Captain Pantoja and the Special Service Read online

  [Signed]

  CAPT. ALBERTO J. MENDOZA, PA

  S S G F R I

  Dispatch Number Fifteen

  GENERAL SUBJECT: Special Service for Garrisons, Frontier and Related Installations

  SPECIFIC SUBJECT: Anniversary and review of the first year of service and the Hymn of the Special Service

  CLASSIFICATION: Top Secret

  PLACE AND DATE: Iquitos, 16 August 1957

  The undersigned, Capt. (Quartermaster) Pantaleón Pantoja, PA, Chief of the Special Service for Garrisons, Frontier and Related Installations, respectfully presents himself to General Felipe Collazos, Chief of Administration, Supply and Logistics of the Army, salutes him and reports:

  1. (a) With the purpose of celebrating the first anniversary of the SSGFRI on the fourth of this month, the undersigned took the liberty of offering to the male and female personnel of this organization at the bar on the Itaya River a simple luncheon for comrades which, so as not to put too great a strain on the slender budget of the Service, was prepared by a volunteer group of specialists under the supervision of our chief of personnel, Madame Leonor Curinchila (a.k.a. Chuchupe). (b) That in the course of the banquet not only did they healthily fraternize with pleasure and good humor while sampling the delicacies of Amazon cuisine—the menu consisted of the celebrated soup of this region (inchic capi), chicken and rice, coconut ice cream and, as a beverage, beer—but, at the same time, the commemoration was taken advantage of to make a halt on the road to review what the Service had achieved during its first year of existence and to exchange evaluations, suggestions and constructive criticism, always with a view to the better accomplishment of the task the Army has entrusted to us.

  2. (a) In summary, the review of this first year of the SSGFRI—synthesized by the undersigned in the presence of his collaborators in a brief address during the dessert course of the banquet—registered a total of 62,160 services offered by the Service to the noncommissioned officers and soldiers of our frontier units and to the sailors of the Amazon naval bases, a figure that, although far below the demand, constitutes a modest success for the Service: said figures prove that, in every instance, the SSGFRI utilized its operative power for its maximum yield—the highest ambition of every productive enterprise—as can be deduced by breaking down the total of 62,160 services into its component sums. (b) That, in effect, during the first two months, when the SSGFRI could hardly rely on four specialists, the volume of services reached 4,320, which converts into an average of 540 monthly services per specialist; that is to say, twenty daily, a figure that (Headquarters will remember Dispatch Number One sent by the undersigned) corresponds to the maximum efficiency of the specialists. (c) That in the fourth and fifth months, when the corps of specialists was comprised of six members, the services rose to 6,480, which likewise yields a mean figure of twenty daily services per work unit. (d) That the fifth, sixth and seventh months represent 13,560 services, or a constant daily average of twenty for each of the eight specialists who constituted the personnel of the SSGFRI. (e) That in the eighth, ninth and tenth months, the rate remained exactly the same—a maximum level of efficiency—since the 16,200 services of this trimester also tabulate as an average of twenty for the ten women of the SSGFRI, just as in these last two months the 21,600 services realized indicate, once again, that the twenty specialists on whom we currently rely have known how to maintain this high average without any variation. (f) That the undersigned permitted himself to conclude his commemorative speech by congratulating the personnel of the SSGFRI for their good conduct and regularity in their work and by exhorting them to double their efforts to attain higher levels of production in the future—quantitative as much as qualitative.

  3. (a) That as a friendly gesture after the final toast to the SSGFRI, the specialists sang for the undersigned a little musical work they had secretly composed for the occasion and which they proposed be adopted as the Hymn of the Service. (b) That after the Hymn had been performed several times with real enthusiasm by all the specialists, the undersigned acceded to said request, a measure he hopes will be ratified by headquarters, keeping in mind the advantage of stimulating enterprises that, like this one, denote interest and love of the personnel for the organization of which they form a part, foment the fraternal spirit indispensable for the realization of group labor and reveal high morale, youthful spirit and even an element of ingenuity and mischievousness, which, in small doses, of course, never go too far in adding a little spice to the completed mission.

  4. (a) That following are the lyrics of the aforementioned composition, which should be sung to the first verse of the tune known everywhere as “The Mexican Hat Dance”:

  Hymn of the Special Service

  Always serving and serving and serving

  In the Army all over the Country,

  Always serving and serving and serving

  With devotion and pride for a fee.

  All we want is to keep our men smiling,

  Come along let us join in the serving;

  All the soldiers and officers pleasing

  That’s our duty: to love and beguile.

  Always serving and serving and serving

  In the Army all over our Country,

  Always serving and serving and serving

  With devotion and pride for a fee.

  For our Land it is dutiful service

  In the airplane and boat to be going

  With Chino, Chuchupe, Chupito

  No more quarreling, diseases or lice.

  Always serving and serving and serving

  In the Army all over our Country

  Always serving and serving and serving

  With devotion and pride for a fee.

  On the cots, in the dirt or the grasses

  Of the campsites and the field grounds deploying

  When our Captain says “Now, girls, start serving!”

  Ticket-holders get serviced in mass.

  Always serving and serving and serving

  In the Army all over the Country

  Always serving and serving and serving

  With devotion and pride for a fee.

  Crossing jungles and rivers and ditches

  Not a leopard or puma could scare us

  ’Cause we serve for our Country’s great honor

  Making love and not war to get rich.

  Always serving and serving and serving

  In the Army all over our Country

  Always serving and serving and serving

  With devotion and pride for a fee.

  So it’s time for us all to be parting,

  Get on board the Delilah and Eve now;

  No more time for just talking and playing

  Time to work, time to serve, time to start.

  Always serving and serving and serving

  In the Army all over our Country

  Always serving and serving and serving

  With devotion and pride for a fee.

  Now goodbye and goodbye and goodbye,

  Chinito, Chuchupe and Chupón;

  Now farewell and farewell and farewell

  To our dear Captain Pantaleón.

  God bless you.

  [Signed]

  CAPT. (QUARTERMASTER) PANTALEÓN PANTOJA, PA

  cc: Gen. Roger Scavino, Commander in Chief of Region V (Amazon)

  NOTE: Communicate to Capt. Pantoja that the Department of Administration, Supply and Logistics of the Army only provisionally ratifies his decision to recognize the “Hymn of the Special Service” conceived by the female personnel of the SSGFRI, since it would have preferred said lyrics to be set to the music of some song rich in national folklore, instead of a foreign melody like “The Mexican Hat Dance.” This suggestion should be taken into consideration in the future.

  [Signed]

  GEN. FELIPE COLLAZOS

  Chief of Administration, Supply and Logistics

  Decoded radio message from Second Lt. Alberto Santana, PA,

  Chief of the
Horcones Post (on the Napo River), received

  at the Vargas Guerra Military Encampment at lquitos

  and transmitted to addressee

  (cc: Command of Region V, Amazon)

  I request the following message be communicated to Capt. (Quartermaster) Pantaleón Pantoja, PA, Chief of the Special Service for Garrisons, Frontier and Related Installations:

  1. In my name and in that of the subofficers, noncommissioned officers and soldiers of the Horcones Post, I wish to extend to you our most sincere congratulations on the birth of your daughter Gladys, as well as our wishes for the newborn offspring’s happiness and success. The reason for the tardiness of these congratulations is our having learned only yesterday of the blessed event with the arrival in Horcones of Convoy No. 11 of the SSGFRI.

  2. At the same time, in my name and in that of all the soldiers under my command, I convey to you our most fraternal solidarity as well as our rejection and firm condemnation of the treacherous insinuations and vicious suggestions that for some time now have been made against the Special Service on The Voice of Sinchi program over Radio Amazon, which program, in proof of our indignation, will no longer be heard in the Horcones Post. The program Music and Songs of Yesteryear on National Radio is now broadcast to the troops over the loudspeaker.

  Gratefully,

  SECOND LT. ALBERTO SANTANA, PA

  Chief, Horcones Post (Napo River)

  Communiqué from the Chief of the Borja Garrison,

  Col. Peter Casahuanqui, PA, to the Special Service for

  Garrisons, Frontier and Related Installations

  Borja, 1 October 1957

  Col. Peter Casahuanqui, PA, Chief of the Borja Garrison, regrets having to communicate to the SSGFRI that during the quartering in this unit of Convoy No. 25, led by the individual nicknamed Freckle and comprised of Coca, Peludita, Flor and Maclovia, a quartering that had to be prolonged for eight days due to the inclemency of the weather, which prevented the hydroplane Delilah from taking off from the Marañón River, several incidents have been recorded that are detailed below:

  1. With the purpose of preventing the specialists from having extra-regulatory contact with the troops after servicing (executed with normalcy on the day of the convoy’s arrival), they were all quartered in the subofficers’ room, duly outfitted for this purpose. Thanks to a lucky tip-off, the command was informed that the pilot of the Delilah, alias Crazy, was preparing an illegal transaction, since he had proposed to the subofficers of Borja an exchange of money for the services of the above-mentioned specialists. Taken by surprise in full maneuvers during the night, three subofficers of the unit received rigorous punishment, the individual nicknamed Crazy was kept locked in the jail until the convoy’s departure and the specialists were reprimanded.

  2. Despite the strict vigilance imposed around the area where the convoy was concentrated, the joint flight of specialist Maclovia and the chief of the guard charged with the convoy’s protection, First Sgt. Teófilo Gualino, was recorded, on the third day of the convoy’s quartering in the Borja Garrison. The necessary arrangements were immediately made for the pursuit and capture of the fugitives, who, it was discovered, had fled, taking illegal possession of a glider belonging to the garrison. Subsequent to two (2) days of intense search, the fugitives were found in the town of Santa María de Nieva, where they had received protection and shelter in a clandestine refuge of the Brothers of the Ark after a crossing of the Marañón rapids that could be considered miraculous if the weather and the raging river are taken into account (through the divine intercession of the boy martyr of Moronacocha, according to the couple’s naïve belief). The refuge of the fanatics of the Ark was reported to the police, who proceeded to spread a dragnet, unfortunately without success since the “brothers” and “sisters” managed to hide on the mountain. The deserters from Borja, on the other hand, were detained, but the pursuit group under the command of Second Lt. Camilo Bohorquez Rojas easily subdued them. On the basis of documents confiscated from the prisoners, it was then confirmed that in the morning of that same day they had been married before the lieutenant governor of Santa María de Nieva in a civil ceremony and before the chaplain of the mission in a religious ceremony. First Sgt. Teófilo Gualino has been stripped of his rank, reduced to private, punished with one hundred twenty (120) days in jail on bread and water, and his reprehensible conduct entered into his service file with the censure: “Very serious offense.” As for the specialist Maclovia, she is returned to the logistics center so that the SSGFRI may impose whatever sanction it thinks proper.

  God bless you.

  [Signed]

  COL. PETER CASAHUANQUI, PA

  Chief, Borja Garrison (Marañón River)

  Iquitos, 12 October 1957

  My friend Pantoja:

  Patience, like everything that is human, has its limits. I don’t want to insinuate that you are abusing mine, but any impartial observer would say that you are trampling on it. How else can you characterize the stony silence accorded all the friendly oral messages I’ve sent to you these last weeks through your employees Freckle, Chuchupe and Chino Porfirio? The matter is sadly simple: you have to understand and to learn once and for all to distinguish between those who are your friends and those who aren’t, otherwise, Mr. Pantoja—and pardon me for saying it—your flourishing business will come tumbling down. The entire city demands that I assail you and what all decent people in Iquitos consider an unprecedented scandal with no extenuating circumstances. You already know that I am a man of my times, prepared to see, to do and to know everything before I die, and capable, for the sake of progress, of accepting that in this beautiful land of Loreto, where I first saw the light of day, an industry such as yours is able to flourish. But even I, broad-minded as I am, cannot help but understand those who are shocked, who cross themselves and cry out to Heaven. At the beginning it was only four, Pantoja, my friend, but now twenty? thirty? fifty? And you bring and send these sinners by air and water throughout the Amazon. Be aware that people have gotten it into their heads that your business should be closed down. Families can’t sleep in peace, knowing that such an abscess of wantonness and vice is at such a short distance from their homes, in full view of their youngest daughters, and surely you have noticed that the great entertainment of all the children in Iquitos is going down to the Itaya to see the boat and the hydroplane with their multicolored cargo come and go. Just yesterday Father José María, the director of the College of St. Augustine, that little old man who’s as saintly as he is wise, commented on it to me, with tears in his eyes.

  Accept the reality: the life and death of your millionaire business are in my hands. Until now I have resisted the pressures and I have limited myself, from time to time, to placating the citizenry’s anger somewhat, to launching discreet warnings; but if you persist in your lack of understanding and obstinacy, and if, before the end of the month, what is due me is not in my hands, there will be for your enterprise, as well as for its boss and the brains behind it, nothing less than a fight to the finish with neither piety nor compassion, and both of you will suffer the fatal consequences.

  I would have liked to discuss these and many other things in a friendly way with you, Mr. Pantoja. But I distrust your character, its intemperance, those crude manners of yours; and in addition, with a smile on my lips let me tell you that two forced dunkings in the filthy waters of the Itaya are the most that this servant of yours can take as a joke and still pardon: I shall answer to the third like a man, despite the fact that I do not like violence.

  Yesterday, quite late, I saw you, friend Pantoja, walking down González Vigil Avenue, very close to the old folks’ home. I was going to approach to greet you, but I noted that you were so well accompanied and experiencing such a tender moment that I didn’t do it, since I know how to be discreet and understanding. It pleased me very much to observe the pretty lady whom you held by the waist and who was giving you those affectionate nibbles on the ear. But it turns out that she is not
your charming wife, I muttered under my breath. Instead, she’s that jewel of a woman imported from Manaos by this industrious enterpriser, the lady with such a glorious past. You have exquisite taste, Mr. Pantoja, and be aware that we, the men of this city, all envy you, because the Brazilian is the most tempting and desired morsel to have set foot in Iquitos. Lucky you, and the soldiers too. Did you walk to see the waterfall on beautiful Lake Morona, to swear eternal love on the cliff where the boy martyr was crucified, as has become the custom for the sweethearts of this place?

  A cordial handshake from you-know-who.

  XXX

  S S G F R I

  Dispatch Number Eighteen

  GENERAL SUBJECT: Special Service for Garrisons, Frontier and Related Installations

  SPECIFIC SUBJECT: Incidents occurring to Convoy No. 25 in Borja, 22–30 September 1957

  CLASSIFICATION: Top Secret

  PLACE AND DATE: Iquitos, 6 October 1957

  The undersigned, Capt. (Quartermaster) Pantaleón Pantoja, PA, Chief of the Special Service for Garrisons, Frontier and Related Installations, respectfully presents himself to Gen. Felipe Collazos, Chief of Administration, Supply and Logistics of the Army, salutes him and reports:

  1. With respect to the serious incidents registered at the Borja Garrison, to which the attached report by Col. Peter Casahuanqui, PA, refers, the SSGFRI has carried out a thorough investigation, which has allowed the following facts to be established:

  (a) During the eight days in which Convoy No. 25 was quartered in Borja (22–30 September), the weather in that region left absolutely nothing to be desired: the sun shone, it did not rain even once, the waters of the Marañón River were very calm—according to the attached meteorological reports of the Peruvian Air Force and the Peruvian Navy.