The USS Gary FFG-51 is the first US Navy ship to visit Cambodia since the end of the Vietnam War, a period of close to 35 years. This historic visit was a gesture to renew America’s relationship with a country tied to a dark past and will hopefully allow both countries to go forth together into a bright future.
WE CAME, WE SAW, WE SUNBATHED
First off Cambodia was pretty fun all things considered. The country is definitely still beat down and 3rd world, but there is a lot of construction going on and you can really tell it’s on the upswing. We were in the resort town of Sihanoukville which is on the southwestern coast. There were a large number of European backpackers and tourists which was surprising. I didn’t expect to see many other Westerners but they were everywhere. The other major nationality of tourists in Cambodia is Chinese. Therefore many of the signs & menus around town were in English, Chinese and Khmer (Khmer being the name of the Cambodian people and their language). Most of the locals spoke at least a little English and a good percentage of them were fairly fluent. English is taught in their schools and much like other areas with a prevalent international presence, English is used as the common language.
The beaches are the main attraction in this area for tourists; they were quite nice with clean sand and warm, clear water. I’d have to say it was a very nice place to relax and have some downtime. I spent the better part of two days napping in the sun on the beach; it was great! This being their dry season, the weather was warm enough for shorts without the energy-draining heat and humid without being sticky. There were very few clouds in the sky and sea breezes kept things very pleasant. The only downside to the weather was all the smoke in the air. The farmers burn their fields and in many areas small brush fires were smoldering, seemingly unmonitored. With everything I saw burning I didn’t see one firefighter the entire time we were there other than the crash crew at the airport. I’m guessing the fires were being tended since none of them blazed out of control. Those fire crews did a good job keeping out of sight, though!
Everything in Cambodia is really cheap and they surprisingly use US dollars. I would have thought that with their history as a French colony and all the Europeans vacationing there the common currency would be Euros, but the UN uses dollars as an international currency so when they came in a few years ago the Cambodians adopted it as a de facto currency. They don’t have any US coins however so most things are sold in dollar increments (and most things cost just a dollar or two) but if the price happens to be an increment less than a dollar they use their local currency to give you change. Just so you know one Cambodian 500 note equals 25 cents. To really emphasize how cheap things are 3 & 4-star hotel rooms were on average between $20-$50 a night. The suites at the 5-star beachside resort started at $120/night.
WE INTERACT WITH THE LOCALS
Some of the main events of our trip were the Community Relations projects (COMREL), Medical Assistance Programs (MEDCAPS), and a sports day with Cambodian Navy personnel. Dozens of Gary personnel traveled an hour or so into the countryside to help refurbish a bare-bones medical clinic operated at a Buddhist temple. Our sailors helped do some basic renovations to the facility and slapped on some fresh paint. At the same clinic we had a couple dentists, a doctor and a few medical support personnel come in to give exams (the Navy dentists & doctors aren’t attached to our ship but were sent here specifically to support this event). Hundreds of people showed up during the two days of the MEDCAP. Some of these people had never seen a dentist before in their lives and several of them had been living for years with some pretty major dental issues. The dentists were able to treat all these people and were even able to schedule follow-ups for people who needed more extensive treatment with an American dentist who operates in the region (this particular individual was actually the lead dentist at this event. He is associated with the US Dept of Public Health and practices in Cambodia). The other COMREL project was an afternoon at a local orphanage where Gary sailors handed out skateboards, roller blades, scooters, teddy bears, various other toys and athletic gear. The ship even donated a couple of sewing machines which the orphanage will use to make crafts they sell to support their facility. Oh and did I mention the Thigh Masters? There are going to be some strong thighed Cambodian kids running around now. I’ve seen some of the pictures and it looks like the kids were having a great time zooming around on their new toys. Most of the kids apparently had never ridden a skateboard before (possibly had never even seen one before) and most of them were riding sitting rather than standing. I suppose it makes riding a skateboard much safer that way and they can get a couple of kids on at a time! One of the Gary sailors was also able to put on a magic show for the children. It was a highly successful and rewarding event for the sailors who participated.
The second evening in port we held a reception onboard the ship. Pretty much everybody who was anybody was invited and over 100 people attended. We had the US Ambassador and his staff, the Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister, Secretary of State and several other cabinet members, several high ranking Cambodian military officers, the regional governor, local mayor, Attaché’s from Australia, China, Russia, France, Korea, and Vietnam, members of USAID, and various other people of great import. So the officer and chiefs from the USS Gary got to rub shoulders with some high muckedy mucks for an evening. The big hit of the night was the side of beef we were serving on our buffet line. The Americans were extremely happy to get some good old fashioned American beef since all they can get is local beef (which isn’t nearly as tasty). The biggest compliment came from the French Attaché who stated this was some of the best beef he’d ever tasted; pretty bold considering the French generally sneer at American cooking. Maybe he was just being polite (another characteristic the French aren’t particularly known for).
Speaking of food, I did have a few local Khmer meals during our visit. The local food was what I call “standard Asian” in the sense that it consisted of grilled or fried fish, pork, beef, or chicken, served with rice, vegetables, and a variety of sauces. The same basic variation of a theme you get everywhere in Asia. As a comparison I thought the spices were very similar to Thai flavorings which makes sense because that is the same region. Not surprisingly seafood comprises a large part of their diet, fortunately for me, as someone that doesn’t eat seafood, I didn’t have any problems finding dishes to eat. Plus they lean heavily on Chinese, European, and American style dishes so there wasn’t much on their menus that wasn’t at least vaguely familiar in some way shape or form. There were other ethnic dishes available as well, for example I had a very tasty Vietnamese-style chicken hot and sour soup; and in a pizza place no less!
WE GET SCHOOLED IN SPORTS
The sports day was our last full day in port. We sent a team of soccer and volleyball players to compete against Cambodian Navy personnel at the regional navy headquarters. I went out to the base for this event even though I did not play any of the sports; I was just there for moral support and the chance to socialize with the locals. The soccer match was pretty equal and was a good game going back and forth at the start. However it was pretty warm and the Gary team was both not used to the heat (it’s still winter for us in Japan!) and also a little under-conditioned from being underway for several weeks. Once the heat really began to set in the Cambodian team was able to score a couple goals and handily took the match. They did however say that we were their most challenging competitors they had ever played, even amongst the crews from the other foreign navies they have hosted. The big surprise was in volleyball. One thing I hadn’t realized is that volleyball is HUGE in Cambodia. Everywhere we went there were volleyball courts with mobs of people both playing and watching, even out in the countryside. So needless to say our team got wiped off the court. The Cambodian teams were a bit loaded with ringers; most of the players were actually the sons of naval officers, mainly because most of the naval officers themselves were much older. The Cambodians were good sports, gracious hosts, and everyone had a great time. We gave them USS Gary ballcaps and they gave us T-shirts with various national Cambodian landmarks printed on them. There were packs of children in attendance, many of them belonging to the naval personnel and the others from the local village who were allowed to see what all the fuss was about. The kids were excited to see actual Americans (you could tell some had never encountered one before) and were pleased to have the chance to kick soccer balls around, pose for pictures and generally be little kids and have fun running around in the sun.
After the sporting events were over there was a BBQ with the Gary providing burgers, dogs, ribs and potato chips and the Cambodian’s providing a whole roasted pig, several roasted chickens and fresh vegetables. They were also handing out loaves of bread to each of the Gary sailors in attendance. At the time I thought it was somewhat weird that a Cambodian Naval officer had come up to me and very solemnly handed me a sack of white bread. The loaf was very fresh and was thinly sliced. It had sharp, precisely angled corners and I probably could have traced out a perfect rectangle with it. It was very flavorful and somewhat dense with a slightly sweet taste almost like a pound cake. I just ate a couple of slices to see how their bread was and many people were using it for their burgers and hot dogs since it was much tastier than the buns we brought along. Talking to the Colonel later he said that bread is a luxury and delicacy in Cambodia. They don’t grow their own wheat and don’t import much either. About the only place you can really get a loaf of bread is in Phnom Pen, their capitol city. Apparently if a Cambodian makes a trip to the capitol it’s a big deal to come back with loaves of bread as gifts for family and friends. Having bread means you have the means and wealth to both travel and splurge on a luxury. Having bread is a status symbol. Unfortunately we weren’t briefed on this issue beforehand so none of us really had an appreciation of what their gift really meant. Many of us, including myself, gave our loaves to the little kids who were hanging around so now that I know what I know I’m sure those children’s family enjoyed eating that bread much more than I would have. And I know why they were so excited that we were giving our bread to them.
WE LEARN SOME HISTORY
Over various events I had several conversations with the US Defense Attaché who works for the ambassador. He’s an Army Colonel who used to be an infantry officer but has been a Foreign Affairs Officer (FAO) for 10 years now. FAO’s are a sub-specialty in the military whose express purpose is to work in the embassies around the world as well as with various diplomatic missions among other things. They are usually fairly senior officers who have done something “normal” in their branch of the service then transferred into the FAO community and are the military liaisons for our nation’s diplomats. He has been in Cambodia for 19 months and prior to that he was stationed for two years in Africa (he didn’t specify but I think he was in the Horn of Africa region, most likely in Djibouti). I asked what he thought of Cambodia especially as it’s digging itself out of decades of serious turmoil and strive. His response was interesting as he said that compared to Africa; Cambodia is a 1st world nation. He continued, “Cambodia has reliable electricity in most parts, fairly clean running water, air conditioned grocery stores and no one is running around shooting each other.” Of course that can only be said about the period of the last 5-6 years but according to him, Cambodia is a tropical paradise in comparison.
That conversation led me to further engage him on Cambodia history of which he was, of course, very knowledgeable. My knowledge of Cambodia was really based on having seen the movie “The Killing Fields” and hearing about the Khmer Rouge in the news occasionally growing up and then more recently all the media hype surrounding Angelina Jolie’s adoption of a Cambodian child and becoming an honorary Cambodian citizen. So I was definitely interested in learning more.
Talking with him further I found out that during the 70’s & 80’s there were five separate factions all fighting for control of the country; the most notorious being the Khmer Rouge. Civil war raged up until the late 90’s when the UN stepped in and helped stabilize the country. True stability was finally achieved in 1999 at which point the nation began to rebuild. In 90’s all the military forces were consolidated out of the five different factions with the lion’s share of people coming from the ruling party’s side. This left a military that was about 200,000 strong when only about 50,000 were really needed. Due to this the UN sanctioned constitution didn’t allow the military to recruit new members; therefore the military hasn’t had any new recruits for almost 10 years! The most “junior” guys have all been in for at least 10-15 years and have been getting promoted as they would have normally. This means that all the personnel are very senior and it’s comprised of mostly officers (I was wondering why I hadn’t seen any young, junior enlisted soldiers/sailors running around). Apparently they have recently adjusted their constitution to allow new recruits which goes in effect sometime within the next year so they will soon be revitalizing their forces. Apparently there has been some pre-recruiting occurring but no official new additions. When asked how many people were currently in the Cambodia military, the Colonel laughed and said that was a good question. Apparently they pay a lot of people that aren’t officially on the books as well as a lot of people they know are actually dead. They don’t have a pension program or retirement so the only way they can provide for the widows and families is to keep their deceased on the payroll. It’s good to know at least they’re doing something for the families rather than condemning them to further poverty with the loss of their main “bread-winner”.
This discussion led me to what I really wanted to know, what happened to all the members of the Khmer Rouge death squads and other faction members that perpetuated the civil war? Were they ever persecuted for war crimes? The Colonel said on the contrary, most of them were currently members of the Prime Minister’s and King’s bodyguards, members of the Special Forces, or members of the Infantry Brigade based right outside of Phnom Pen! He said that there are still some war crimes trials being held by the UN as they go after some of the worst of the worst but the Cambodians don’t really care too much about those proceedings; they just want to forget about the past and move into the future. I was also concerned how those years of civil war affected internal relations amongst troops that have been fighting against each other for all those years but are now all on the same side. His response was: “These are guys who are now in their 50’s and 60’s who spent the better part of 25 years fighting each other in the jungle. All they want to do now is live in a house and take care of their families. They are just leaving it all behind them.” The paradigm shift of this country is not by accident. One of the main points behind our visit was to facilitate a re-opening of relations between our two nations. The Cambodians have a “1 for 5” strategy which is based on the tenant that for every one foreign tourist, visitor, or worker they can get, five Cambodians will benefit as a result. They are making a push to get the peoples of the world to view Cambodia as a good place to visit, work, and invest for this is the only way their country will be able to forge a positive future out of a horrible past.
WE MAKE SOME HISTORY
For the record I’m the first pilot ever to have made a landing at the Sihanoukville International Airport that was actually an international flight. They have several domestic flights out of there every week but they had never had an international flight before. On top of that we were the first US military helicopter to have flown in Cambodia since the Vietnam War. There have been many US military transport flights into the country but never any helicopters. The purpose of our flight was to pick up some VIPs so they could ride our ship into port. We transferred the US Ambassador, regional Governor, head admiral of the local navy base, and a translator in the short flight from the airport to our ship just off the coast. The Ambassador thanked me for a smooth ride and was relieved I decided not to give him too exciting of a ride. When we landed at the airport there were media and camera crews to document everything; footage of us landing was shown across the world on the Armed Forces Network. The airport is small but has been recently renovated so their facilities, runway and taxiway are brand new and modern. In fact the airfield had only reopened a week or two earlier and was still getting back into the swing of things. I had the opportunity to go inside the terminal briefly and got to meet the Army Green Berets who had scouted the airport and several other landing sites for us prior to our flight. The Green Berets provided us pictures, GPS coordinates and descriptions for several potential landing sites; in the end we decided the airport was the best option even though it was out of the way for our passengers. Landing on the soccer field at the 5-star resort on the beach would have been pretty cool though! Thanks to the efforts of the Green Berets we were not only able to choose a safe location to pick up our VIP’s but had all the necessary information about each site so we weren’t flying blind into an unknown territory.
Our trip to Cambodia was an overwhelming success. This was a significant visit that garnered attention around the world and I was honored to be a small part of it.
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