(Part 1) " Ruff Justice For A Foreign Worker "

By  Barry Rodriguez           November 24, 2013


Ruffbo was between ops chilling with his girlfriend Rihanna the foxy Scottish Terrier, listening to the uptempo sound of " Money Grabber " by Fitz and the Tantrums . Rocking and rolling ! Then Ruffo received a urgent text message from his team six bud Frank ! " CK with me ASAP ". Another operation so soon ? His vacation was starting to fall apart !





Ruffbo and Seal team six had been trying to stay under the radar after the fall out from the successful Bin Laden raid in Abbottabad , Pakistan. The team usually operated in the utmost secrecy but President Obama turned it into a publicity show ! The message from Frank concerned another teammate known as Tiko , real name Romulo Boi Cruz . The situation wasn't good. Tiko's favorite Uncle Hector Nimoy Esperante was trapped in dire circumstances in Baraawe , Somalia .

Both Ruffbo and Frank had never even heard of Baraawe in Somalia !  Rihanna detected a change in Ruffs body language and cuddled up to him. " Whats a matter babe ? " She cooed . " A teammate needs our help honey ! I know you were expecting to spend a month of quality time with me . I'm sorry ! Maybe we can wrap this up quick . " For Rihanna this experience of disappointment was new. In the teams , wifes and girlfriends learned to accept the situation or just exited the relationship. It isn't easy to be hooked up with a commando.

Ruffbo and the team had only been back in San Diego , California for a week. Frank and Tiko arranged a meet at the Dublin Square Pub & Grill in the gaslamp section downtown, at 20:00 hrs . ( 8:00 pm civilian time ) He hadn't even finished packing yet. Yesterday Ruffbo and Rihanna spent a day in the sand and surf at Coronado beach. Nothing could have been better. The entire team was still in the cooling  off mode  from their recent combat. The last operation , a snatch job had been a cliffhanger ! They had grabbed an Al-Shabab terror suspect from  a resort in Kenya. That was another matter.

 Frank came by in his jeep and they proceeded directly towards the gaslamp section of town. The lights of North Island could be seen off in the distance from the freeway, green and red ribbons shimmering across the bay in the darkness of the night ! The Dublin Square Pub & Grill was quite a place. The women servers were attired in short plaid skirts and revealing tops. Tiko met them at the entrance of the pub and he wasn't in a partying mood.

Many folks think that all U.S. Navy Seals are all tall muscle bound brutes. At five foot six and one hundred and sixty pounds soaking wet , Tiko , hardly fit that image. In the Teams , looks are always deceiving. Tiko had kicked ass on every continent in the world already ! He was one proud brown Filipino warrior !

They went outside , sat down and ordered some brews. Tiko , immediately gave Ruffbo and Frank the 411. " Dudes , my favorite uncle Hector was conned by a manpower company in Makati  into going overseas for a tractor driving gig ! The location was supposed to be in Nairobi , Kenya but instead turned out to be at an unknown base in nearby Somali at Baraawe ! " Frank and Ruffbo just looked at each other . What the ? 

" The place is under constant attack from the Al-Shabab fighters . Hector is doing cement work , not driving a tractor and dodging bullets. His passport was taken from him in Kenya by a representative of the Manpower agency just before they boarded a blacked out helicopter to Baraawe. He can't sleep , his meals consist of leftovers from the U.S. Marines and they are shorting him on his pay ! The base commander doesn't give a squat because Hector is just a TCN (Third Country National ) worker. He just wanted to make enough money to care for his pop back in the Makati. "

Arturo Nimoy Esperante Senior , Hector's father , had served alongside the U.S Army during World War II , was promised U.S. Citizenship and was screwed when America passed the Rescission Acts of 1946. He and over 260,000 other Filipino veterans have been fighting ever since for the passage of the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act and other measures that redress these injustices !

Uncle Hector was already in his fifties and his Father was in ill health. This situation had the potential of  dealing a mortal blow to his entire family. Every since the second war in Iraq, the United States had proffered what is called Prime Logistics Contracts, to private corporations such as Haliburton , Dyn Corp and others, to perform non military duties such as transport , food catering , constuction etc. These corporations then utilized Global subcontractors which in turn used Third World manpower companies to recruit the needed workers.

The bodies of some TCN workers still rest in the soil of Irag,Afghanistan and Bosnia. Tiko didn't want his father Hector to add to this grim body count ! The corrupt and brutal practices of some the Global subcontractors and Third World manpower recruiting agencies had not stopped even after numerous investigations. Ruffbo and Frank listened intently to Tiko's every word. The Global subcontractor involved, Spartan Services Unlimited was based in Dubai , UAE and the Manpower agency which recruited Hector was located on Ayala avenue , near the Filipino Stock Exchange , in Makati city , a part of Metro Manila. The Good Work Manpower agency , was family owned and one of many located in Makati .

In any conventional unit in the U.S. Military , Tiko's situation would just elicit sympathy but in the Teams , especially Team Six, every member of the crew was family. Short of outright unrestrained war , nothing was out of the question in order to help a teammate ! Team leader Ringo and took the matter up with the Boss man Zeke. They went way back and had been in the same Buds class together.

Elements of U.S. Navy Seals were working with Kenyan Army special forces , specifically the Ranger D company of the 20 Parachute Battalion on operations against the Al-Shabab an al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia. This was coordinated with the Kenyan Intelligence agency headed by Director -General Michael Gichangi. Mombasa , Kenya was the staging point for these joint operations. Team Six arranged for Boss man Zeke , Team leader Ringo , Frank , Tiko and Ruffbo , to be temporarily attached to the NAVSPEC warfare group Africa.








The trip over the Indian ocean in the C-17 Globemaster III transport plane was long. While Ruffbo , Frank and Tiko got some sack time in , Boss man Zeke with Team leader Ringo looked over some satellite pictures. Baraawe was located just down the road from Mogadishu , the site of the famous " Black Hawk Down " battle. Somehow the fact that ninety Spec Op warriors held an entire hostile city at bay was obscured.  This battle had been transformed into a defeat by partisan politics and the media. Now the U.S. was in Somalia to stay.

Upon arrival , Boss man Zeke met with his foreign Special forces counterpart from the Kenyan 20 Parachute Battalion. The cover story was that the Seals were there to help train some troops due to arrive within a week from Uganda and Gambia. Team Six was also scheduled to do a recon of the Al-Shabab controlled areas. The U.S. Marines Special Forces group , MARSOC , had a permanently stationed unit at the base. Construction was ongoing . Temporary housing consisted of the " FORCE PROVIDER " modules that had air conditioning and power outlets.


 

The Team made itself at home , while Tiko eyeballed the base for a sign of his stranded uncle Hector. A grubby , bearded gringo , clad in clean battle dress was jokingly backslapping the Marsoc detachment commander , Major E. Holt Skelton. " Got to keep a watch on these ragbags in my crew. They do nothing but bitch and moan about the food , the beds ,did they expect the Hilton hotel or what ? " Major Skelton  didn't think  much of the Good Work site supervisor Norris but how he treated his crew of TCNS was not a military priority for him . They were getting paid to do a job !  

Hector was napping on a dirty canvas cot in a shack without air conditioning. Yesterday , he had hurt his shoulder badly but the Good Works management on site didn't provide for any medical care and had confiscated the cellphones of their crew. There was no door on the shack and he could see the tent area of the Marines clearly. A new group of soldiers were walking around the base. They weren't Marines because they wore cammo battle dress that had a different pattern. His curiosity was aroused . He stumbled out into the hot midday heat to look around.

Ruffbo was just reaching into his portable fridge for another Fighto beer , when  he noticed a raggedly attired middle aged man that looked like a Filipino limping towards the Marines tent area. " Hey Tiko , come check this out ! " Ruffbo barked. Frank was close by cleaning his M4 carbine and looked up. Tiko , stopped in his tracks . There was something familiar about that old man. Could it be his uncle ? The man's clothes were torn and he was bent over favoring one of his shoulders. Tiko , moved close up to the man. 

Hector was afraid at first and then  astounded when he recognized his nephew Tiko , who put his finger to his lips to silence him. " Uncle ! Be cool I'm here to get you out. Just pretend as I give you some water that nothing is going on. "Uncle Hector had suffered there was no doubt of that. Tiko , felt his blood heat up in anger. First he had to get Hector out of this place then whoever was responsible would have to pay big time ! 

Frank and Ruffbo were scanning the area , checking to see if any other U.S. Military personnel had noticed anything. They watched as the old man separated from Tiko and headed back to the shack where he came from. Now they had to let the Boss man Zeke know that Tiko had located his uncle and of his medical condition. Ruffbo consoled his teammate. " Okay Tiko it almost all over for your uncle. The Team is on the case ! " " Man , the state my uncles in shocked me bro ! " said Tiko. The next step would require some serious planning.

Using old style U.S. Navy ingenuity , Boss man Zeke with the help of the Marsoc operators came up with a plan. The Marine operators thought that their boss Major Skelton might be a problem. They thought of him as just a " ticket puncher " someone using Marsoc to make rank. They'd have to work around him. The plan was for the Team, some Marsoc operators and a Ugandan unit to do a training recon of the nearby area. During the recon one of the group would sustain an injury requiring an medical evac to the nearby Mombasa base in Kenya. Hector would be put in a cammo uniform , put in a helicopter with the boss man Zeke and Tiko attending and flown away from the base.

The plan worked to perfection. Big favors were traded between the Navy and Marine special forces operators that day ! Frank and Ruffbo managed to create some distractions for Norris the on site supervisor for the Good Works crew and the suspicious Major Skelton. In the end it didn't matter because nobody really noticed if a TCN disappeared ! They were expendable. The Mombasa part of the operation depended on bribery !

Once back in Kenya , on the Mombasa base , Frank , Ruffbo and Tiko hid uncle Hector away. They had used good old American greenbacks to grease the palms of some Kenyan Army NCOs so they would not notice what was in plain sight. Getting Uncle Hector out of Kenya and back to the Philippeans required more elaborate efforts. Boss man Zeke and Team Leader Ringo rented a Mercedes Benz , booked a suite at the Diani Beach and Spa resort , Diani Beach , Kenya and then picked up two very important Kenyan Army Generals. First they drove their unnamed military comrades to the famous " Forty Thieves bar " in Diani Beach, for endless rounds of Tusker beer and good cheer. Afterwards Boss man Zeke and Team Leader Ringo took their leave so that the generals could enjoy the charms of two prostitutes compliments of the Team. 

(Part 2)  "Ruff Justice For A Foreign Worker":  [left click link below]
http://scarybarry.blogspot.com/2014/03/part-2-ruff-justice-for-foreign-worker.html

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