Paraguayan government (at the time it was under the iron rule of Alfredo Stroessner) controlled the weather in the country!
Paraguay was where the infamous Josef Mengele tried to hide out after his stint in Argentina. Mengele even managed to "buy" Paraguayan citizenship to solidify his safety in that country. However, the relentless pursuit of Israeli Mossad agents forced him to flee again, as he fled Argentina before. This time he fled into the hinterlands of Brazil where he ultimately died. All in all, there was no shortage of various characters with questionable and suspicious backgrounds, and former Nazis topped the list.
In Snap Shots, Chapter 14 is titled "Wildeburger of Pirayu." I wrote the story about an amusing incident that took place in Paraguay back in 1986 when I was assigned to our embassy in Asuncion.
Being an avid bird hunter, I immediately sought places for bird hunting in each country where I was assigned. I was able to find a ranch, through the good services of my secretary's husband, where I was given permission to hunt any time by its generous owner. So, for the two years that I was assigned to Paraguay, I used to hunt on that ranch practically every weekend from about April through September, the period that was roughly equivalent to our (northern hemisphere's) fall and winter! Essentially, each Saturday or Sunday morning, Jo and I would get into our VW bug, which was actually our daughter Natalie's car, and head out of Asuncion to a village that was called Pirayu. A mile or so past the village of Pirayu was where the ranch was located. Once we got to the ranch, we would park the VW and start hunting for perdiz with our wonderful Springer, Brandy. The South American perdiz (Spanish for partridge) is really not a partridge but is actually of ostritch family. But whatever the case, it is a wonderful game bird, both for sport and on the table! We would normally hunt for a couple of hours and return to Asuncion in time for lunch. It made for a wonderful outing, gave us plenty of exercise and gave Brandy all the time and room to run around and do what she loved so much, hunt birds!
Every time we went there, we were always amused by a large sign that we saw over a small store that was located just outside of Pirayu, between the village and the ranch where we hunted. The sign was huge and said "El Mercado Carlos Wildeburger," (The Carlos Wildeburger Market). It was certainly not a Hispanic name so we assumed that the owner of the market was of German background. We intended to check the place out, but didn't get around to it, until one day.
We always took a water dish for Brandy. Although the fields where we hunted had water, Jo always liked to give Brandy fresh water that we brought along. Just after we had passed Pirayu, Jo realized that we forgot to bring Brandy's water dish. So, when we approached the "El Mercado Carols Wildeburger," we decided to stop and see if we could get some sort of a dish for Brandy. We pulled up in front of the small store and Jo got out and went in to get a dish. She came out after a while with what appeared to be a small blue plastic washbasin type dish. She laughed as she got into the car and told me what happened.
When Jo entered the small store, she found the place empty. So, she just looked around until she found the blue plastic dish that she thought would do for Brandy, and went up to where there was a cash register. When she got to the cash register she said a very large, older man, came out from the rear area some place and smiled pleasantly at her. He was definitely not Hispanic, more like northern or central European! The man smiled at Jo and addressed her in heavily accented Spanish.
"Usted es de Alemania?" (Are you from Germany?)
Jo was a but puzzled by the question, but she just said "no."
The man seemed a bit disappointed, but pressed on. He asked if she was from France and Jo said no. His demeanor changed considerably and he seemed less friendly and he asked if she was English. To stop the questioning session, Jo said no, that she was not English but that she was an American.
She said that old Carlos (more than likely it was Karl) glared at her when she said she was American and practically threw the change at her and walked back to where he came out from!
We thought that the whole incident was hilarious, but also indicative of how Paraguay, at least at that time, still had so many former Nazis. Now Carlos or Karl, or whatever was his German name, may not have been a Nazi at all, but one thing for sure, he had no love for Americans!
We still have that blue plastic washbasin dish, although we no longer use it as a dog water dish, or for that matter for anything! We just keep it around because it reminds us of that day and of Carlos Wildeburger of Pirayu in Paraguay! My only regret is that I never took a picture of that huge sign. It would have been even better if I could have taken a picture of old Carlos himself, but that would have been very unlikely and would have no doubt caused some problems!
Paraguay was where the infamous Josef Mengele tried to hide out after his stint in Argentina. Mengele even managed to "buy" Paraguayan citizenship to solidify his safety in that country. However, the relentless pursuit of Israeli Mossad agents forced him to flee again, as he fled Argentina before. This time he fled into the hinterlands of Brazil where he ultimately died. All in all, there was no shortage of various characters with questionable and suspicious backgrounds, and former Nazis topped the list.
In Snap Shots, Chapter 14 is titled "Wildeburger of Pirayu." I wrote the story about an amusing incident that took place in Paraguay back in 1986 when I was assigned to our embassy in Asuncion.
Being an avid bird hunter, I immediately sought places for bird hunting in each country where I was assigned. I was able to find a ranch, through the good services of my secretary's husband, where I was given permission to hunt any time by its generous owner. So, for the two years that I was assigned to Paraguay, I used to hunt on that ranch practically every weekend from about April through September, the period that was roughly equivalent to our (northern hemisphere's) fall and winter! Essentially, each Saturday or Sunday morning, Jo and I would get into our VW bug, which was actually our daughter Natalie's car, and head out of Asuncion to a village that was called Pirayu. A mile or so past the village of Pirayu was where the ranch was located. Once we got to the ranch, we would park the VW and start hunting for perdiz with our wonderful Springer, Brandy. The South American perdiz (Spanish for partridge) is really not a partridge but is actually of ostritch family. But whatever the case, it is a wonderful game bird, both for sport and on the table! We would normally hunt for a couple of hours and return to Asuncion in time for lunch. It made for a wonderful outing, gave us plenty of exercise and gave Brandy all the time and room to run around and do what she loved so much, hunt birds!
Every time we went there, we were always amused by a large sign that we saw over a small store that was located just outside of Pirayu, between the village and the ranch where we hunted. The sign was huge and said "El Mercado Carlos Wildeburger," (The Carlos Wildeburger Market). It was certainly not a Hispanic name so we assumed that the owner of the market was of German background. We intended to check the place out, but didn't get around to it, until one day.
We always took a water dish for Brandy. Although the fields where we hunted had water, Jo always liked to give Brandy fresh water that we brought along. Just after we had passed Pirayu, Jo realized that we forgot to bring Brandy's water dish. So, when we approached the "El Mercado Carols Wildeburger," we decided to stop and see if we could get some sort of a dish for Brandy. We pulled up in front of the small store and Jo got out and went in to get a dish. She came out after a while with what appeared to be a small blue plastic washbasin type dish. She laughed as she got into the car and told me what happened.
When Jo entered the small store, she found the place empty. So, she just looked around until she found the blue plastic dish that she thought would do for Brandy, and went up to where there was a cash register. When she got to the cash register she said a very large, older man, came out from the rear area some place and smiled pleasantly at her. He was definitely not Hispanic, more like northern or central European! The man smiled at Jo and addressed her in heavily accented Spanish.
"Usted es de Alemania?" (Are you from Germany?)
Jo was a but puzzled by the question, but she just said "no."
The man seemed a bit disappointed, but pressed on. He asked if she was from France and Jo said no. His demeanor changed considerably and he seemed less friendly and he asked if she was English. To stop the questioning session, Jo said no, that she was not English but that she was an American.
She said that old Carlos (more than likely it was Karl) glared at her when she said she was American and practically threw the change at her and walked back to where he came out from!
We thought that the whole incident was hilarious, but also indicative of how Paraguay, at least at that time, still had so many former Nazis. Now Carlos or Karl, or whatever was his German name, may not have been a Nazi at all, but one thing for sure, he had no love for Americans!
We still have that blue plastic washbasin dish, although we no longer use it as a dog water dish, or for that matter for anything! We just keep it around because it reminds us of that day and of Carlos Wildeburger of Pirayu in Paraguay! My only regret is that I never took a picture of that huge sign. It would have been even better if I could have taken a picture of old Carlos himself, but that would have been very unlikely and would have no doubt caused some problems!
Friday, April 22, 2016
North Korea - The Most Dangerous Country in the World!
Without a doubt, when it comes to unpredictability, volatility, and capability (nuclear), and sheer lunacy of its leadership, North Korea ranks at the top as the most dangerous country in the world. It began with its founder, Kim Il Sung, who against the advice of cooler heads, launched an invasion of South Korea in June of 1950, an invasion that ended in disaster for both sides, but especially for the north. An armistice, a cease fire agreement was finally made at Panmunjom in 1953. Although all sides agreed to stop shooting at each other, the war, never ended. So, the state of war has existed all these years. Most recently, in 2013, North Korea declared that the Armistice of 1953 was invalid, so, as far as they were concerned, there was nothing to prevent them from continuing the war!
Kim Jong Il, the son of Kim Il Sung and the father of the current leader Kim Jong Un, was a certified nut case. During his reign, he orchestrated numerous terror acts and attacks which resulted in deaths of Americans and South Koreans. He began getting involved in these activities while his father was still the supreme leader. It was Kim Jong Il who ordered the infamous axe murders of two American officers in 1976. He also ordered the kidnapping of various South Koreans, including a movie director and a film star! It was also Kim Jong Il that orchestrated the terror bombing in Burma in 1983 in which 21 people were killed, including 18 South Koreans! The list goes on and on.
Since the end of the so-called hostilities in 1953, there have been so many incursions, attacks by North Koreans that they cannot be listed all. South Korean and American soldiers have regularly died or were wounded in firefights with North Koreans along the DMZ since the Armistice was signed! Most Americans do not realize that at one point there were so many casualties that Pentagon approved the awarding of all combat decorations for service in Korea along the DMZ. This took place for more than 30 years, from 1969 until 1994. In one incident, 43 American soldiers and 299 South Koreans soldiers were killed! So there was a full fledge war going on. American soldiers were awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, the Purple Heart, and all other combat decorations during that period! This is not to say that there haven't been American deaths before 1969 or after 1994! Its just like in Vietnam, no awards were given to American soldiers who served and were wounded or even killed in Vietnam before 1961. Yet, there were a number of Americans who were killed and wounded in action before 1961, starting with the first casualty in 1958!
I guess what I am trying to get across is that the war in Korea actually never ended. Modern day Seoul is a bustling, traffic congested, technological marvel like Tokyo. But unlike Tokyo, only a few miles north of Seoul there is constant danger of actual war breaking out at any moment! Terror attacks by North Koreans are common place, including a commando raid that they conducted on the South Korean Presidential Palace in 1969. A 31 man North Korean commando unit infiltrated into the Presidential Palace grounds in an attempt to assassinate the South Korean President. That would be like an attack on the White House! In all, 28 North Koreans were killed and the rest captured while 26 South Koreans were killed and 66 wounded, and yes, there were 3 Americans killed a 3 wounded! There have been constant aircrafts and ships being sunk or shot down. The list goes on and on.
Today, with Kim Jong Un at the helm, the situation is even more dangerous. He is just as unpredictable and unbalanced as this father and his grandfather. Actually, the grandfather seems to appear almost normal compared to his son and his grandson! Kim Jong Il is reported to have killed his own brother so that he would have no competition for the top spot! Kim Jong Un has demonstrated that he is also capable of extreme violence against those that are close to him. He had his own uncle shot! It seems that with this Kim family, blood is definitely not thicker than water. Blood ties that have such tremendous meaning and impact in Korean culture has no meaning for Kim Jong Un! So, if the comparatively speaking "normal" grandfather invaded South Korea to start the horrible war, think what the lunatic grandson is capable of doing!
Now, North Korea has nuclear capability, nuclear weapons. They may not be as powerful as the ones we possess, nor is their delivery system as reliable as ours, but they do have means of delivering nuclear warheads. North Korea does have medium range missiles that can reach our West Coast! They may not have ICBMs that can reach Chicago or New York and Washington, but they can reach our West Coast, and Hawaii is a given! When you consider that they have nuclear bombs and have the means to deliver them as far as our West Coast, it makes me, very nervous. When you add to that the complete unpredictability of their unbalanced leadership, it is obviously, extremely dangerous for us, especially since we seem to be their main target for their obsessive hatred! Yet, we seem to have almost a cavalier attitude and our press only makes fun of their "failures" in missile launching and the physical appearance of their overweight leader! Our experts are constantly denigrating North Korea's nuclear capability, saying that their bombs are not as powerful as they claim! You know, personally I don't care how inferior their bombs are to ours, it just scares the hell out of me that they do have nuclear bombs! To put it another way, I don't care if it is only a .22, I don't want to be shot!
It seems to me that this administration in particular, appears to have almost an apathetic attitude towards North Korea. There seems to be an obsession to make nice with Iran, Iran that was supposed to help us defeat ISIS in Iraq, Iran to whom we gave billions so that they would not make nuclear bombs. But we have shoved North Korea not even to a back burner but completely off the stove! I am sure there are folks in Pentagon as well as in the 8th Army HQ in Seoul who are very nervous about what is going on in North Korea and our government's seeming lack of attention. But unfortunately, for whatever reason, North Korea is not on the radar screen for the White House, it is not "fashionable" for current administration. I learned long ago that Washington seems to operate on what is currently fashionable, at least in the eyes those in power. That is how, periodically, we drop the ball on some world situation, because it was not on our "radar." That is what happened with Libya and the Benghazi incident. That is what happened with Syria and the present mess.
I hope someone in our current administration realizes and starts paying more attention to what is going on in North Korea. Because if things get out of hand, if things "blow-up" in North Korea, it won't be another Benghazi or like the situation in Syria, it will be something that will be much bigger with much higher cost in human lives, especially American lives!
Kim Jong Il, the son of Kim Il Sung and the father of the current leader Kim Jong Un, was a certified nut case. During his reign, he orchestrated numerous terror acts and attacks which resulted in deaths of Americans and South Koreans. He began getting involved in these activities while his father was still the supreme leader. It was Kim Jong Il who ordered the infamous axe murders of two American officers in 1976. He also ordered the kidnapping of various South Koreans, including a movie director and a film star! It was also Kim Jong Il that orchestrated the terror bombing in Burma in 1983 in which 21 people were killed, including 18 South Koreans! The list goes on and on.
Since the end of the so-called hostilities in 1953, there have been so many incursions, attacks by North Koreans that they cannot be listed all. South Korean and American soldiers have regularly died or were wounded in firefights with North Koreans along the DMZ since the Armistice was signed! Most Americans do not realize that at one point there were so many casualties that Pentagon approved the awarding of all combat decorations for service in Korea along the DMZ. This took place for more than 30 years, from 1969 until 1994. In one incident, 43 American soldiers and 299 South Koreans soldiers were killed! So there was a full fledge war going on. American soldiers were awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, the Purple Heart, and all other combat decorations during that period! This is not to say that there haven't been American deaths before 1969 or after 1994! Its just like in Vietnam, no awards were given to American soldiers who served and were wounded or even killed in Vietnam before 1961. Yet, there were a number of Americans who were killed and wounded in action before 1961, starting with the first casualty in 1958!
I guess what I am trying to get across is that the war in Korea actually never ended. Modern day Seoul is a bustling, traffic congested, technological marvel like Tokyo. But unlike Tokyo, only a few miles north of Seoul there is constant danger of actual war breaking out at any moment! Terror attacks by North Koreans are common place, including a commando raid that they conducted on the South Korean Presidential Palace in 1969. A 31 man North Korean commando unit infiltrated into the Presidential Palace grounds in an attempt to assassinate the South Korean President. That would be like an attack on the White House! In all, 28 North Koreans were killed and the rest captured while 26 South Koreans were killed and 66 wounded, and yes, there were 3 Americans killed a 3 wounded! There have been constant aircrafts and ships being sunk or shot down. The list goes on and on.
Today, with Kim Jong Un at the helm, the situation is even more dangerous. He is just as unpredictable and unbalanced as this father and his grandfather. Actually, the grandfather seems to appear almost normal compared to his son and his grandson! Kim Jong Il is reported to have killed his own brother so that he would have no competition for the top spot! Kim Jong Un has demonstrated that he is also capable of extreme violence against those that are close to him. He had his own uncle shot! It seems that with this Kim family, blood is definitely not thicker than water. Blood ties that have such tremendous meaning and impact in Korean culture has no meaning for Kim Jong Un! So, if the comparatively speaking "normal" grandfather invaded South Korea to start the horrible war, think what the lunatic grandson is capable of doing!
Now, North Korea has nuclear capability, nuclear weapons. They may not be as powerful as the ones we possess, nor is their delivery system as reliable as ours, but they do have means of delivering nuclear warheads. North Korea does have medium range missiles that can reach our West Coast! They may not have ICBMs that can reach Chicago or New York and Washington, but they can reach our West Coast, and Hawaii is a given! When you consider that they have nuclear bombs and have the means to deliver them as far as our West Coast, it makes me, very nervous. When you add to that the complete unpredictability of their unbalanced leadership, it is obviously, extremely dangerous for us, especially since we seem to be their main target for their obsessive hatred! Yet, we seem to have almost a cavalier attitude and our press only makes fun of their "failures" in missile launching and the physical appearance of their overweight leader! Our experts are constantly denigrating North Korea's nuclear capability, saying that their bombs are not as powerful as they claim! You know, personally I don't care how inferior their bombs are to ours, it just scares the hell out of me that they do have nuclear bombs! To put it another way, I don't care if it is only a .22, I don't want to be shot!
It seems to me that this administration in particular, appears to have almost an apathetic attitude towards North Korea. There seems to be an obsession to make nice with Iran, Iran that was supposed to help us defeat ISIS in Iraq, Iran to whom we gave billions so that they would not make nuclear bombs. But we have shoved North Korea not even to a back burner but completely off the stove! I am sure there are folks in Pentagon as well as in the 8th Army HQ in Seoul who are very nervous about what is going on in North Korea and our government's seeming lack of attention. But unfortunately, for whatever reason, North Korea is not on the radar screen for the White House, it is not "fashionable" for current administration. I learned long ago that Washington seems to operate on what is currently fashionable, at least in the eyes those in power. That is how, periodically, we drop the ball on some world situation, because it was not on our "radar." That is what happened with Libya and the Benghazi incident. That is what happened with Syria and the present mess.
I hope someone in our current administration realizes and starts paying more attention to what is going on in North Korea. Because if things get out of hand, if things "blow-up" in North Korea, it won't be another Benghazi or like the situation in Syria, it will be something that will be much bigger with much higher cost in human lives, especially American lives!
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Disaster in Iran and Afghanistan
With all the attention on the upcoming election and all the hype about Trump and Clinton, very little attention has been paid to what is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. To make things even worse, the two recent natural disasters, the earthquakes in Japan and Ecuador have taken up much of the American public's attention. But what has been transpiring in Iraq and Afghanistan in our so-called war against ISIS/ISIL and Al Qaeda is nothing short of a major disaster. The current administration, it seems, is more interested in trying to get a new Supreme Court Justice in place and garner some "points" with the American public on some minor issues (minor compared to what is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan) rather than earnestly try to solve the problems in those regions. This administration has been using a "Band-Aid Policy" in those regions. Instead of using all possible means to rid of ISIS and Al Qaida, Washington keeps repeating what has become a mantra, that Iraq and Afghanistan must do it on their own. The so-called Iraqi Security Forces or Iraqi Army and Afghan National Army must fight on their own. This, despite the fact that they have continually demonstrated that they are not able to do so.
The fact that neither the Iraqis nor the Afghans appear to be able to fend for themselves doesn't seem to concern this administration all that much. It is mind boggling that after more than a decade of training and receiving arms and monies, neither army appears to be capable of fending for itself! Yet, we continually have "experts" in Washington making statements to the effect that another couple of years of training will do the job! Give me a break! If it couldn't be done after all these years, what are couple of more years going to accomplish? The problems that exist are so ingrained, so institutionalized that it just cannot be solved with a "couple of years of training." What can couple of more years do that the last decade and a half was unable to do? The main problem is graft, graft in monumental proportions that we seemed to have allowed to develop over the period that we were involved.
It is the very same problem that we faced in Vietnam. We poured in so much money and equipment into South Vietnam, yet were unable to field a South Vietnamese Army capable of defending themselves. The Republic of Vietnam Army, the RVN, were supposedly better trained, most certainly better armed and equipped than the enemy, had better heavy artillery support and air support which the enemy did not have, yet were soundly defeated! In Iraq and Afghanistan, the same story is repeated. In both countries, the only exception are those forces that were trained and led by US advisors! In Iraq, the only ones that are worth anything are those units that were not yet absorbed by the regular Iraqi Army. These units are normally identified as Iraqi Commando Units which were trained and led by US Special Forces! They used to operate like the Mobile Strike Forces (Mike Forces) or the Civilian Irregular Defense Groups (CIDGs) of Vietnam that were so successful. The same things holds true of Afghan National Army. It is only the former Afghan Commandos that were trained and led by US Special Forces that are worth anything! But the vast majority of Iraqi and Afghan forces are worthless, corrupt, and unmotivated like the RVN of old!
The peshmergas, the Kurd fighters are an exception. They are terrific fighters and are basically the only ones doing any damage to ISIS in Iraq. Unfortunately, the Kurds do not and have not, ever gotten along, with the Iraqi government. They are essentially autonomous in the northern part of the country, yet they are involved in fighting in the southern regions. However, we can't seem to even support the Kurds properly. The peshmergas desperately need more arms and equipment. But, we cannot supply them directly, we must channel all support and aid for the Kurds through Iraqi central government system, a system I might add, that is so corrupt that an average American cannot even comprehend. So, you can guess how much aid that they receive through central government!
A few days ago, after visiting Iraq and meeting with corrupt Iraqi officials, Secretary of Defense Carter announced that we will be sending additional 200+ or so soldiers to Iraq. Naturally, they will be mostly Special Forces teams that will be "training and advising" the Iraqis, and we will send Apache helicopters. In addition, we will be giving the Kurds some $400 million worth of aid that will be passed on through the Iraqi central government. What that means is that we have just made several more Iraqi millionaires and made some other Iraqi officials even richer! As for Kurds? They will be lucky to see even a small percentage of that $400 million! Talk about throwing good money after bad! I can't believe that Washington is unaware that most of that money is going to end up in personal bank accounts of Iraqi officials and not go to the Kurds! Yet, we continue to do this.
The latest deployment of additional US soldiers and the $400 million in aid to Kurds have been spurred by our and Iraqi desire to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS. The Iraqis have been trying for over a year with no success. Mosul, incidentally, is the second largest city in Iraq! So the fact that it is still in the hands of ISIS goes to show how serious the situation is in Iraq. People outside of Iraq have sort of been lulled into thinking that nothing much was going on except for some suicide bombing now and then. But when ISIS has control of the second largest city in the country, the problem is obviously much more serious than some suicide bombers now and then! Remember how just couple of months ago the Iraqi Defense Minister announced that they were on the verge of taking Mosul? Right! It is obvious that Iraqis can't do it on their own.
There are some politicians in Washington that are vehemently opposed to this "Band-Aid Policy" and have repeatedly criticized the administration. However, they have been labeled as "hawks," both by the current administration and the liberal media that so loves to jump on someone like that. One such politician stated after the recent announcement that the administration's reaction to problems in Iraq are both "shameful and disgraceful." I agree. This type of support of our "allies" will only get Americans killed for a non-existing cause. We are obviously sending our men and women into harms way only as a delaying action, not for a total victory! So in a sense, although it may be in small numbers, we are nevertheless simply sacrificing American lives for a delaying action. Frankly, I don't know what Washington is delaying for....are they hoping that someone else will pick up the fight? Perhaps those "experts" in Washington are simply delaying until Iraq and Afghanistan will be able to rid of ISIS and Al Qaida on their own? Whatever the case or thinking in Washington, we seem to be playing with extremely dangerous situations. It is puzzling to me how such brilliant minds in Washington could be so dense, so incapable of seeing what is taking place!
The fact that neither the Iraqis nor the Afghans appear to be able to fend for themselves doesn't seem to concern this administration all that much. It is mind boggling that after more than a decade of training and receiving arms and monies, neither army appears to be capable of fending for itself! Yet, we continually have "experts" in Washington making statements to the effect that another couple of years of training will do the job! Give me a break! If it couldn't be done after all these years, what are couple of more years going to accomplish? The problems that exist are so ingrained, so institutionalized that it just cannot be solved with a "couple of years of training." What can couple of more years do that the last decade and a half was unable to do? The main problem is graft, graft in monumental proportions that we seemed to have allowed to develop over the period that we were involved.
It is the very same problem that we faced in Vietnam. We poured in so much money and equipment into South Vietnam, yet were unable to field a South Vietnamese Army capable of defending themselves. The Republic of Vietnam Army, the RVN, were supposedly better trained, most certainly better armed and equipped than the enemy, had better heavy artillery support and air support which the enemy did not have, yet were soundly defeated! In Iraq and Afghanistan, the same story is repeated. In both countries, the only exception are those forces that were trained and led by US advisors! In Iraq, the only ones that are worth anything are those units that were not yet absorbed by the regular Iraqi Army. These units are normally identified as Iraqi Commando Units which were trained and led by US Special Forces! They used to operate like the Mobile Strike Forces (Mike Forces) or the Civilian Irregular Defense Groups (CIDGs) of Vietnam that were so successful. The same things holds true of Afghan National Army. It is only the former Afghan Commandos that were trained and led by US Special Forces that are worth anything! But the vast majority of Iraqi and Afghan forces are worthless, corrupt, and unmotivated like the RVN of old!
The peshmergas, the Kurd fighters are an exception. They are terrific fighters and are basically the only ones doing any damage to ISIS in Iraq. Unfortunately, the Kurds do not and have not, ever gotten along, with the Iraqi government. They are essentially autonomous in the northern part of the country, yet they are involved in fighting in the southern regions. However, we can't seem to even support the Kurds properly. The peshmergas desperately need more arms and equipment. But, we cannot supply them directly, we must channel all support and aid for the Kurds through Iraqi central government system, a system I might add, that is so corrupt that an average American cannot even comprehend. So, you can guess how much aid that they receive through central government!
A few days ago, after visiting Iraq and meeting with corrupt Iraqi officials, Secretary of Defense Carter announced that we will be sending additional 200+ or so soldiers to Iraq. Naturally, they will be mostly Special Forces teams that will be "training and advising" the Iraqis, and we will send Apache helicopters. In addition, we will be giving the Kurds some $400 million worth of aid that will be passed on through the Iraqi central government. What that means is that we have just made several more Iraqi millionaires and made some other Iraqi officials even richer! As for Kurds? They will be lucky to see even a small percentage of that $400 million! Talk about throwing good money after bad! I can't believe that Washington is unaware that most of that money is going to end up in personal bank accounts of Iraqi officials and not go to the Kurds! Yet, we continue to do this.
The latest deployment of additional US soldiers and the $400 million in aid to Kurds have been spurred by our and Iraqi desire to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS. The Iraqis have been trying for over a year with no success. Mosul, incidentally, is the second largest city in Iraq! So the fact that it is still in the hands of ISIS goes to show how serious the situation is in Iraq. People outside of Iraq have sort of been lulled into thinking that nothing much was going on except for some suicide bombing now and then. But when ISIS has control of the second largest city in the country, the problem is obviously much more serious than some suicide bombers now and then! Remember how just couple of months ago the Iraqi Defense Minister announced that they were on the verge of taking Mosul? Right! It is obvious that Iraqis can't do it on their own.
There are some politicians in Washington that are vehemently opposed to this "Band-Aid Policy" and have repeatedly criticized the administration. However, they have been labeled as "hawks," both by the current administration and the liberal media that so loves to jump on someone like that. One such politician stated after the recent announcement that the administration's reaction to problems in Iraq are both "shameful and disgraceful." I agree. This type of support of our "allies" will only get Americans killed for a non-existing cause. We are obviously sending our men and women into harms way only as a delaying action, not for a total victory! So in a sense, although it may be in small numbers, we are nevertheless simply sacrificing American lives for a delaying action. Frankly, I don't know what Washington is delaying for....are they hoping that someone else will pick up the fight? Perhaps those "experts" in Washington are simply delaying until Iraq and Afghanistan will be able to rid of ISIS and Al Qaida on their own? Whatever the case or thinking in Washington, we seem to be playing with extremely dangerous situations. It is puzzling to me how such brilliant minds in Washington could be so dense, so incapable of seeing what is taking place!
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Canine Characters I Have Known - "Joe"
In a blog that I posted earlier, "Canine Characters I Have Known - 'Stenka'," I told the story of the impossible English pointer that we had on Okinawa when Jo and I were first married. I tried very hard to train that dog, but it was no use. Either I did not possess the skills and knowledge to train him or he was just impossible. Some dogs, like their human counterparts, can be very difficult to guide or change their habits. Some are simply wired that way and like humans, can be psychotic or have issues that go much beyond just bad habits. Stenka, I believe, was one such dog. Another dog that I met that had very quirky behavioral problems, was not, I believe, quite as "delinquent" as Stenka. But nevertheless, he displayed strange and unusual behavior. Interestingly, like Stenka, he was a lemon and white colored English pointer!
I met "Joe" the same year that I had my final meeting with Mano-san and his Prince #4. Unlike Prince #4, Joe was a very good bird finder. He was a typically energetic English pointer, not quite as big as Stenka, but average size. Joe belonged to Kanda-san, my uncle's acquaintance who lived in Shizuoka Prefecture and was an avid hunter. By the early 1980s, he no longer kept bird dogs. He said that it wasn't worth it since he did not hunt all that much any more. Instead, he relied on his friends who had bird dogs. Kanda-san was one of my uncle's friends. They initially met through All Japan Hunting Association, a national hunting and shooting organization in Japan. They became friends and hunted together occasionally. My uncle had quite a reputation in Japan by that time as sort of a "dean of Japanese hunters" and many younger Japanese hunters considered it a privilege to have the opportunity to hunt with him. Kanda-san was about 15 years younger than my uncle and he appeared to really appreciate the chance to hunt together.
My uncle called Kanda-san and we met him at a predesignated spot in Shizuoka. We were after kojiuke (bamboo partridge), a bird the size of a Cornish Game Hen. In other words, it is a bit under a pound, but a good size bird that is enough for a meal for one person. My uncle told me that Kanda-san's pointer Joe had a good nose, that he could find birds well, but that he had a "problem." I asked him what the "problem" was and he chuckled and said, "you'll see when we shoot a bird."
We hunted in a very pretty area that day, among hills that were covered with thick brush that the kojiuke like so much. It wasn't long before Joe found some birds and made a very pretty point. Kanda-san, like the good host that he was, insisted that my uncle and I do the shooting, that he would just handle the dog. In the typical manner of Japanese, he was bound and determined that we, his "guests," had a good time! When the birds flushed we managed to drop one bird. It was difficult shooting in the brush, hard to see, so we ended up "doubling-up" on the same bird. We could clearly see the bird drop and even heard the resounding "plop" when it hit the ground in a clearing.
Joe was off like a shot after the downed bird, and to my surprise, so was Kanda-san! Kanda-san was screaming at the top of his voice at the dog, "Joe, da-me! Da-me Joe! (Joe no! No Joe!). It was rather comical to see Kanda-san shouting and desperately trying to reach the bird before the dog. It was no contest. Joe was on the bird in a flash and we could clearly see him in the clearing grab the bird and in one move, simply swallow it! By the time Kanda-san reached the clearing, Joe stood there watching him with an amused expression on his mug, with a couple of small feathers stuck to his lower jaw. Kanda-san seem to give a huge sigh as his shoulders heaved, then shaking his finger at him, spoke to Joe in a resigned voice. "Da-me desu, da-me!" (Its bad, bad!). Joe sort of smiled at him, as dogs smile, and off he went hunting for more birds.
My uncle burst into laughter and said to me, "I told you, he is a strange one! Watch it, he'll do this a couple of more times, unless Kanda reaches the bird first! He'll do this until he has had his fill!"
True to my uncle's words, we hunted more and shot a few more birds. Each time it was a repeat of what we had seen happen with the first bird. When a bird dropped, Kanda-san would begin his race with Joe, shouting "da-me, da-me!" Joe won all the races. After he had gobbled-up three birds, I guess he was full for he stopped. He continued to hunt, but did not eat any more birds. Of course he didn't retrieve either. When a bird dropped, he simply sniffed at it then went on hunting.
Kanda-san was very apologetic for his dog's behavior. He seemed almost on the verge of tears as he apologized and I thought he might commit seppuku (hara-kiri) or something! But my uncle waved it off and told him not to worry, that we were having a great time, which was true!
I noticed that Kanda-san did not punish Joe for his bad behavior except to say da-me and shake his finger at the unrepentant pooch. My uncle said that Kanda-san really loved his weird dog and that despite urgings from some of his friends to get rid of Joe, Kanda-san refused and put up with his misdeeds. My uncle said that everyone referred to Joe as "da-ken" a contraction of two words for bad dog, da-me (bad) and ken (dog) .
We hunted for only about four hours that day. We hunted for a couple of hours before noon, took a short coffee and snack break, and hunted two more hours before returning to Tokyo. We shot a total of six birds, three were gobbled-up by Joe, and we brought three back! Kanda-san's Joe was one of those interesting canine characters that I have known. There were many others, but Joe, like Stenka of earlier days on Okinawa, stands out in my memory more than others.
I met "Joe" the same year that I had my final meeting with Mano-san and his Prince #4. Unlike Prince #4, Joe was a very good bird finder. He was a typically energetic English pointer, not quite as big as Stenka, but average size. Joe belonged to Kanda-san, my uncle's acquaintance who lived in Shizuoka Prefecture and was an avid hunter. By the early 1980s, he no longer kept bird dogs. He said that it wasn't worth it since he did not hunt all that much any more. Instead, he relied on his friends who had bird dogs. Kanda-san was one of my uncle's friends. They initially met through All Japan Hunting Association, a national hunting and shooting organization in Japan. They became friends and hunted together occasionally. My uncle had quite a reputation in Japan by that time as sort of a "dean of Japanese hunters" and many younger Japanese hunters considered it a privilege to have the opportunity to hunt with him. Kanda-san was about 15 years younger than my uncle and he appeared to really appreciate the chance to hunt together.
My uncle called Kanda-san and we met him at a predesignated spot in Shizuoka. We were after kojiuke (bamboo partridge), a bird the size of a Cornish Game Hen. In other words, it is a bit under a pound, but a good size bird that is enough for a meal for one person. My uncle told me that Kanda-san's pointer Joe had a good nose, that he could find birds well, but that he had a "problem." I asked him what the "problem" was and he chuckled and said, "you'll see when we shoot a bird."
We hunted in a very pretty area that day, among hills that were covered with thick brush that the kojiuke like so much. It wasn't long before Joe found some birds and made a very pretty point. Kanda-san, like the good host that he was, insisted that my uncle and I do the shooting, that he would just handle the dog. In the typical manner of Japanese, he was bound and determined that we, his "guests," had a good time! When the birds flushed we managed to drop one bird. It was difficult shooting in the brush, hard to see, so we ended up "doubling-up" on the same bird. We could clearly see the bird drop and even heard the resounding "plop" when it hit the ground in a clearing.
Joe was off like a shot after the downed bird, and to my surprise, so was Kanda-san! Kanda-san was screaming at the top of his voice at the dog, "Joe, da-me! Da-me Joe! (Joe no! No Joe!). It was rather comical to see Kanda-san shouting and desperately trying to reach the bird before the dog. It was no contest. Joe was on the bird in a flash and we could clearly see him in the clearing grab the bird and in one move, simply swallow it! By the time Kanda-san reached the clearing, Joe stood there watching him with an amused expression on his mug, with a couple of small feathers stuck to his lower jaw. Kanda-san seem to give a huge sigh as his shoulders heaved, then shaking his finger at him, spoke to Joe in a resigned voice. "Da-me desu, da-me!" (Its bad, bad!). Joe sort of smiled at him, as dogs smile, and off he went hunting for more birds.
My uncle burst into laughter and said to me, "I told you, he is a strange one! Watch it, he'll do this a couple of more times, unless Kanda reaches the bird first! He'll do this until he has had his fill!"
True to my uncle's words, we hunted more and shot a few more birds. Each time it was a repeat of what we had seen happen with the first bird. When a bird dropped, Kanda-san would begin his race with Joe, shouting "da-me, da-me!" Joe won all the races. After he had gobbled-up three birds, I guess he was full for he stopped. He continued to hunt, but did not eat any more birds. Of course he didn't retrieve either. When a bird dropped, he simply sniffed at it then went on hunting.
Kanda-san was very apologetic for his dog's behavior. He seemed almost on the verge of tears as he apologized and I thought he might commit seppuku (hara-kiri) or something! But my uncle waved it off and told him not to worry, that we were having a great time, which was true!
I noticed that Kanda-san did not punish Joe for his bad behavior except to say da-me and shake his finger at the unrepentant pooch. My uncle said that Kanda-san really loved his weird dog and that despite urgings from some of his friends to get rid of Joe, Kanda-san refused and put up with his misdeeds. My uncle said that everyone referred to Joe as "da-ken" a contraction of two words for bad dog, da-me (bad) and ken (dog) .
We hunted for only about four hours that day. We hunted for a couple of hours before noon, took a short coffee and snack break, and hunted two more hours before returning to Tokyo. We shot a total of six birds, three were gobbled-up by Joe, and we brought three back! Kanda-san's Joe was one of those interesting canine characters that I have known. There were many others, but Joe, like Stenka of earlier days on Okinawa, stands out in my memory more than others.
Thursday, April 14, 2016
"Tom Mix of Ecuador"
About ten years ago I wrote a story entitled "Tom Mix of Ecuador." It was about an unusual and eccentric Ecuadorian character who was obsessed with Tom Mix, that early cowboy action hero of Hollywood. The story that I wrote was actually about his nephew, Reinaldo Diaz, a man I knew very well when I was in Ecuador. Reinldo, in his own way, was just as colorful and eccentric as his uncle who was obsessed with Tom Mix. The story goes (as told to me by Reinaldo himself as well as others who knew him!) that Reinaldo's uncle became fascinated and obsessed with Tom Mix and tried his best to emulate the old Hollywood cowboy star. He wore black clothes like Tom Mix and a six shooter on his hip as well as a white ten gallon hat. He was a well known cattle rancher in Taura, west of Guayaquil. It was a big ranch along Rio Taura with an impressive two story ranch house. His ranch bordered another large ranch, his brother's (Reinaldo's dad's).
But, aside from being eccentric and obsessed with Tom Mix, Reinaldo's uncle was also a difficult person who quarreled with everyone! One day he got into an argument with a neighbor and one thing led to another and Reinaldo's uncle shot the man dead. He barricaded himself in his ranch house and when the police arrived a furious gun battle ensued. At the end of an hour long gun fight, several people were killed, including Reinaldo's uncle. The ranch house was declared bad luck and "haunted" because such violence had taken place there. It was left vacant and no one ever lived in that house again. When I saw the house that was situated on a picturesque piece of property along the banks of Rio Taura, it was still vacant, some forty years after the bloody gun fight.
Everyone in the area knew of that incident, it became a local legend. But his nephew, Reinaldo, in my opinion, was just as eccentric and "wild" as his infamous uncle. Reinaldo did not have an obsession for Tom Mix or any other cowboy film star, but he, like his uncle, was quick tempered and prone to violence!
In the early 1960s, long after his uncle's infamous shootout on the banks of Rio Taura, Reinaldo caught a rustler on his ranch. At that time Reinaldo's father owned the ranch and Reinaldo worked for his dad. Cattle rustling was always a problem on that ranch, even when I knew him in the 1980s and 90s! Reinaldo and his dad did not trust the local law, since they believed that the local police was involved in rustling! As it turned out, the rustler that he caught was a nephew of Taura Police Chief! The rustler, when cornered by Reinaldo, came at him with a machete, forcing Reinaldo to shoot him. Even though it was self defense, Reinaldo and his father knew that he did not stand a chance with the local law, so he fled to the U.S. He crossed the border in Tijuana and made his way to New York/New Jersey area where there was already an established Ecuadorian community. By 1960s there was a well established Ecuadorian pipeline to either L.A. or NY/NJ area, Reinaldo chose to go to the east!
Reinaldo lived in the U.S. for seven years, in a Hispanic community. It is amazing that after seven years in the U.S., he did not speak a word of English! He said that there was no need for him to learn English since he lived and worked in a community where everyone spoke Spanish! Then one day his father sent word that the Taura Police Chief had been arrested, tried and imprisoned for his illegal activities, including cattle rustling. It was safe for Reinaldo to return to Ecuador, so he quickly returned to Taura and the ranch. A few years later his father died leaving the huge ranch (a couple of sections with several thousand heads of cattle) to Reinaldo.
When I knew Reinaldo in the 1980s and 90s, he was the "Patron" of the huge ranch. The property included his infamous uncle's old ranch, so it was enormous. But interestingly, he lived a very modest life style, drove an old beat-up pick-up truck and wore old clothes. According to his life-long friend and my good friend Lorenzo, Reinaldo was very rich and could afford to live in luxurious style. But, he preferred to live very simply and you could easily mistake him for one of his vaqueros! Reinaldo's one passion in life, other than drinking and womanizing, was hunting. He loved hunting, especially bird shooting. That is how he became friends with my good friend Lorenzo and also how I befriended him. At the time I knew him, he was in his 50s, so I would guess he is in his 80s now. According to Lorenzo, he is still doing well and still working. Reinaldo is not a big man, he is rather small, and in his 50s he resembled that communist leader of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega!
Reinaldo told me his life story when we were on an overnight hunting trip on his huge ranch. We couldn't sleep because the mosquitos were exceptionally bad. So we built a fire and sat up most of the night just talking, toasting and eating charred plantains! That was when he told me about his uncle and also his own story about the time he shot and killed a rustler and had to run for it to the U.S. Reinaldo Diaz is one of the several fascinating people that I met during my lifetime.
But, aside from being eccentric and obsessed with Tom Mix, Reinaldo's uncle was also a difficult person who quarreled with everyone! One day he got into an argument with a neighbor and one thing led to another and Reinaldo's uncle shot the man dead. He barricaded himself in his ranch house and when the police arrived a furious gun battle ensued. At the end of an hour long gun fight, several people were killed, including Reinaldo's uncle. The ranch house was declared bad luck and "haunted" because such violence had taken place there. It was left vacant and no one ever lived in that house again. When I saw the house that was situated on a picturesque piece of property along the banks of Rio Taura, it was still vacant, some forty years after the bloody gun fight.
Everyone in the area knew of that incident, it became a local legend. But his nephew, Reinaldo, in my opinion, was just as eccentric and "wild" as his infamous uncle. Reinaldo did not have an obsession for Tom Mix or any other cowboy film star, but he, like his uncle, was quick tempered and prone to violence!
In the early 1960s, long after his uncle's infamous shootout on the banks of Rio Taura, Reinaldo caught a rustler on his ranch. At that time Reinaldo's father owned the ranch and Reinaldo worked for his dad. Cattle rustling was always a problem on that ranch, even when I knew him in the 1980s and 90s! Reinaldo and his dad did not trust the local law, since they believed that the local police was involved in rustling! As it turned out, the rustler that he caught was a nephew of Taura Police Chief! The rustler, when cornered by Reinaldo, came at him with a machete, forcing Reinaldo to shoot him. Even though it was self defense, Reinaldo and his father knew that he did not stand a chance with the local law, so he fled to the U.S. He crossed the border in Tijuana and made his way to New York/New Jersey area where there was already an established Ecuadorian community. By 1960s there was a well established Ecuadorian pipeline to either L.A. or NY/NJ area, Reinaldo chose to go to the east!
Reinaldo lived in the U.S. for seven years, in a Hispanic community. It is amazing that after seven years in the U.S., he did not speak a word of English! He said that there was no need for him to learn English since he lived and worked in a community where everyone spoke Spanish! Then one day his father sent word that the Taura Police Chief had been arrested, tried and imprisoned for his illegal activities, including cattle rustling. It was safe for Reinaldo to return to Ecuador, so he quickly returned to Taura and the ranch. A few years later his father died leaving the huge ranch (a couple of sections with several thousand heads of cattle) to Reinaldo.
When I knew Reinaldo in the 1980s and 90s, he was the "Patron" of the huge ranch. The property included his infamous uncle's old ranch, so it was enormous. But interestingly, he lived a very modest life style, drove an old beat-up pick-up truck and wore old clothes. According to his life-long friend and my good friend Lorenzo, Reinaldo was very rich and could afford to live in luxurious style. But, he preferred to live very simply and you could easily mistake him for one of his vaqueros! Reinaldo's one passion in life, other than drinking and womanizing, was hunting. He loved hunting, especially bird shooting. That is how he became friends with my good friend Lorenzo and also how I befriended him. At the time I knew him, he was in his 50s, so I would guess he is in his 80s now. According to Lorenzo, he is still doing well and still working. Reinaldo is not a big man, he is rather small, and in his 50s he resembled that communist leader of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega!
Reinaldo told me his life story when we were on an overnight hunting trip on his huge ranch. We couldn't sleep because the mosquitos were exceptionally bad. So we built a fire and sat up most of the night just talking, toasting and eating charred plantains! That was when he told me about his uncle and also his own story about the time he shot and killed a rustler and had to run for it to the U.S. Reinaldo Diaz is one of the several fascinating people that I met during my lifetime.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Mano-san and Four Generation of "Princes"
As I have said in the preface to the Snap Shots, my hunting and shooting career began in Japan in the early 1950s when I was 13 years old. I became a passionate hunter and not only got my first shotgun at that time, but also acquired a dog which I trained myself for hunting. Robin, my cocker spaniel, was possibly the best hunting dog that I ever had, and I have had the good fortune to have shared my hunting days with some outstanding bird dogs. I have already blogged earlier on one of my failed attempts to train a bird dog, "Stenka," the wild pointer that we had on Okinawa in 1966. I have also seen some outstanding and not so good bird dogs that belonged to others, people with whom I shared the hunting fields.
In Japan I was taken hunting by a very good family friend, an unofficial "uncle" who was a superb shot and outdoorsman. He had an English pointer that had a very good nose, but wasn't all that great because he was not well trained. He did not retrieve downed birds, as is often the case with partially trained bird dogs, especially pointers. The other person who took me hunting was my uncle from our Japanese side of the family. We met him for the first time when we came to Japan. He was an avid hunter, so much so that he used to take time off his business during the hunting season and leave the work to his subordinates so he could go hunting uninterrupted!
My uncle took me all over Japan, or I should say, all over Honshu. We mostly travelled by car, but sometimes, for very long trips, we would take a train. He had excellent bird dogs, both pointers and setters that were completely "broken," i.e., trained to do everything, pointing, retrieving, etc. My uncle would normally just take me, and it would be just the two of us. Sometimes he would invite a business associate or another friend, but mostly it was just us. The one friend that accompanied us most often was an older man, my uncle's best friend. Mano-san owned a specialty restaurant in Shinbashi, near Ginza. His restaurant was well known and it specialized in food that was made from game - pheasant, duck, boar, deer, etc. Apparently it was a family business that his grandfather had started when Tokyo was still called Edo. Naturally, Mano-san was an avid hunter as well, since his restaurant was dependent on game for making food!
In the 1950s when I knew him, Mano-san was in his late 50s, a good ten years older than my uncle. To me, he was ancient! Although Mano-san loved hunting and hunting dogs, he was not a very good hunter nor a good shot, and his dogs were never any good. Mano-san had a thing for English setters. He had a beautiful English setter that he called "Prince," that according to him was the only proper name for such a distinguished, pedigreed dog. Prince, according to my uncle, lived in Mano-san's house, a house that was completely Japanese style with tatami floors! My uncle said that Mano-san had to change the expensive tatami in his house every year, sometimes even twice a year! His dog was completely spoiled, got tired in the field and refused to hunt after a while. It would whine and just walk along next to Mano-san rather than cast about and hunt, like he was supposed to.
On one particular hunt, when I shot my very first Japanese pheasant (kiji), we were hunting in Ibaraki Prefecture near a village called Ota. I happened to end up hunting with Mano-san and his Prince while my uncle was not far away with his excellent setter, "Bess." Prince was "done-in," it was in the afternoon and he was pooped. He sort of shuffled along side of Mano-san who kept talking to him in baby-talk, asking him if he was O.K., etc. We would not have gotten anything with Prince, fortunately, my little cocker Robin, despite the fact that he was only a year old, tried his best to find a pheasant. Robin happened to be in front of Mano-san who was 10 to 15 yards to my right, when he flushed a pheasant. The Japanese green pheasant cock exploded from the bush where he was hiding and cackled loudly in protest as he made his getaway. Mano-san, shot twice with no effect, just speeded up the pheasant who crossed right in front of me. I was so excited that I could hardly contain myself as I fired my gun, and lo and behold, the pheasant fell after my last shot. Robin was on it in a flash and brought the large bird to me, which he practically had to drag. That was a red letter day for me, my first pheasant, and it was Robin's first pheasant as well.
In 1979 I returned to Tokyo, to work at the US Embassy and reunited with my uncle. Of course I had seen him through the years when he came visiting (actually he came to the states to play golf!).
I went through the complicated process in Japan (a two day test!) for hunting license and paid a small fortune in fees! My uncle once again tried to take me back to all the places that we used to hunt when I was a kid. It was a fascinating and at the same time emotional experience for me. Japan had changed a lot, yet it was the same in the countryside! My uncle was in his 60s and could no longer scramble around those steep hills like he used to, so we took it slow and easy. On one of the last hunts that we made in Japan, he invited his old friend Mano-san to join us. Mano-san came without a gun, said he could no longer carry a gun, that it was too heavy. But he had his English setter, a direct descendant of the Prince that I met long time ago! This one was also called Prince (turns out he called all his dogs Prince, since they were all descendants of the same dog!) and it was the great-grandson of the dog I met some 25 years earlier.
True to form, Prince number four was really no different than his ancestor. Physically he looked remarkably similar to the Prince of long ago, and he also was not much of a hunter, just like his great-granddaddy! But, it didn't matter! It was wonderful to see Mano-san again. He seemed a lot smaller and more frail than I remembered him. He was never a big man, but somehow he seemed to have shrunk over the years.
Just as he had done with all his dogs, Mano-san allowed the latest Prince to live inside the house, on the tatami floor. My uncle said laughingly that Mano-san was still replacing tatami every year or sometimes more often. Good thing he was wealthy because it was not cheap to change tatami so often!
Although Mano-san appeared frail, his mind seemed to be sharp and clear. He was genuinely pleased to see me again as I was to see him! He kept saying how time had passed so quickly and how he remembered to this day when I shot my first pheasant. His memory in that regard was remarkably accurate. He kept recounting how he had given a "two shot salute" to the departing pheasant and how I had shot and dropped it. His memory was very good for that part. Where it got somewhat fuzzy was when he recalled how his Prince had made a picture perfect point to locate the pheasant and how Prince had retrieved it perfectly after I shot it. As I said, Robin had flushed the bird and retrieved it. Prince was nowhere in the vicinity! Oh well, if Mano-san chose to have selective memory when it came to his beloved Prince, so be it!
I left Japan and while I was in Greece a year later, heard from my uncle that Mano-san had died in his sleep. He was 87 or 88 years old, my uncle wasn't sure because he said Mano-san never told him his age! Whatever the case may be, I am sure Mano-san is enjoying observing his beloved Princes performing flawlessly in the great Happy Hunting Grounds in the sky!
In Japan I was taken hunting by a very good family friend, an unofficial "uncle" who was a superb shot and outdoorsman. He had an English pointer that had a very good nose, but wasn't all that great because he was not well trained. He did not retrieve downed birds, as is often the case with partially trained bird dogs, especially pointers. The other person who took me hunting was my uncle from our Japanese side of the family. We met him for the first time when we came to Japan. He was an avid hunter, so much so that he used to take time off his business during the hunting season and leave the work to his subordinates so he could go hunting uninterrupted!
My uncle took me all over Japan, or I should say, all over Honshu. We mostly travelled by car, but sometimes, for very long trips, we would take a train. He had excellent bird dogs, both pointers and setters that were completely "broken," i.e., trained to do everything, pointing, retrieving, etc. My uncle would normally just take me, and it would be just the two of us. Sometimes he would invite a business associate or another friend, but mostly it was just us. The one friend that accompanied us most often was an older man, my uncle's best friend. Mano-san owned a specialty restaurant in Shinbashi, near Ginza. His restaurant was well known and it specialized in food that was made from game - pheasant, duck, boar, deer, etc. Apparently it was a family business that his grandfather had started when Tokyo was still called Edo. Naturally, Mano-san was an avid hunter as well, since his restaurant was dependent on game for making food!
In the 1950s when I knew him, Mano-san was in his late 50s, a good ten years older than my uncle. To me, he was ancient! Although Mano-san loved hunting and hunting dogs, he was not a very good hunter nor a good shot, and his dogs were never any good. Mano-san had a thing for English setters. He had a beautiful English setter that he called "Prince," that according to him was the only proper name for such a distinguished, pedigreed dog. Prince, according to my uncle, lived in Mano-san's house, a house that was completely Japanese style with tatami floors! My uncle said that Mano-san had to change the expensive tatami in his house every year, sometimes even twice a year! His dog was completely spoiled, got tired in the field and refused to hunt after a while. It would whine and just walk along next to Mano-san rather than cast about and hunt, like he was supposed to.
On one particular hunt, when I shot my very first Japanese pheasant (kiji), we were hunting in Ibaraki Prefecture near a village called Ota. I happened to end up hunting with Mano-san and his Prince while my uncle was not far away with his excellent setter, "Bess." Prince was "done-in," it was in the afternoon and he was pooped. He sort of shuffled along side of Mano-san who kept talking to him in baby-talk, asking him if he was O.K., etc. We would not have gotten anything with Prince, fortunately, my little cocker Robin, despite the fact that he was only a year old, tried his best to find a pheasant. Robin happened to be in front of Mano-san who was 10 to 15 yards to my right, when he flushed a pheasant. The Japanese green pheasant cock exploded from the bush where he was hiding and cackled loudly in protest as he made his getaway. Mano-san, shot twice with no effect, just speeded up the pheasant who crossed right in front of me. I was so excited that I could hardly contain myself as I fired my gun, and lo and behold, the pheasant fell after my last shot. Robin was on it in a flash and brought the large bird to me, which he practically had to drag. That was a red letter day for me, my first pheasant, and it was Robin's first pheasant as well.
In 1979 I returned to Tokyo, to work at the US Embassy and reunited with my uncle. Of course I had seen him through the years when he came visiting (actually he came to the states to play golf!).
I went through the complicated process in Japan (a two day test!) for hunting license and paid a small fortune in fees! My uncle once again tried to take me back to all the places that we used to hunt when I was a kid. It was a fascinating and at the same time emotional experience for me. Japan had changed a lot, yet it was the same in the countryside! My uncle was in his 60s and could no longer scramble around those steep hills like he used to, so we took it slow and easy. On one of the last hunts that we made in Japan, he invited his old friend Mano-san to join us. Mano-san came without a gun, said he could no longer carry a gun, that it was too heavy. But he had his English setter, a direct descendant of the Prince that I met long time ago! This one was also called Prince (turns out he called all his dogs Prince, since they were all descendants of the same dog!) and it was the great-grandson of the dog I met some 25 years earlier.
True to form, Prince number four was really no different than his ancestor. Physically he looked remarkably similar to the Prince of long ago, and he also was not much of a hunter, just like his great-granddaddy! But, it didn't matter! It was wonderful to see Mano-san again. He seemed a lot smaller and more frail than I remembered him. He was never a big man, but somehow he seemed to have shrunk over the years.
Just as he had done with all his dogs, Mano-san allowed the latest Prince to live inside the house, on the tatami floor. My uncle said laughingly that Mano-san was still replacing tatami every year or sometimes more often. Good thing he was wealthy because it was not cheap to change tatami so often!
Although Mano-san appeared frail, his mind seemed to be sharp and clear. He was genuinely pleased to see me again as I was to see him! He kept saying how time had passed so quickly and how he remembered to this day when I shot my first pheasant. His memory in that regard was remarkably accurate. He kept recounting how he had given a "two shot salute" to the departing pheasant and how I had shot and dropped it. His memory was very good for that part. Where it got somewhat fuzzy was when he recalled how his Prince had made a picture perfect point to locate the pheasant and how Prince had retrieved it perfectly after I shot it. As I said, Robin had flushed the bird and retrieved it. Prince was nowhere in the vicinity! Oh well, if Mano-san chose to have selective memory when it came to his beloved Prince, so be it!
I left Japan and while I was in Greece a year later, heard from my uncle that Mano-san had died in his sleep. He was 87 or 88 years old, my uncle wasn't sure because he said Mano-san never told him his age! Whatever the case may be, I am sure Mano-san is enjoying observing his beloved Princes performing flawlessly in the great Happy Hunting Grounds in the sky!
Friday, April 8, 2016
Political Correctness....out of control!
It seems that each year we move more and more to the extreme, to the point of being ridiculous in our attempt to be "politically correct." I am fully aware that our country was founded by "immigrants" from the British Isles. All of the following immigrant groups, be they Irish, Italian, or Eastern European, came to America to escape economic difficulties and religious persecution back home. An influx of Chinese laborers were the first Asian group that came in the 19th Century, followed by Japanese, Korean, and other Asians. But, as I have noted in some earlier blogs, there were Asian (Chinese and Filipinos) living in America as early as the days of our Revolutionary War. There are records of Chinese volunteers in the Continental Army and in the War of 1812, there were Filipinos as well. So, although our country was founded by immigrants from the British Isles, it wasn't long before there were other ethnic and racial members in our infant society. By mid 19th Century there was quite a large population of Africans who were brought over as slaves. Although they were not "willing" immigrants, they nevertheless became part of our society, especially after the Emancipation Act.
There is no question that we are a nation of immigrants and that America is truly a melting pot of cultures and races. But, as proud as we may be of our immigrant "melting pot core" as a nation, we mustn't forget that all of these immigrants arrived on these shores "legally." Except for the early settlers, like those who came on the Mayflower, later immigrants came from the European continent and entered America via New York or came from Asia through the Golden Gate of San Francisco, they all came as legal immigrants. To be sure there were those who entered illegally. That has always taken place regardless of country and will continue to take place, but not quite in the numbers that we have seen in the last couple of decades!
I am personally keenly aware of the problems posed by illegal entrants into this country through our southern border. I first witnessed a nightmarish scene back in the early 1980s when I visited the San Yisidro border crossing at the invitation of U.S. Border Patrol. It was relatively peaceful during the day, although quite busy at the border crossing points with the traffic of legal border crossers. But once it was dark, I was taken to a location not far from regular border crossing point to an open field. It was like a scene out of Vietnam War as illegal border crossers scrambled across the open area like an NVA assault! Border Patrol helicopters hovered above and Border Patrol vehicles were racing all over the field trying to stop and apprehend the illegal border crossers. It was like a battle scene out of a poorly conceived and directed war movie! I was later to learn that such scenes took place regularly each night!
For the next twenty years or so, things did not get better, if anything, it got worse! My final tour of duty in the Foreign Service was in Tijuana, Mexico and there, the problem of illegal border crossers was even more apparent. We had constant meetings, numerous task forces, committees, all designed to stop the flow of illegal immigrants. These various working groups and task forces were made up of U.S. Customs, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. State Department, FBI, California Highway Patrol, San Diego Country Sheriff's Office, San Diego Police Department, and half a dozen other agencies and organizations! It was and is a tremendous expense in time and money! Despite many other important jobs that we had on our plate, the illegal alien problem took up at least half of our time, sometimes all of our time!
I do have sympathy and empathize with many of these illegal aliens. I have seen conditions under which they live in their home country. I have witnessed horrible injustices and graft that takes place in those countries and the hopelessness that so many unfortunates face. Sadly, it is the uneducated, the poor, that suffer the most and they are the ones that seek to enter America illegally. But seeking to enter our country illegally is not the answer, and allowing them to enter as we have (owing to lack of control!) is not the answer either! The problem has to be fixed at the root, where it exists. But graft and injustice is so deeply rooted in those countries that it will take some doing to get rid of it. In the meantime, we have people who have slowly changed the attitudes of many by insisting that it is wrong to refer to these people as illegal aliens, they are undocumented immigrants! If my interpretation is correct, "illegal" is something that is not legal, something that does not abide by the rules of the law. An alien is someone or something that does not belong naturally. It does not refer to some evil creature from outer space! Therefore, calling someone who is not a legal resident or citizen of this country and is here without proper authorization an "illegal alien" is perfectly correct. An undocumented immigrant would suggest that someone legally immigrated into this country but does not have documents on hand, a small matter, just get the proper papers or IDs! To me, that definition or designation is totally inappropriate for someone who scrambled across the border "illegally," evading proper authorities in the process! This to me, is akin to calling a thief a "borrower!"
The more recent "softening" of the label of illegal aliens is the term of "dreamers," those young people who arrived in this country illegally as children. The thinking is, of course, that as children they had no choice, it is their parents who dragged them into this country. That may very well be, and our law makers should come up with some sort of a solution for these dreamers, but lets not burden the U.S. tax payers! It is not the U.S. tax payers responsibility to care for and pay for their schooling, etc. But, it seems there are those who think otherwise. The latest news is that Prescott College in Arizona, a Liberal Arts college, will be charging all students a $30 fee which will go into a scholarship fund for "dreamers!" There is another school, Loyola University that is also doing the same thing. Now these schools are private institutions so they say that they can do what they want, that they are not using any state or tax payers' monies. That is not entirely true! Prescott College's student body is heavily dependent on federal aids and grants. Seventy five percent of students receive federally insured student loans and many receive federal scholarship grants. The $30 that they all have to pay more than likely comes from federal grants or federally insured student loans!
So now we are going to start "taxing" legal resident or citizen students to pay for the education of illegal aliens? The explanation is that, of course, being illegal, the "dreamers" are not eligible for student loans for state and federal grants, therefore, they need assistance. Well, foreign students who are here legally with proper student visas do not qualify for federal and state grants and assistance, shouldn't they be also included in this "freebee?" After all, they entered this country legally, unlike the "dreamers!"
It is interesting that in most countries, you have to have legal status in order to register to go to school. In Mexico, you cannot enroll in their universities if you do not have legal status and you most certainly cannot receive any financial aid if you are not a Mexican citizen! But we are very generous, we not only allow illegal aliens to attend our schools, but now are on the way to finding a mechanism for funding their education! Talk about political correctness! What a country, America!
There is no question that we are a nation of immigrants and that America is truly a melting pot of cultures and races. But, as proud as we may be of our immigrant "melting pot core" as a nation, we mustn't forget that all of these immigrants arrived on these shores "legally." Except for the early settlers, like those who came on the Mayflower, later immigrants came from the European continent and entered America via New York or came from Asia through the Golden Gate of San Francisco, they all came as legal immigrants. To be sure there were those who entered illegally. That has always taken place regardless of country and will continue to take place, but not quite in the numbers that we have seen in the last couple of decades!
I am personally keenly aware of the problems posed by illegal entrants into this country through our southern border. I first witnessed a nightmarish scene back in the early 1980s when I visited the San Yisidro border crossing at the invitation of U.S. Border Patrol. It was relatively peaceful during the day, although quite busy at the border crossing points with the traffic of legal border crossers. But once it was dark, I was taken to a location not far from regular border crossing point to an open field. It was like a scene out of Vietnam War as illegal border crossers scrambled across the open area like an NVA assault! Border Patrol helicopters hovered above and Border Patrol vehicles were racing all over the field trying to stop and apprehend the illegal border crossers. It was like a battle scene out of a poorly conceived and directed war movie! I was later to learn that such scenes took place regularly each night!
For the next twenty years or so, things did not get better, if anything, it got worse! My final tour of duty in the Foreign Service was in Tijuana, Mexico and there, the problem of illegal border crossers was even more apparent. We had constant meetings, numerous task forces, committees, all designed to stop the flow of illegal immigrants. These various working groups and task forces were made up of U.S. Customs, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. State Department, FBI, California Highway Patrol, San Diego Country Sheriff's Office, San Diego Police Department, and half a dozen other agencies and organizations! It was and is a tremendous expense in time and money! Despite many other important jobs that we had on our plate, the illegal alien problem took up at least half of our time, sometimes all of our time!
I do have sympathy and empathize with many of these illegal aliens. I have seen conditions under which they live in their home country. I have witnessed horrible injustices and graft that takes place in those countries and the hopelessness that so many unfortunates face. Sadly, it is the uneducated, the poor, that suffer the most and they are the ones that seek to enter America illegally. But seeking to enter our country illegally is not the answer, and allowing them to enter as we have (owing to lack of control!) is not the answer either! The problem has to be fixed at the root, where it exists. But graft and injustice is so deeply rooted in those countries that it will take some doing to get rid of it. In the meantime, we have people who have slowly changed the attitudes of many by insisting that it is wrong to refer to these people as illegal aliens, they are undocumented immigrants! If my interpretation is correct, "illegal" is something that is not legal, something that does not abide by the rules of the law. An alien is someone or something that does not belong naturally. It does not refer to some evil creature from outer space! Therefore, calling someone who is not a legal resident or citizen of this country and is here without proper authorization an "illegal alien" is perfectly correct. An undocumented immigrant would suggest that someone legally immigrated into this country but does not have documents on hand, a small matter, just get the proper papers or IDs! To me, that definition or designation is totally inappropriate for someone who scrambled across the border "illegally," evading proper authorities in the process! This to me, is akin to calling a thief a "borrower!"
The more recent "softening" of the label of illegal aliens is the term of "dreamers," those young people who arrived in this country illegally as children. The thinking is, of course, that as children they had no choice, it is their parents who dragged them into this country. That may very well be, and our law makers should come up with some sort of a solution for these dreamers, but lets not burden the U.S. tax payers! It is not the U.S. tax payers responsibility to care for and pay for their schooling, etc. But, it seems there are those who think otherwise. The latest news is that Prescott College in Arizona, a Liberal Arts college, will be charging all students a $30 fee which will go into a scholarship fund for "dreamers!" There is another school, Loyola University that is also doing the same thing. Now these schools are private institutions so they say that they can do what they want, that they are not using any state or tax payers' monies. That is not entirely true! Prescott College's student body is heavily dependent on federal aids and grants. Seventy five percent of students receive federally insured student loans and many receive federal scholarship grants. The $30 that they all have to pay more than likely comes from federal grants or federally insured student loans!
So now we are going to start "taxing" legal resident or citizen students to pay for the education of illegal aliens? The explanation is that, of course, being illegal, the "dreamers" are not eligible for student loans for state and federal grants, therefore, they need assistance. Well, foreign students who are here legally with proper student visas do not qualify for federal and state grants and assistance, shouldn't they be also included in this "freebee?" After all, they entered this country legally, unlike the "dreamers!"
It is interesting that in most countries, you have to have legal status in order to register to go to school. In Mexico, you cannot enroll in their universities if you do not have legal status and you most certainly cannot receive any financial aid if you are not a Mexican citizen! But we are very generous, we not only allow illegal aliens to attend our schools, but now are on the way to finding a mechanism for funding their education! Talk about political correctness! What a country, America!
Thursday, April 7, 2016
The "Horse Killer"
In Snap Shots, Chapter 12 is titled "Matacaballo," which is Spanish for horse killer. It is a name that is given to a large venomous snake in Ecuador that is commonly known as bushmaster in English. The matacaballo/bushmaster is one of the largest known venomous snakes in the world. It can easily grow to over ten feet in length and very thick in girth. In fact, some often mistake it for the none venomous boa or other python family constrictors. In el campo, or the countryside, where medical facilities are far and few in-between, any kind of venomous snakes are feared by the inhabitants far more than in the more developed, urban areas. The reason is very simple. Whereas in urban areas a snake bite victim can be quickly taken to a medical facility and receive anti-venom treatment, in some of the more isolated villages, it may take hours, sometimes days, to reach clinics or hospitals for proper treatment. Therefore, death from venomous snake bites is not an unheard of thing!
Of all the poisonous snakes found in Ecuador, the matacaballo is probably most feared, mainly because of its very aggressive nature. The fer-de-lance, a highly venomous smaller viper, is known as dos pasos (two steps in Spanish) and is also feared very much. The name of two steps was given because it is believed that if your are bitten by this snake, you can only take two steps before you died! The fer-de-lance or dos pasos is probably more venomous than the matacaballo, but it is the bigger snake that is feared most. The rattlesnake, called cascabel, is also common in Ecuador but does not seem to have quite the reputation of the other two, especially the large "horse killer."
During my two tours of duty in Ecuador which amounted to almost seven years, I spent an awful lot of time in the countryside, pursuing my favorite pastime of bird hunting on the weekends. During those outings, I had on numerous occasions encountered snakes. Most of the time they were none poisonous variety, but on occasion, they were the much feared matacaballo. In most cases we simply made a detour, avoided confrontation with the very aggressive snake. Unlike most wild animals and snakes in particular, the matacaballo does not move away or try to escape when it is confronted by a human. I have seen many snakes in the wild, including cobras and other venomous snakes and I can say truthfully that none were as aggressive as the matacaballo! In all of the instances when we encountered the matacaballo, the snake would not move or give ground and we were forced to make a detour. In some cases, when we couldn't make the detour, we were forced to kill the snake.
I described several encounters with the matacaballo in the story that was in the Snap Shots. In each instance, when we had to dispatch the snake, it was my friend Lorenzo who ended up doing the job. Because of Lorenzo's snake killing activity, his cousin Emilio jokingly called him mataculebras, the "snake killer." He was given this name after the incident in Manabí where Lorenzo was forced to dispatch a very ill tempered matacaballo that not only stole our doves that fell near by, but threatened our passage through the only trail out of the area. The snake just refused to move and instead attempted to attack us!
The matacaballo, deservedly or not, has a fearsome reputation in Ecuador. As its name implies, it is supposed to be so strong and venomous that it can kill a horse with its bite. I have no doubt that it can kill a horse, since even the smaller rattlesnakes have been known to kill a horse with its venom. Whatever the case may be, the matacaballo, with its colorful name of "horse killer," is a venomous snake that ranks right up there with the Australian tiger snake, African black mamba, and the cobras of India, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The matacaballo of Central and South America may not be as poisonous as some of the others, but it is one scary snake that is extremely aggressive and big! To me, it much more dangerous, because of its very aggressive nature, than our rattlesnakes and the Okinawan habu. I have had many encounters with rattlesnakes and in fact almost stepped on some, and I encountered habu on Okinawa when I was hunting as a kid. But neither the rattlesnakes nor the habu make me quite so wary as the matacaballo of Ecuador.
Of all the poisonous snakes found in Ecuador, the matacaballo is probably most feared, mainly because of its very aggressive nature. The fer-de-lance, a highly venomous smaller viper, is known as dos pasos (two steps in Spanish) and is also feared very much. The name of two steps was given because it is believed that if your are bitten by this snake, you can only take two steps before you died! The fer-de-lance or dos pasos is probably more venomous than the matacaballo, but it is the bigger snake that is feared most. The rattlesnake, called cascabel, is also common in Ecuador but does not seem to have quite the reputation of the other two, especially the large "horse killer."
During my two tours of duty in Ecuador which amounted to almost seven years, I spent an awful lot of time in the countryside, pursuing my favorite pastime of bird hunting on the weekends. During those outings, I had on numerous occasions encountered snakes. Most of the time they were none poisonous variety, but on occasion, they were the much feared matacaballo. In most cases we simply made a detour, avoided confrontation with the very aggressive snake. Unlike most wild animals and snakes in particular, the matacaballo does not move away or try to escape when it is confronted by a human. I have seen many snakes in the wild, including cobras and other venomous snakes and I can say truthfully that none were as aggressive as the matacaballo! In all of the instances when we encountered the matacaballo, the snake would not move or give ground and we were forced to make a detour. In some cases, when we couldn't make the detour, we were forced to kill the snake.
I described several encounters with the matacaballo in the story that was in the Snap Shots. In each instance, when we had to dispatch the snake, it was my friend Lorenzo who ended up doing the job. Because of Lorenzo's snake killing activity, his cousin Emilio jokingly called him mataculebras, the "snake killer." He was given this name after the incident in Manabí where Lorenzo was forced to dispatch a very ill tempered matacaballo that not only stole our doves that fell near by, but threatened our passage through the only trail out of the area. The snake just refused to move and instead attempted to attack us!
The matacaballo, deservedly or not, has a fearsome reputation in Ecuador. As its name implies, it is supposed to be so strong and venomous that it can kill a horse with its bite. I have no doubt that it can kill a horse, since even the smaller rattlesnakes have been known to kill a horse with its venom. Whatever the case may be, the matacaballo, with its colorful name of "horse killer," is a venomous snake that ranks right up there with the Australian tiger snake, African black mamba, and the cobras of India, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The matacaballo of Central and South America may not be as poisonous as some of the others, but it is one scary snake that is extremely aggressive and big! To me, it much more dangerous, because of its very aggressive nature, than our rattlesnakes and the Okinawan habu. I have had many encounters with rattlesnakes and in fact almost stepped on some, and I encountered habu on Okinawa when I was hunting as a kid. But neither the rattlesnakes nor the habu make me quite so wary as the matacaballo of Ecuador.
Friday, April 1, 2016
Canine Characters I Have Known - "Stenka"
Having been a passionate hunting enthusiasts since my childhood, I had the opportunity to meet many different hunting dogs in my life. Interestingly, most of the real canine "characters" that I have known were of the Pointer breed. There were a few other breeds, a weird Labrador, a psychotic Springer, and some others. But by far, the strangest and weirdest were a couple Pointers, including the one that I had!
On my last stay on Okinawa (1966-68), shortly after Jo and I got married in 1966, and after we moved to the house in Onishi Terrace Heights in Ojana, we decided to get a dog. I wanted a hunting dog, since I was going to resume hunting on Okinawa. The problem was, of course, there were no kennels to speak of on the island, so the only way you could get a dog was from private individuals. So, we decided to place an ad in the Morning Star. The ad read something like this:
WANTED
Hunting dog (bird dog) pup, under a year.
Pointer, Setter, or Spaniel preferred.
Call (our phone number).
It seems that as soon as the ad was placed we received a call. A young woman who lived in Futenma area said she had a Pointer "pup" that they were willing to give to a "good home." I think everyone knows that there is no such thing as a "free lunch." Everything has its price, and a dog that is offered for free to a good home is usually a problem animal. It isn't always so, but it is more often than not that the dog has some sort of a behavioral problem.
However, we were so thrilled at the prospect of getting a new dog that we immediately rushed over to the woman's house. The young woman, it turned out, was a wife of a Navy Lieutenant and they had two small children and she was pregnant with a third. They lived in a house that was much smaller than ours and with no yard. The dog, a full size lemon and white English Pointer greeted us by jumping up and practically knocking us over. I asked the woman how old the dog was, since I was looking for a pup, and this one did not look like a pup. But she said not to let his large size fool us, that he was under a year old, still a pup! I had seen a lot of English Pointers, and this one was not an under one year old pup, he was more like a two year old! But the dog (Gin was his name) was very friendly and the woman assured us that there were no problems and that he was house broken. She said that he was a bit too rambunctious for the two small kids and what with the small house and no yard, and her expecting another child, it was difficult for her to manage the dog. So, foolishly (very foolishly, as it turned out!), we took Gin home.
We renamed him, since Gin, we thought, was too pedestrian a name for such a dog. We called him Stenka, after Stenka Razin, the legendary Don Cossack pirate who used to ply his trade on Volga River. We were very pleased with the name since it seemed a perfect fit for the somewhat cocky and "swashbuckling" style of our new Pointer. After he seemed to get accustomed to us and respond to his new name, I began his bird dog training. I soon discovered that he was more than a handful for one person to handle. We used to take him out to Yomitan air strip where there were always quail. But Stenka appeared to not have any interest in quail, rather, he was fascinated by swallows that would skim low above the ground. Once Stenka spotted a swallow, he was gone like he was shot out of a cannon and it normally took both our efforts to corral the wild Pointer. I would chase him on foot, while Jo would try to cut him off by driving on the paved portions of the air strip. Our training attempts at Yomitan were disastrous, we spent more time chasing him than anything else. He seemed to be untrainable! No amount of effort, no training technique seemed to work with him.
We got Stenka in the Spring, so the weather was warm and we used to often go to the beach. We couldn't go to any beaches where there were people, since Stenka would always do something to annoy others, like walking all over sunbathers, lifting his leg and peeing on their property, stealing their food, and generally making a nuisance of himself. He was not very well socialized. So we sought out secluded, small beaches. Fortunately, at least back in the those days, there were plenty of smaller, secluded beaches on Okinawa. However, even with no one around Stenka managed to get into trouble. He discovered crabs underwater and would actually dive for them! Pointers are not known to be waterdogs, but I guess Stenka never heard of that. He would dive for crabs and bring them to shore and pile them up in a mound like he was making some sort of a religious offering! He would keep doing that until we had to drag him away because his eyes would become red and swollen from all the salt water!
At home he was a problem. He was only "sort of" house broken. There were many "accidents." Our yard was not fenced so he had to be taken outside on a leash, otherwise he disappeared. Stenka loved to brawl with neighborhood dogs and he also had an amorous streak and sought out all the female canines. Once I noticed he had difficulty urinating, so I took him to a veterinarian. The vet examined Stenka and very quickly gave his prognosis - Stenka had canine venereal disease! I didn't even know that there was such a thing as canine STD, but apparently there were several strains and Stenka had contracted the more common one. He had to receive penicillin treatment to be cured!
He was a terror of Onishi Terrace Heights. Once he escaped from his confinement, he was gone, sometimes for days! I looked for him all over, and couple of times spotted him running with a pack of village dogs! He loved to fight and would charge any dog regardless of size, he seemed fearless. Stenka particularly disliked a pair of dogs that lived a few houses from us. They were in a fenced yard, a concrete block fence that was about five feet high. Every time Stenka got loose, he would head straight for that house, sail over the fence like an Olympic athlete, and proceed to beat up the two dogs. The owner, an old man who was a DOD employee and lived alone, used to shoot his sling shot loaded with marbles at Stenka. It didn't seem to bother Stenka at all as he continued to beat up the old man's dogs while I would desperately try to pull him away! Fortunately, the old man's dogs were never seriously hurt, apparently Stenka was more noise than actual bite!
Stenka was impossible. I couldn't train him, couldn't control him. At home it was dangerous to leave him alone since he not only had "accidents," but destroyed things. Once we left him alone for several hours and he chewed off completely the rear portion of the rockers on a rocking chair that we had. Jo sat down and almost toppled over! We didn't know what to do with him. Strangely enough, there was someone who wanted him! A long time resident of Okinawa, an American married to an Okinawan, who lived in a house with a very large fenced-in yard wanted Stenka! He thought Stenka was the most beautiful dog in the world! Stenka was a very impressive looking animal, very graceful looking, despite his horrible behavior! I warned the man about Stenka's behavior but he said that he wasn't concerned, that he had a large yard and lived in a secluded area. So, Stenka left us and I never heard anything about him again. I continued to see the man from time to time and he was always friendly, never said anything about Stenka, so I assume everything was OK.
On my last stay on Okinawa (1966-68), shortly after Jo and I got married in 1966, and after we moved to the house in Onishi Terrace Heights in Ojana, we decided to get a dog. I wanted a hunting dog, since I was going to resume hunting on Okinawa. The problem was, of course, there were no kennels to speak of on the island, so the only way you could get a dog was from private individuals. So, we decided to place an ad in the Morning Star. The ad read something like this:
WANTED
Hunting dog (bird dog) pup, under a year.
Pointer, Setter, or Spaniel preferred.
Call (our phone number).
It seems that as soon as the ad was placed we received a call. A young woman who lived in Futenma area said she had a Pointer "pup" that they were willing to give to a "good home." I think everyone knows that there is no such thing as a "free lunch." Everything has its price, and a dog that is offered for free to a good home is usually a problem animal. It isn't always so, but it is more often than not that the dog has some sort of a behavioral problem.
However, we were so thrilled at the prospect of getting a new dog that we immediately rushed over to the woman's house. The young woman, it turned out, was a wife of a Navy Lieutenant and they had two small children and she was pregnant with a third. They lived in a house that was much smaller than ours and with no yard. The dog, a full size lemon and white English Pointer greeted us by jumping up and practically knocking us over. I asked the woman how old the dog was, since I was looking for a pup, and this one did not look like a pup. But she said not to let his large size fool us, that he was under a year old, still a pup! I had seen a lot of English Pointers, and this one was not an under one year old pup, he was more like a two year old! But the dog (Gin was his name) was very friendly and the woman assured us that there were no problems and that he was house broken. She said that he was a bit too rambunctious for the two small kids and what with the small house and no yard, and her expecting another child, it was difficult for her to manage the dog. So, foolishly (very foolishly, as it turned out!), we took Gin home.
We renamed him, since Gin, we thought, was too pedestrian a name for such a dog. We called him Stenka, after Stenka Razin, the legendary Don Cossack pirate who used to ply his trade on Volga River. We were very pleased with the name since it seemed a perfect fit for the somewhat cocky and "swashbuckling" style of our new Pointer. After he seemed to get accustomed to us and respond to his new name, I began his bird dog training. I soon discovered that he was more than a handful for one person to handle. We used to take him out to Yomitan air strip where there were always quail. But Stenka appeared to not have any interest in quail, rather, he was fascinated by swallows that would skim low above the ground. Once Stenka spotted a swallow, he was gone like he was shot out of a cannon and it normally took both our efforts to corral the wild Pointer. I would chase him on foot, while Jo would try to cut him off by driving on the paved portions of the air strip. Our training attempts at Yomitan were disastrous, we spent more time chasing him than anything else. He seemed to be untrainable! No amount of effort, no training technique seemed to work with him.
We got Stenka in the Spring, so the weather was warm and we used to often go to the beach. We couldn't go to any beaches where there were people, since Stenka would always do something to annoy others, like walking all over sunbathers, lifting his leg and peeing on their property, stealing their food, and generally making a nuisance of himself. He was not very well socialized. So we sought out secluded, small beaches. Fortunately, at least back in the those days, there were plenty of smaller, secluded beaches on Okinawa. However, even with no one around Stenka managed to get into trouble. He discovered crabs underwater and would actually dive for them! Pointers are not known to be waterdogs, but I guess Stenka never heard of that. He would dive for crabs and bring them to shore and pile them up in a mound like he was making some sort of a religious offering! He would keep doing that until we had to drag him away because his eyes would become red and swollen from all the salt water!
At home he was a problem. He was only "sort of" house broken. There were many "accidents." Our yard was not fenced so he had to be taken outside on a leash, otherwise he disappeared. Stenka loved to brawl with neighborhood dogs and he also had an amorous streak and sought out all the female canines. Once I noticed he had difficulty urinating, so I took him to a veterinarian. The vet examined Stenka and very quickly gave his prognosis - Stenka had canine venereal disease! I didn't even know that there was such a thing as canine STD, but apparently there were several strains and Stenka had contracted the more common one. He had to receive penicillin treatment to be cured!
He was a terror of Onishi Terrace Heights. Once he escaped from his confinement, he was gone, sometimes for days! I looked for him all over, and couple of times spotted him running with a pack of village dogs! He loved to fight and would charge any dog regardless of size, he seemed fearless. Stenka particularly disliked a pair of dogs that lived a few houses from us. They were in a fenced yard, a concrete block fence that was about five feet high. Every time Stenka got loose, he would head straight for that house, sail over the fence like an Olympic athlete, and proceed to beat up the two dogs. The owner, an old man who was a DOD employee and lived alone, used to shoot his sling shot loaded with marbles at Stenka. It didn't seem to bother Stenka at all as he continued to beat up the old man's dogs while I would desperately try to pull him away! Fortunately, the old man's dogs were never seriously hurt, apparently Stenka was more noise than actual bite!
Stenka was impossible. I couldn't train him, couldn't control him. At home it was dangerous to leave him alone since he not only had "accidents," but destroyed things. Once we left him alone for several hours and he chewed off completely the rear portion of the rockers on a rocking chair that we had. Jo sat down and almost toppled over! We didn't know what to do with him. Strangely enough, there was someone who wanted him! A long time resident of Okinawa, an American married to an Okinawan, who lived in a house with a very large fenced-in yard wanted Stenka! He thought Stenka was the most beautiful dog in the world! Stenka was a very impressive looking animal, very graceful looking, despite his horrible behavior! I warned the man about Stenka's behavior but he said that he wasn't concerned, that he had a large yard and lived in a secluded area. So, Stenka left us and I never heard anything about him again. I continued to see the man from time to time and he was always friendly, never said anything about Stenka, so I assume everything was OK.
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