I
was on a roll! My one-year assignment, received at Scott Field,
Illinois, while assigned to the Headquarters of MATS (Military Air
Transport Service) was to Thailand. And I thought it was a Winner!
Instead of a Headquarters Staff Officer, I was to be out in the
field; an Accounting and Finance Officer (A&FO) again. But, I
had
to bounce around within the country a little before my final
assignment came in. The Gulf of Siam is just south of Thailand and
the town of Satahip was situated right on a corner of land protruding
into the Gulf. Here was located the U-Tapao RTNS (Royal Thai Naval
Station), both a Naval Port and an Aerial Port.
The
sleepy fishing village of Satahip was energized and had gotten a
facelift with the stationing of thousands of Americans, mostly U.S.
Air Force members, whose presence required a myriad of construction
projects that included extending the runways and building a petroleum
pipeline from the Navy Port facilities to the Air Base. A SAC Wing of
thirsty B-52 Bombers and their KC-135 Tankers justified this JP4
pipeline and those extra-long runways.
The
various building projects on-base also caused a fleet of hundreds of
Japanese-origin Dump Trucks to be constantly in motion as they
gradually cut down a nearby mountain of Red Laterite and spread it
around to stabilize the low ground on base, originally somewhat like
a marsh. And, if a careering and careening Dump Truck didn’t
“get you,” you had to especially watch out for
scores of
“Baht-buses” hell-bent-for-election, carrying their
fares
at all-out speeds in every direction.
Exotic
Bangkok was within Baht-bus range (about 90 miles to the Northwest).
The Hotels there were falling all over themselves to subsidize
various forms of transportation from the Base to downtown Bangkok, as
a courtesy to the Americans, of course. Those who didn’t care
to travel via surface modes could usually find a semi-official reason
for catching the regular daily “Round-Robin”
Lockheed
C-130 Hercules flight to Don Muang Air Base just outside Bangkok or
other destinations “up-country.”
As
I have stated elsewhere, all non-combat support personnel were on a
ten-hour shift with one day off a week. Many of us were still
“on-call” when off-duty from our normal work. Then
there
was always your turn on the roster for a 24-hour shift of performing
Staff
Duty Officer for
the Combat Support Group, about once every three weeks. Besides being
assigned to one of the Disaster Control Teams, there were also the
“Additional Duties.” Sometimes these were given to
last
the entire overseas tour and sometimes as a
“one-time”
event.
I
was selected to perform as a one-time “Investigating
Officer”
in the suspected theft of 20 Window Air Conditioning Units. Now crime
was not unknown to the Thai community. Normal protective measures
such as locked doors or “Full-Security” warehouses,
or
Well-lighted security compounds with barbed-wire fencing and Patrol
Dogs only slightly hampered the clever denizens of the Thai
“underworld.”
But
in behalf of the friendly Thai people, let me say that wonders never
cease. Once, when our on-base Bank had been “hit”
and $
25,000.00 had been stolen in an Armed Robbery in broad daylight, it
looked bad for our local Bank Manager who was an American Civilian
and who became a good friend of mine. He had been involved in hiring
a new female cashier who was now missing since the day of the
robbery. Not to worry about such a matter in Thailand. A visit to the
Head-Priest of the local Buddhist Monks and all was arranged. The
woman was located, her masked boy-friend who perpetrated the crime
was arrested and amazingly, the money was duly returned all in about
10 days. Naturally, the Bank Manager's job was saved.
During
this cursory investigation, I was under the nominal supervision of
the local JAG (Judge Advocate General) otherwise known as the
“Legal
Officer.” I read the Regulations covering the assignment to
such an investigation but they were not very much help except for the
instructions on how to prepare the final report. And there were no
briefings by the “Legal Office” on such matters and
not
much other assistance available unless you happened to know someone
in the Military Police.
I
did have a fleeting acquaintance with the local Provost Marshal who
was a Lieutenant Colonel and a buddy of my boss, the Comptroller. But
he was much too busy closing down shady bars that had sprung-up on
some corner of the Base or placing unhealthful off-base congregation
points “off-limits” to all Military Personnel. So,
in the
end, this left me all alone using my wits to report and make
recommendations on this alleged crime.
The
Air Conditioners were big window units and each was worth about
$395.00
(wholesale) and were intended for one of the Headquarters buildings
nearing completion. It amounted to a theft of $ 7,900.00 in brand-new
merchandise and back in the U.S.A. (in our system of jurisprudence)
this would easily have qualified as “Grand
Theft.”
But,
of course, those words would only have fit on the “statement
of charges”
to
the perpetrator, if there was one. But, there was nobody under
suspicion by the Air Police or their Thai counterparts.
I
started by visiting the local Air Police Post; showed them my letter
of appointment, and was allowed to read all their reports. The
missing units were gone from the on-base construction site and had
been there one day and the very next day were missing. The site was
reasonably secure, being well lighted at night, and with Security
Police Patrols every hour or so, staggered in time so that they could
not have been anticipated. They were in a compound surrounded by
fencing (but not electrified) and it was not protected with Dog
Patrols.
A
valid conclusion could have been that it was a
“theft-to-order”
since very valuable materials were not touched (such as rolls of pure
copper tubing & cable, etc.). As it was, it must have been
conducted with well-planned organization, lightning-like speed, and
ordinary-looking vehicles since the Gate Guards detected nothing
suspicious that evening. It was so magical and smoothly done, almost
with sleight-of-hand, that in
my personal opinion it
was an “inside job” although, without further
tangible
proof, I would not have dreamed of putting that into my report.
After
days of making the
rounds of talking to construction workers, Air Policemen of different
shifts, and other interested parties (including Warehousing to make
sure they were not covering an internal loss by crying:
“Theft”),
I had to finally call it a day by writing my final report. I must
admit that I was pretty much at my wits' end over this open-ended,
intangible situation.
As
I sorely needed
background information, I perused a personal insurance policy of my
own regarding what household furniture losses were covered by
insurance and what were not so covered. One item caught my eye
because it was fully covered by the insurance company, even though it
was somewhat “flaky” as to circumstances
surrounding the
loss. It was a category called “Mysterious
Disappearance.”
It apparently fit here since there seemed to be no trace of persons
involved or other irregularities as points of reference for a crime.
And so, I seized upon the opportunity of putting Civilian
Insurance Policy
terminology
into my report:
“Conclusion:
No trace of the items could be found and no trace of any crime became
visible during the investigation. Therefore, the loss of these 20
items of Equipment was the result of a “Mysterious
Disappearance.”
After
I had exactly
followed the instructions on how to prepare the final report, I duly
filed
my
report and was dismissed from the case by the “Legal
Officer” ̶ with thanks.
Several
weeks later,
meeting the Legal Officer on the way to the mail-room, I asked about
how my report had been received by the Chain of Command. He laughed
and said it was exemplary and that they were now using my report as a
“model” to show newly assigned one-time
“additional
duty” investigators how to perform and write up their
investigation. I was astounded !
Naturally,
I was flattered
beyond all bounds, but I'm a Taxpayer too and so I was also aghast
that many future losses would probably be covered by such a
“blanket”
conclusion. In the end, all I could do was “shrug”
and
say: “Well, the facts of each investigation are different and
so that’s their lookout.”
I
was glad that I was not
assigned any more of these investigations and that this was my one
and only attempt to be a solver of crimes against the Military!
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