Why the fighting class of ’69 is forever flying high

America is going to war. How soon, I don’t know, but this grizzled old war correspondent feels it in his bones. Some people say Americans are dangerous because they’re "unpredictable." On the contrary, they are very predictable. You shoot at America – and America shoots back. Sometimes too wildly. But shoot the "Yankees" will. As one who’s covered a few conflicts involving Americans, my advice is: Duck.

One indication that the Americans are battening down the hatches, preliminary to launching a "strike", is a very small but significant warning signal, not easily detected by the naked eye. Quite by accident yesterday, this writer discovered that the United State Consulate here has been rejecting, in the past week, visa applications for first-timers to go out to the US, or refusing to renew expired visas.

This is not in reaction, as the usual firebrands might interpret it, to some hyped-up complaints in the media over Senate President Franklin Drilon having been compelled to take off his shoes at the San Francisco airport. "How dare the Americans think a Filipino leader, with a diplomatic passport, might be packing dynamite in his shoes to blow up an aircraft." (That’s what indignant commentators groused. Sus, what if Frank had a hole in his sock? Drilon was wise not to have made too big a fuss over this silly amor propio issue himself.)

Refusing to issue visas is what US consulates overseas did in 1991, just before the Americans launched Operation "Desert Storm", triggering off their all-out attack on Iraqi forces in Kuwait as well as fortifications and installations in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq.

Just a straw in the wind, but the warning flags are up.

* * *

The announcement yesterday that Lt. General Benjamin Defensor Jr. has been appointed the incoming Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff came as no surprise to those in the know. The President had "assured" Defensor more than a month ago he would take over in September from the retiring AFP Chief, General Roy Cimatu, Defensor had requested all those who "knew" to please keep quiet about it.

When a newspaper prematurely broke the news last Monday, in a banner headline at that, the expected firestorm arose over the prospect of the Commanding General of the Philippine Air Force getting the top slot in the military warnings against Marcos-style "deep selection" and violation of "seniority," etc. plus a multitude of ad hominem barbs, were dredged up. To no avail.

The President and Commander-in-Chief is to be commended for staying the course. The next question is how long or how short a time General Defensor will serve. One thing is sure: There will be significant changes in attitude and approach in the top echelons of the military after Defensor takes command on September 10. Can’t say much more without letting the cat out of the bag. Defensor left a command conference, chaired by National Defense Secretary Angelo T. Reyes, to have lunch with us at the Tower Club in Makati. (He arrived in time, at least, for the coffee and the cake.)

His classmate, former PETRON Chairman (and Ambassador) Joey Syjuco – West Point ’69 – brought out a compact disk of their class of Philippine Military Academy 1969 singing the old familiar songs of their cadet days. Both Benjie and Joey autographed it for me.

The CD, entitled The Sounds of ’69: Memories and Traces carried on its cover the photographs of Defensor and Syjuco as cadets, along with their classmates, such as former PNP Director General Larry Mendoza, Lt. Gen. Jaime S. de los Santos, Lt. Gen. Gregorio Camiling, Jr., Chris Abanes, Bingbo Brillantes, Vic Erfe, Jus Manlongat AND Dan Reventar. Absent from the photo gallery was Admiral Willie Wong. "That’s because Willie," Defensor quipped, "didn’t know how to sing!" They all appeared so achingly young in those long-ago portraits. They all dreamed dreams of going into battle for the country – and, of course, rising to the highest rank. Which they did.

What did they call themselves? "The Fighting ’69".

What were the songs in that nostalgic album? Memories/Traces; Eight Days a Week; I Feel Fine; Goin’ Out of My Head/Can’t Take My Eyes Off You; A World Without Love; Wake Up, Little Suzie.

I couldn’t help musing that daring to be "corny" was the source of our nation’s inner strength.

* * *

Indeed, that small PMA Class of ’69 attained the summit of its aspirations and dreams. There were only 42 graduates in that batch. Yet, they earned the most coveted stars.

Defensor served one year and ten months as Commanding General of the PAF, before now being promoted to AFP Chief of Staff. (His planes bombed and strafed the hell out of the rebels in the battle for Camp Abubakar.)

Lt. General Leandro Ramos Mendoza became the nation’s Police Chief as Director-General of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments yesterday afternoon as the Secretary of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

Lt. Gen. Gregorio Camiling if, of course, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. He took charge of one of the most major fields of assignment – Southcom in Mindanao. He was one of the candidates for AFP Chief of Staff.

Lt. Gen. Jaime S. de los Santos retired as Deputy Chief of Staff and Commanding General (the 42nd in succession) of the Philippine Army. De Los Santos further was the first Filipino and ASEAN national to lead a United Nations Multinational Peacekeeping Force, commanding for more than half a year the 24-nation UN PKF in East Timor which mopped up the operation to seal the borders and eject the murderous pro-Jakarta Timorese militia. (His position there carried the rank of Assistant Secretary General to the United Nations).

De los Santos later wrote an interesting and insightful book entitled, Command Leadership (with Captain Adonis Rizon-Bajao). In his concluding chapter, the general asked: "How can the Army ensure a steady flow of . . . leadership? There are no magic elixirs, not even the most elaborate training ensures manifestations of those qualities." He wrote that "my character was shaped by the hardships that I went through. The ‘Reception’ at PMA taught me that cadet life is hard and exacting and that if I did not do more than the ordinary, I would never make it."

That, in capsule, I guess, describes why the Class of ’69 soared to such heights. Doing more than the ordinary seemed to have been the norm for all of them.

* * *

One of the shining stars of the class attained the highest rank in the Philippine Navy. This is Admiral Willie Wong, who served as Flag Officer in Command (FOIC) until his bluntness in denouncing corruption in military procurements got him into hot water – and he was virtually kicked out of that post. He didn’t go quietly into the night. True to form (his being outspoken dates back to his cadet days), Wong spoke out, then immediately retired from the service.

President Macapagal-Arroyo, at a four-on-one private dinner we had some months ago, recalled how Wong, in the zero hour of the confusion that attended EDSA II and the imminent toppling of President Joseph Estrada, had met with some classmates over whether to support GMA’a ascension to the Presidency. "Why should we hand it over to her?" Wong had exclaimed. Anyway, that’s what GMA’s sources had reported to her in the wake of that Class ’69 reunion.

"However," said GMA, "I prized Wong for his honesty. When he retired, I found he had no nest."

I puzzled over this for a few seconds, then remarked: "I think, Mrs. President, you meant to say Wong had not accumulated a nest egg – meaning, he hadn’t made money while in the service."

The Commander-in-Chief nodded that this is what she meant. "Anyway," she beamed, "he needed a job so I gave him a job. I appointed Wong, after asking him where he preferred to be assigned, our Ambassador to Vietnam." That’s where Willie Wong is today, diligently serving as the country’s envoy to Hanoi.

One thing can be said of the Cavaliers of PMA ’69. They don’t lack either bravura or pizazz.