by Dale Brown
"Bandit three now heading southwest, your ten o'clock position, eight
miles, airspeed one-zero-zero knots, altitude three thousand. Appears to
be buggin' out." Collins knew that the guys could turn and re-attack
quickly, but he had no choice-he was too far away to pursue. "All
right, Basket, I'm staying. Give me a heads-up if he comes back.
Switching to Guard channel." To his copilot in the Sea Hammer's left
seat, Collins said, "You got the aircraft." The copilot shook the
control stick to acknowledge the order, and Collins released the
controls. "Start an orbit over the area. I'll see if I can find him on
the FLIR." Collins' copilot climbed to five hundred feet, stabilized,
then began a slow orbit over the area. Collins activated the AN/AAQ-16
FLIR, or Forward Looking Infrared, sensor ball, which presented a
thermal image of the forest below in his helmet-mounted sights. At the
same time he keyed the microphone button: "Bullet, this is Able
Zero-Seven on Guard. Bullet, if you read me, give me a tone on Rescue
one. Over." A few seconds later, Collins heard, "Able Zero-Seven, this
is Bullet on Guard. I read you loud and clear." The DF directionfinder
read southwest. The accent was strange, the voice clipped and
precise-too precise. There was also a lot of background noise. It
could be his own rotors . . . or it could be someone else. Collins
said, "Bullet, go to Rescue One and hold down for ten. Over."
"Able Zero-Seven, I cannot. Land on shoreline. I can see you. Land on
shoreline."
"Bullet, go to Rescue One. Over." "Able Zero-Seven, I am injured. I
cannot work my radio. Land on the shoreline. I am just a few meters
inland. Hurry. Over." The DF readout still read southwest-but that
could mean a hundred yards southwest or ten miles southwest. The Navy
pilot was not following orders because he was panicking-or because it
wasn't a Navy pilot talking. The term "meters" worried Collins, but
more military guys were using metric measurements like meters and
"klicks, " so that wasn't a definite giveaway. On the Guard emergency
channel, Collins said, "Stand by, Bullet." To his copilot, Collins
said, "Swing west a few miles. Let's see if we can triangulate this DF
steer." The MV-22 swung west away from the coastline, keeping as close
to the treetops as possible. "Able Zero-Seven, this is Bullet, come in.
Come in, Able." Bowman was groggy but awake. He had a pounding
headache and completely washed-out vision. He felt paralyzed, and when
he tried to move, a red-hot wave of pain rolled up and down his back.
Same for his left arm-it wasn't just his elbow anymore, the entire arm
felt broken. His wrists were still handcuffed together and the survival
radio was gone... No, not gone. He could hear faint voices coming from
somewhere. Fighting through the pain in his back and arm, he scratched
his fingers across the mud and foliage toward the sound. Just as he
thought he was going to pass out from the pain, his fingers brushed the
thick rubber of the short antenna. A spark of hope shot through his
pain-tortured brain, and he was able to grab the radio and drag it to
his body. "Stand by, Bullet, " Bowman heard. "Bullet, switch to Rescue
One, if able. Over."
"Unable to switch. Help me. Land on the shoreline. I will find you.
Able... that was the call sign of the Navy rescue choppers on Ranger on
the day that Bowman was shot down. The PJs finally found him! But who
was he talking to? There was another Bullet crew member out here? Who
was he talking to? Miller? Was Cookin' alive? He couldn't believe
it-Miller had really made it! But he suddenly realized that wasn't
right. Miller was dead. The voice on the radio didn't sound
American-it sounded too smooth, too practiced. It had to be Chinese!
The Chinese were trying to coax the Navy rescue bird into landing. No
downed aircrewman would ever do that-a downed aircrewman's
responsibility was to first get himself located, then follow
instructions from the rescue bird. He was not supposed to issue orders.
Bowman's radio was set to the Guard channel. On the PRC23D radio, there
was a four-position rotary dial: full clockwise, toward the side with
the antenna, was Guard, one click counterclockwise was Off, one more
click was Rescue One, and one more was Rescue Two. With trembling
fingers, Bowman depressed the rotary dial and twisted the knob once to
the Off position; then, with a tremendous effort, twisted the dial to
Rescue One and depressed a rubber switch on the side of the unit. ...
The DF readout on radio number one was moving slightly south. "Few more
miles, " Collins said to his copilot, "and we can plot out his position
Suddenly, radio number two came alive with a distinctive Piiinng!
Piiinng! Piiinng! Piiinng! tone. The DF readout on the second channel
pointed directly east. "I got a tone on Rescue One!" Collins shouted.
"Coming from the area we just left!"
"That guy on Guard must be an eavesdropper, " the copilot said. "I
almost fell for it, too. Follow the DF steer from Rescue One." Collins
switched from Guard channel to Rescue One. "Bullet on Rescue One, I
copy your tone. Give me a tone when we fly overhead." They were about
sixty seconds on the new heading toward the east when Collins said, "I
think I have something down there. PJs, stand by." In the rear of the
MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft were four pararescue jumpers, or PJs, two
sitting on the port and starboard cargo doors, wearing rappelling gear.
Collins tracked the warm spot below him with the FLIR. Just before the
object was directly beneath them, they heard another series of tones on
Rescue One. The copilot flew past the spot, but Collins continued to
track the warm spot and hit a button on the AN/AYK-14 mission computer,
which would store the latitude and longitude of the spot they flew over.
"Bullet, this is Able Zero-Seven, authenticate Victor-Kilo.
Victor-Kilo." No response. "Bullet, this is Able, I say again,
authenticate Victor-Kilo. Over."
"We're coming up on bingo fuel, " the copilot said, "and the Chinese are
bound to bring reinforcements. We can't stay..."
"Once more, then we're outta here, " Collins said. On Rescue One, he
said, "Bullet, I say again "Bullet . . . authenticates . . . Poppa
Zero . . . PoppaZero..."
"He didn't give the whole response, " the copilot said. "Close enough
for me, " Collins said. "But you don't know..."
"I'm taking the chance. I've got the aircraft." Collins took the
controls, gave them a shake to verify transfer of control, then banked
sharply to the left and lined up on the object he was tracking on the
FLIR. When he was pointing at it, he moved a switch on the power
quadrant, which rotated the twin rotor nacelles on the wingtips of the
MV-22 vertically and transformed the Sea Hammer aircraft from an
airplane to a helicopter. He maneuvered the big cargo~plane~turned~heli
copter into a hover, then translated slightly sideways until he found a
clearing beneath the airplane. On interphone, he said, "PJs, our boy's
off the nose, about
thirty yards. No complete ID, but I don't see a
weapon and he's alone. Out." Using their rappelling gear, the PJs edged
off the Sea Hammer and slid to the ground. Unslinging their rifles,
they took a bearing from the MV-22 and proceeded toward the subject. A
few cautious minutes later, they found Bowman. "Able, this is PJ One, I
got him. Looks like one of our boys." The rescue technician quickly
searched Bowman for hidden explosives or booby traps as the second PJ
stood a safe distance away, guarding the area. "Move in position."
Collins edged the Sea Hammer aircraft forward, and the crewmen in the
cargo hold lowered a rescue hoist with a forestzpenetrat0r device down
to the men on the ground. He unfolded the petal-like seats on the
forest penetrator, lifted Bowman up, and secured him into the seat.
Bowman had enough strength to wrap his arms around the rescue device and
do as he was told. "Samar... Samar. Don't forget Samar.. ." Bowman
told the PJ. It was hard to hear over the roar of the MV-22 overhead,
but the first PJ caught a snippet of Bowman's words. "He seems to be
saying Sammy something, " the PJ said on a helmet radio to Collins.
"There might be someone else nearby."
"We don't have time to search for anybody else, " Collins' copilot said.
"We're past bingo already." Collins was using the FL1R scanner to search
the area around the rescue site. Suddenly he stopped. "I got someone
else, " he said. "Thirty yards to the right. He's not moving. Check it
out. Hoist Robby on board." The first PJ on the ground climbed onto
another seat on the forest penetrator, strapped himself on, then pushed
Bowman's head down and wrapped his arms around him as the cargo hold
crew hoisted them up through the foliage. The second PJ began moving
toward the second object, taking directions from Collins, using the
gradually brightening morning skies to find cover until he was close
enough. The crew in the cargo hold of the MV-22 dragged Bowman inside
and wrapped him in a blanket. One PJ shined a flashlight in his face,
then compared the face to a sheet of ID-card photographs of downed
crewmen from the Saratoga. "He matches, " the PJ shouted on interphone.
"Bowman. Bullet Seven's pilot." Collins let out a sigh of relief.
"Dammit, I don't believe it. We got one. The other guy might be his
RIO." The second PJ on the ground reached the body. "He looks like a
Filipino... wait. He's wearing general's stars. No name tag, but he's
got two stars on his collar." Collins maneuvered closer to his ground
crewman. "General's stars... a general? Named Sammy? Sammy... Sa~ar?
Holy shit, that might be General Samar, the fucking Vice President! Get
him on board! Hurry!" ABOARD THE USS RANGER, IN THE PHILIPPINE SEA
MONDAY, 3 OCTOBER 1994, 0600 HOURS MANILA TIME The Philippine national
anthem played in the background. The television transmission showed a
sign written in English, Tagalog, and Chinese, telling the viewer to
stand by for an important message from the Philippine government. After
two minutes, the scene dissolved, to be replaced by the grim face of
Second Vice President General Jose Trujillo Samar. Most of his hair was
burned off, and one eye was swollen shuthe had refused to wear any
bandages, however, because he was afraid his countrymen might not
recognize him, and because he wanted all the world to see what the
Chinese military had done to him. He was wearing his uniform, freshly
cleaned and starched, which hid a tightly wrapped separated shoulder and
burns across most of his upper torso. "My fellow Filipinos and all
others who can hear my voice. I am Jose Samar, Second Vice President of
the Republic of the Philippines. I am speaking to you from a control
room aboard the American aircraft carrier USS Ranger, which is en route
to Guam after being viciously attacked by Chinese warplanes three days
ago. This message is being broadcast to you at six o'clock A.M. on the
third of October, Manila time, via Philippine TV channels two and three,
on the Voice of America, the British Broadcasting Channel shortwave
channel seventeen, and on other international radio and television
channels. "As you can see, 1 am injured but alive. I was rescued on the
second of October from the island of Mindanao by American Marines
shortly after being attacked and nearly killed by patrols from the
People's Republic of China. The Chinese patrols killed several of my
militiamen while we were engaged in rescue operations, trying to save
the life of an American Navy pilot shot down by Chinese fighter planes
several days ago. "I am speaking to you today to tell you that, as the
governor of the Commonwealth of Mindanao and Second Vice President of
the Republic of the Philippines, that the People's Republic of China is
engaged in a full-scale military invasion of my country. Do not be
deceived by stories of cooperation with the Philippine government. The
Chinese are believed to have murdered President Arturo Mikaso. Chinese
warships have taken the Commonwealth cities of Puerto Princesa,
Zamboanga, Cotabato, and Cagayan de Oro, and they are preparing to
launch an all-out assault on the Commonwealth of Mindanao capital city
of Davao. The Chinese are not liberators, nor are they assisting any
legitimate Philippine government officials. They are invaders. They
are moving large-scale military forces into my country with the intent
of permanently occupying and annexing the Philippines. The Chinese
invaders have attacked and killed Philippine citizens and have also
attacked unarmed American reconnaissance planes. "1 am hereby urging all
nations to impose economic and political sanctions on the People's
Republic of China for their illegal invasion, and to do everything in
their power to help remove all Chinese military forces from my country.
As Second Vice President and the only legitimate government leader of
the Philippines, I hereby proclaim all incursions into the Philippines
by the People's Republic of China to be illegal, and I formally order
the People's Republic of China to remove all personnel, warships, and
aircraft from our territories immediately. "My authority may be
challenged by the Communist government in Manila, led by the murderer
Daniel Teguina. Teguina has called me a traitor and a rebel, but it was
he who conspired to assassinate President Mikaso, allow the Chinese Army
to invade the country, and take power for himself behind the brutal arm
of the Red Chinese. His allegations are unfounded, but only the Supreme
Court and the Parliament of the Republic of the Philippines can decide
our guilt or innocence. "But in the Commonwealth of Mindanao my
authority is absolute, and I am still in command despite my injuries. My
militia forces have denied the Chinese complete access to Cotabato
Airport, we have continually routed them from the Cabagan, Davao, and
Pulangi river valleys, and we have prepared a strong defense and a few
surprises for them in Davao if they try to invade us there. This will
be the greatest battle in Philippine history since World War Two. But
we cannot hold
off the Chinese hordes alone. "I am therefore formally
requesting military and economic assistance from the government of the
United States in helping me to repel the Chinese invaders. I hereby
authorize the American government full overflight, landing rights, and
sailing rights into all Philippine and Commonwealth territories, and
hereby grant full authority to conduct military, security, safety, and
other operations in my country. I also authorize the President of the
United States and his designated representatives, civil and military, to
act with full presidential authority in the Commonwealth of Mindanao,
including full authority for all defense matters, and I order my state
militia to obey all orders of the President of the United States or his
theater commanders as if those orders were my own. If I die of my
injuries or am killed by hostile forces, my orders here stated will
remain in force until my state is returned to peace, with all foreign
powers removed. "I hope that all loyal Filipinos hear my words. These
are my standing orders to all loyal Filipinos: "All active, reserve,
national guard, inactive reserve, and former militia members under the
age of sixty are ordered to active duty immediately. Report only to a
district or city militia commander; do not report to a federal, National
People's Party, or New People's Army official, or to anyone you do not
know personally. If it is not possible to contact a militia commander,
attempt to travel to Davao and report to a militia outpost. "To all
other citizens of Mindanao: Do not report for work. Do not surrender
your weapons to anyone under any circumstances; keep them hidden. Report
movements of Chinese or New People's Army troops, or anyone you suspect
of aiding or informing to the Chinese or NPA, to a militia member known
to you. My militiamen will attempt to contact all residents of Davao,
Samal, Panabo, Santo Tomas, and other towns on the Davao Gulf and take
your women and children out of any known battle areas. "If your town is
under attack or is threatened, move toward the coast as quickly as you
can. Do not move toward Davao, as you might move into the middle of a
battle area, trapped between opposing forces. Avoid Chinese or NPA