War Stories 35

[ikar]

I was asked to take a class in Bangkok to become a Military Customs Inspector. When I agreed they cut my orders and told me when to catch my ride to Bangkok. The classes would be held at Don Maung Airport (air base).

At the appointed time my ride was waiting on the flight line:

To get in to the C-47, you stepped up the little boarding ladder an found a place on the metal bench seat lining the fuselage walls. I picked a spot and sat down and looked around. My Father had flown one of these things?

Somebody walked into the aircraft and began closing the windows. This came as a bit of a surprise as I started to compare this to the only other prop job I had ever flown in, a C-130. I'm assuming this guy worked the transit ramp or maybe the terminal, but either way he left, turned around, disconnected the ladder and threw it into the cargo area not far from one of my fellow passengers. He then leaned in, yelled something to the cockpit and slammed the cargo door. I then noticed that there was a gap on the bottom of the door about three or more inches wide. This promised to be a fun trip.

As we headed south I noticed that you could look right into the cockpit and watch the pilot and co-pilot at work. I also noticed one member of the crew and stretched himself across the opening and looked asleep.

You know, those things sound just like they do in the movies. Ah. the sound of piston engines.

Along the way we ran into a storm and people started to get sick from all the fish tailing we had been doing. It got worse and people started looking for a bathroom. It was located under the tail, the part of the plane that was moving the most.

After a couple hours of this we made it to Bangkok and were taken to our hotel. In the morning we started a week of classes, many of them given by the D.E.A. During the week we got to watch a contraband bust at the airport and watched a series of photos taken of a G.I. they busted for doing opium. They made a deal with him though. If they could take pictures of him doing one more hit, they would not mention it to the authorities and would also mention how co-operative he had been with information they needed.

When I got back to Korat I found out that not only did I have to work customs, it would be after I finished my regular shift. This would make me work close to 16 hours a day for several days a week.

On one day I was talking to a pilot of a EC-121 and asked him how long it would take him to get back to the Satate. He was estimating about 90 hours. While we were talking as I went through his bags a call came over for one of the other aircraft commanders to report to his ship. They had a problem that needed his attention, along with one of the L.E. jeeps. While they were doing last minute checks they fired up that big belly dome and started to get some strange readings. Finally they decided to pull the dome and that's when they discovered a large block of marijuana had bee suspended inside the dome and was directly in front of their radar dish. By this time it had ben fairly well cooked.

Someone else came through and he was told to dump his duffle bag. The inspector was given the usual line about having just packed everything but had no choice if he wanted to leave. Reluctantly he did as he was told and a brand new AK-47 fell out, with clips. He was pulled side and had to wait for his upcoming discussion with O.S.I.

During a trip to a hooch for another squadron, the K-9 team alerted on a small coffee table and chairs the G.I. had hand made and was taking it home. The inspectors check all over for residue, hidden compartments and so on. They even took it to the clinic for an x-ray and still found nothing. Giving up one of the locals started to pack it when he accidently chipped the table. Getting a bit nervous he tried to see if it could be repaired without showing the damage. Although the outside looked like teak, the inside didn't look like wood at all. A call was made to Law Enforcement who sent another patrol to back up K-9 and they also contacted O.S.I. who brought a drug kit. The furniture turned out to be made of pure Hashish. He was immediately picked up and held for the next flight out of Thailand, probably CLark where he would be safe but stand trial later.