hile serving at Capas Tarlac in the Philippines, I had the opportunity to serve with some colorful characters. One of these was a Philipino DoD guard with 'coke bottle' glasses named Rosales. Rosales was mentioned in a previous post called "Down in a hole."

Rosales's supervisor did his tour locked in an armory for a 24-hour shift. He was not allowed to leave, and was not allowed to let anyone into the armory except his relief. He was also not allowed to sleep. I can't think of a more miserable duty than that post (called 4-Bravo). As you can imagine, it gets pretty boring in there, and as the shift goes on, you can hear 4B's mental state decay over the radio net (lots of good stories about that some other time!)

The base itself was nothing but an enormous open field dotted with antennas and various small buildings. One thing they had in abundance were big, black Philippine cobras. They did their best to stay away from people, but sometimes...

One night, while doing his rounds, a very excited Rosales (patrolling with his shotgun) comes over the radio net:

Rosales: "Four Bravo, dis patrol seben, be advise der ees cobra, request permission to shoot!"

4B: (who is probably talking in his sleep): "Roger Seven."

At that point, the Marine Officer of the Day comes over the net: "PATROL SEVEN, PATROL SEVEN... DISREGARD!!! DISREGARD!!! DO NOT FIRE!!! 4-BRAVO WAKE THE HELL UP!!!" As the OD cleared the net, you could just hear the first echo from one of the FIVE 12 gauge shotgun blasts Rosales fired POINT BLANK at that snake! I never did see the guy working 4B that night again!

Semper Fi!

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