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Feature for Spring 1999 Issue of the Airborne Quarterly
FRIENDSHIP AIRBORNE 1998 ? PHILIPPINES (continued)

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April 1, 1998 Returning to the air conditioned tour bus Friendship Airborne arrived at the Navy Club Golf Course for tasty lunch and then R & R in Manila until the evening reception and dinner party in honor of LGEN. Frank Libutti, Commanding General, III Marine Expeditionary Force / Commander, Marine Corps Bases, Japan (Okinawa). This activity was sponsored jointly by Friendship Airborne and the U.S. Embassy and the Master of Ceremony was CPMC MGEN. Ponciano S. Millena, PMC.

Speeches were made by the CPMC, Dr. Frank Osanka,and LGEN. Frank Libutti and they also joined in on the after dinner singing of Marine and Airborne songs. The festivities ended late into the evening and then Friendship Airborne bused to the Holiday Inn Resort Clarkfield for an evening of needed rest.

April 2, 1998. After an early morning breakfast feast of endless food at the Holiday Inn Resort Clark field, Friendship Airborne paratroopers proceeded by Philippine Air Force buses to Clark field.

Upon arrival at the 710th Special Operations Wing (SPOW) headquarters, Friendship Airborne paratroopers were escorted to a spacious briefing room. There they were given a warm welcome and a detailed briefing by the senior staff led by B/Gen. Santiago R.Madrid Jr., Commanding GeneralTwo days later, B/Gen. Madrid pinned the 710th SPOW parachute badge on the chest of each Friendship Airborne paratrooper.

The 710th SPOW is made up of highly trained specialized units such as an E.O.D. Section and a K-9 Section, including dogs who can detect drug smuggling and are trained in bomb sniffing.

It has been demonstrated that E.O.D. personnel can take around six hours to detect hidden explosives inside an aircraft while the K-9 can do the work with in fifteen minutes.

Another highly skilled section is the 505th Search and Rescue Group which defends the Philippine nation from a real and unpredictable enemy--natural and man-made disaster. The unit's successes are legend. At the height of typhoon Sisang, a rickety Vietnamese vessel carrying ninety-six refugees capsized killing many on board instantly. Twenty-five survivors clung to boxes and wooden planks. The Philippine Air Force search and rescue personnel spent two days rescuing the survivors. Years later the residents of Pampanga were rescued from the rooftops of their homes which were slowly getting buried by lahar from the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo.

Similar scenes would recur each time a typhoon lashed at Central Luzon including the deadly flash flood in Ormos, Leyte. The Philippine public admires these Skywarriors and often repeats stories of heroism illustrating how the 505th defied violent wind, rain, and floods rescuing many victims of disaster.

The 505th made the Friendship Airborne paratroopers honorary 505thmembers and made their coveted badge available. Friendship Airborne veterans Jim Murphy (USA),Ray Rabenda(USA), and Konrad Mauch (Canada) were very popular with the 505th paratroopers because they were Air Force veterans qualified for search and rescue.

Briefly, the 710th SPOW conducts the following functions: Special combat operations against enemy forces Anti-terrorist responses Coordination of air strike operations in support of PAF missions E.O.D. missions K-9 and handler training for explosive bomb detection missions K-9 explosive ordnance operations Airborne training and qualification for 710 SPOW and other Philippine Air Force personnel Other functions as directed by higher headquarters Throughout the Philippine Air Force the members of the 710th SPOW are known as Skywarriors. The Skywarriors train under the S-5 philosophy--strength, stamina, skill, speed, and safety consciousness. These are traits inherent in every Skywarrior nurtured by the motto TRAIN HARD, FIGHT EASY. The Friendship Airborne paratroopers were made honorary Skywarriors and their distinctive black and silver shield crest was made available to the visiting paratroopers.

After B/Gen. Madrid's briefing, the visiting paratroopers underwent Airborne refresher training, including the thirty-four foot tower and parachute landing fall(PLF) platforms, all under the professional supervision of Col. Valentino C. Prudencio, 710thSPOWDirector of Operations.

The afternoon was devoted to an impressive demonstration of 710th SPOW special operations tactics, including live fire assaults in situations where hostages were under the control of terrorists.

After the professional demonstrations, the Friendship Airborne paratroopers were given the opportunity to live fire the assault weapons. All of this took place at the 710th SPOW's Emergency Situation Training Facility (ESTF) at Clark field.

The visiting paratroopers returned to the Holiday Inn Resort to freshen up and rest before the evening banquet hosted by the Honorable Maximo L. Sangil, Mayor of Angeles City. The banquet included a memorable Philippine culture show and a formal exchange of keys to the cities between the Mayor and Friendship Airborne veteran Larry Heyrman, who represented the Mayor of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Dr. Frank Osanka presented Green Bay Packers caps and t-shirts to the Mayor and his staff.

Also present were PAF staff headed by Col. Valentino C. Prudencio and Angeles City local government officials, including City Counselor S.T. Pineda. After the banquet the paratroopers scattered for a time on the town of the famous Angeles City, including a visit to the Team House of the Philippine/Guam Chapter of the U.S. Army Special Forces Association.

April 3, 1998. Reveille was early and the Holiday Inn Resort staff was very cooperative insuring that the visiting paratroopers were up and fed to board the PAF buses at 0530for the trip to Clark field assembly point.

The sleepy paratroopers arrived to find over 200 Philippine paratroopers from the PAF, Philippine Army Special Forces, Philippine National Police Special Action Force, Philippine Navy SEALS, and Philippine Force Recon Marines, all ready to make the friendship jump with Friendship Airborne. All present were given a very professional briefing and pre-jump equipment check before forming jump sticks and boarding the PAF Huey helicopters.

The jumps were completed without accident or injury. Paratroopers were awarded parachute wings by PAF's B/Gen. Madrid. Philippine National Police Special Action Force jump wings were presented by B/Gen. Marcelo Enriquez Navarro Jr., who also completed the friendship jump that day.

The remainder of the day was free for the Philippine and visiting paratroopers to socialize and exchange tokens of friendship. The visiting paratroopers had airborne baseball caps and sports t-shirts for that purpose. Some were invited to make visits to the homes of the host paratroopers.