Being in the National Guard I have had the opportunity to visit many places that ordinarily would never see. Countries that I have spend time in are: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Panama and Ecuador. En route to and from some of those places, I have landed in Ireland, Belgium and Italy. Also in the Guard, I have been to California, Las Vegas, Nevada and while in the US Navy, I had been to Chicago, Jacksonville, Orlando, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
In 1998, I was with the 438th Military Police Company in Murray, Kentucky. The Kentucky Army National Guard was tasked to provide humanitarian assistance to Ecuador which is located in South America. I volunteered to go and looked forward to the trip.
We flew out of Louisville, KY airport to Ecuador. The plane ride was uneventful, except that the crew of the civilian chartered plane did not like the idea of myself and other Military Police soldiers carrying 9mm handguns. We arrived in Ecuador and the rotation of MP's waiting to go home were at the airport. They briefed us on the mission, gave us the keys to the Humvees and a handful of 9mm ammunition. We distributed the ammo, I think I was given about five rounds and drove to the base. It took several hours to reach the base due to the conditions of the roads. The bad weather of the past several months had washed many of the roads away. We arrived in the evening and got ourselves ready for the mission next day. Being Military Police, we were assigned to provide 24-hour security at the sites where the engineers were building schools and clinics.
We rotated from town to town and the most difficult part of the job was keeping the young kids away from the Engineers and US Army equipment. The kids were very partial to the soldiers and liked the MRE's (meals ready to eat). A few could speak a few words of English, learned from previous US soldiers but with aid from soldiers assigned to us from Ecuador, we managed to communicate.
Villages were very primitive as compared to the United States. Electric power was provided by a generator within the village. I recall one village the generator was not working and at night, there were no lights at all. I worked day shift and arrived just at sun up and to see the villagers getting ready for the day. It was not uncommon to see a man leave the village with a single-shot shotgun go into the jungle and return in a few minutes with game to eat. The woman stayed busy with household chores in which laundry was done at the river bank. Men left to work with heavy chainsaws to headed into the jungle. During the week, some children attended school. With the lack of schools and staff, only the eldest child of each family attended school. He or she was expected to return home and teach the younger siblings of the day's education.
Our accommodations were a little better than the villages. We were set up in tent city with concrete floors, showers and a place to eat chow. A laundry tent was also set up. Being that there were very long hours on duty, there was little need for entertainment. Wildlife visited the camp also, that included insects the size of my fist and frogs as large as my foot. Also, one soldier caught a Boa Constrictor and I had my picture made with the snake. I am not very fond of snakes!
With the mission complete and next rotation to relieve us, we travelled to a resort town near the airport. I was assigned to be in charge of the weapon's crew and provided personal security to the battalion commander. We arrived at the Ecuador Army base, I turned over our weapons and ammunition and arrangements with a cab service to take us to the resort town. Are team arrived at the town and found where the other Military Police had found rooms. The hotel was located on the beach were there were numerous places to eat and have fun. I found a steak eatery and after much communication in the little Spanish I knew, I ended up with a plate full of large fried shrimp, rice and vegetables. With two 20-oz. beers the cost was under $7! I made plans to return to the same place for lunch the next day. We spent the evening in the local disco techs and beach bars. The next day, I made an effort to swim in the Pacific Ocean.
Our rotation was over and after a delay at the airport we flew home.
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