Captain Pantoja and the Special Service Read online

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  Confidential Decision: S.S. Pachitea, Peruvian Navy

  Rear Adm. Pedro G. Carrillo, Chief of the River Forces of the Amazon,

  Considering:

  1. That he has received a request from Capt. (Quartermaster) Pantaleón Pantoja, PA, Chief of the Special Service for Garrisons, Frontier and Related Installations (SSGFRI), recently created by the Army for the purpose of solving a long-standing biological-psychological problem of the noncommissioned officers and soldiers who are serving in remote regions, asking that the River Forces of the Amazon offer him assistance as well as use of their facilities in the organization of the transport system between the command post of the Special Service logistics centers and its utilization centers;

  2. That the aforementioned request has the authorization of the Department of Administration, Supply and Logistics of the Army (Gen. Felipe Collazos) and of the Command of Region V (Amazon) (Gen. Roger Scavino);

  3. That naval headquarters has considered the request for assistance favorably, at the same time pointing out the suitability of having the SSGFRI extend its services to the Navy bases in the remote regions of the Amazon where the sailors find themselves afflicted with the same necessities and appetites as those of the Army’s noncommissioned officers and soldiers that motivated the creation of the Special Service;

  4. That having been consulted in the matter, Capt. (Quartermaster) Pantaleón Pantoja, PA, replied that there are no obstacles to the SSGFRI’s acceding to said suggestion, specifying that the River Forces of the Amazon should administer a test of its own devising in the jungle bases for the purpose of ascertaining the potential number of users in the Peruvian Navy (PN) of the SSGFRI, which test, implemented by the officers in charge with all due speed and care, yielded a potential number of 327 users, with an average aspiration per user of 10 monthly services and an average duration aspired to of 35 minutes per individual service;

  Decides:

  1. That the ex-dispensary boat the S.S. Pachitea, with a permanent crew of four men under the command of First Subofficer Carlos Rodríguez Saravia, be provisionally assigned to the Special Service as a means of transport on the rivers of the Amazon Basin between its logistics center and its utilization centers;

  2. That before leaving Santa Clotilde base, where she has remained after being retired from an uninterrupted half century of navigation in the service of the Navy, a record that began with her outstanding participation in the conflict with Colombia in 1910, the S.S. Pachitea, PN, be stripped of flags, insignia and other distinguishing marks that point to her being a ship of the Peruvian Navy, that she be painted the color indicated by Capt. (Quartermaster) Pantaleón Pantoja, PA, provided that it is neither steel gray nor cloud white, which are the colors of the PN boats, and that its original name, S.S. Pachitea, on the prow and on the command bridge be replaced with that of Eve, which the Special Service has chosen for her;

  3. That (a) before assuming their new duties, First Subofficer Carlos Rodríguez Saravia and the crew under his command be duly briefed by their superiors on the delicacy of the mission they are going to execute and the necessity for them to dress as civilians in the performance of same and to hide their status as members of the Navy; (b) they observe maximum restraint in regard to what they see and hear in the course of their deployment and, in general, (c) they avoid the slightest cognizance or disclosure about the nature of the service to which they have been detailed;

  4. That the fuel required by the S.S. Pachitea, PN, in its new mission be paid for proportionally by the Navy and the Army, according to the respective use of the Special Service, which can be determined by the number of services rendered to each branch per month or by the number of sailings to military garrisons or river bases assigned to the SSGFRI;

  5. That because of its confidential nature, this disposition may not be read into the orders of the day, nor posted on the bases, but must be communicated exclusively to the officers who must execute it.

  [Signed]

  REAR ADM. PEDRO G. CARRILLO

  Chief of the River Forces of the Amazon

  Santa Clotilde Base, 16 August 1956

  cc: Staff of the Peruvian Navy

  Department of Administration, Supply and Logistics of the Army

  Command of Region V (Amazon)

  S S G F R I

  Dispatch Number Three

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

  SPECIFIC SUBJECT: Properties of porpoise oil, chuchuhuasi, cocobolo, clabohuasca, huacapuruna, ipururo and viborachado, their importance to the SSGFRI, as experienced by the undersigned and suggestions by same

  CLASSIFICATION: Top Secret

  PLACE AND DATE: Iquitos, 8 September 1956

  The undersigned, Capt. (Quartermaster) Pantaleón Pantoja, PA, Chief of the SSGFRI, respectfully presents himself to Gen. Felipe Collazos, Chief of Administration, Supply and Logistics of the Army, salutes him and reports:

  1. (a) That in the entire Amazon District there exists the belief that the red species of porpoise (the dolphin of the Amazon rivers) is a creature of considerable sexual potency, which induces it, with the aid of the devil or of evil spirits, to rape as many women as it can in order to satisfy its instincts, and that to accomplish this end it adopts a human form that is so virile and handsome that no female can resist it. (b) That owing to said belief, another belief has become common: porpoise oil increases the sexual drive, making the male irresistible to the female and creating an enormous market for the product in stores and markets. (c) That the undersigned decided to personally carry out an experiment with the purpose of determining in what form this popular belief, superstition or scientific fact could have a bearing on the problem that gave rise to and lies at the foundation of the Special Service. Setting to work with the pretext of a doctor’s prescription, he requested his beloved mother and his dear wife to prepare all meals at home with porpoise oil as their basic ingredient, with the results set forth here:

  2. (a) That starting with the second day the undersigned experienced a sudden increase in sexual appetite, the abnormality accentuating itself on the following days to the point that on the last two days of the week dirty thoughts and the virile act were the only ideas occupying his mind, as much during the day as at night (dreams, nightmares), with serious detriment to his powers of concentration, his nervous system in general and his effectiveness at work. (b) That he consequently found himself with the need to solicit from his wife and to obtain from her, during the week in question, intimate relations on an average of twice daily, with a resulting irritation and surprise of the same, since the undersigned was in the habit of having relations of an intimate matrimonial nature at a rate of once every ten days before coming to Iquitos and once every three days after arriving, because, undoubtedly due to factors already identified by his superiors (heat, humidity), the undersigned had registered an increase of the seminal impulse from the very day he set foot on Amazonian ground. (c) That at the same time, he was able to confirm that the aphrodisiacal function of porpoise oil is registered only in the man, although he cannot discount the fact that his spouse, affected by the stimulant in question, disguised it with great fortitude on account of the natural feelings of modesty and decorum in any lady who deserves that name, as the undersigned is proud to say is the case with his good wife;

  3. (a) That in his desire to spare no efforts for the optimum completion of the mission that his superiors have entrusted to him and even at a risk to his physical health and family stability, the undersigned likewise decided to personally test some of the recipes that folk wisdom and the lust of the people of Loreto suggest for the restoration or strengthening of virility, vulgarly referred to, forgive the expression, as “raising the dead” or, even worse, “cock cures.” The undersigned refers only to some recipes, because in this part of the country the preoccupation with everything to do with sex is so keen and diverse that there are literally thousands of compounds of this sort,
a fact that makes it impossible, even with the best of intentions, for an isolated individual to exhaust the list even if he is prepared to sacrifice his life for the experiment. (b) That the undersigned feels duty bound to concede that this is a question of folk wisdom and not of superstition: certain types of bark used to prepare infusions drunk with alcohol, like the chuchuhuasi, the cocobolo, the clabohuasca and the huacapuruna, produce an immediate and interminable itching that can never be relieved except in the very act of manhood. Particularly effective, because of the almost astronomical speed with which it operates on the generative center, is the mixture of ipururo and cheap brandy, which, barely swallowed, caused an unforgivable feverishness in the undersigned, along with an embarrassment that can be imagined, since the experiment was unfortunately not carried out at his own home but in the nightclub The Shadows, in the resort of Nanay. (c) That the potion called viborachado, being cheap brandy in which a poisonous snake, preferably a fat one, has been marinated, is even worse and truly fiendish, having an even more cataclysmic effect than the preceding infusions, since in this instance it was offered casually to the author of this dispatch at another nightclub in Iquitos called The Jungle and imparted such an urgent and ferocious passion and hardening to him that in order to recover his self-control and peace of mind he had to resort to the solitary vice, which he had believed extinguished in him ever since the days of childhood, in the uncomfortable bathroom of the aforementioned club and with a remorse that has not yet diminished;

  4. That for all the above reasons, the undersigned takes the liberty of recommending that his superiors instruct all garrisons, frontier and related installations to categorically forbid the use of red porpoise oil in the preparation of meals for noncommissioned officers as well as its use by individuals among the troops and that the consumption, straight or mixed with other things, in solid or liquid form, of chuchuhuasi, cocobolo, clabohuasca, huacapuruna, ipururo and viborachado be immediately prohibited under strict punishment, otherwise the Special Service runs the risk of being bombarded by a demand even greater than the already inflated one it must confront;

  5. That he requests the strictest secrecy be maintained in regard to this dispatch (and if possible that it be destroyed once it is read) since it contains extremely intimate disclosures about the family life of the undersigned, who has resigned himself to working with the complex mission that the Army has entrusted to him in mind, but who is uneasy and naturally apprehensive about his fellow officers’ jokes, of which he would be the object if this dispatch were disclosed.

  God bless you.

  [Signed]

  CAPT. (QUARTERMASTER) PANTALEÓN PANTOJA, PA

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

  NOTE: (a) Put Capt. Pantoja’s suggestion into effect as a regulation, and, therefore, communicate to all leaders of barracks, encampments and posts in Region V (Amazon) that henceforth the use of the ingredients, potions and spices enumerated in the preceding section is categorically prohibited in the preparation of meals. (b) In accordance with Capt. Pantoja’s request, destroy Dispatch Number 3 of the SSGFRI by burning since it contains indelicate revelations concerning the personal and family life of same.

  [Signed]

  GEN. FELIPE COLLAZOS

  Chief of Administration, Supply and Logistics

  Lima, 18 September 1956

  Confidential Decision: PAF Catalina Hydroplane

  No. 37, the Requena

  Col. Andrés Sarmiento Segovia, PAF, Commander of Air Battalion No. 42 of the Amazon District,

  Considering:

  1. That Capt. (Quartermaster) Pantaleón Pantoja, PA, with the authorization and backing of his Army superiors, has requested assistance from Air Battalion No. 42 for the continual transfer of personnel of the recently created Special Service from its logistics center on the shores of the Itaya to its utilization centers, many of which are so isolated, especially during the rainy season, that the only functional means of transport from said points to the logistics center is by air;

  2. That the Command of Administration and Development for the Staff of the Peruvian Air Force has agreed to accede to the request in deference to the Army but certifies that it has reservations concerning the constitution of the Special Service, since it hardly seems compatible with the natural and proper duties of the armed forces and dangerous to its good name and prestige—this being a simple conjecture and by no means an attempt to meddle in the affairs of the sister institution;

  Decides:

  1. That PAF Catalina Hydroplane No. 37, the Requena, be assigned to the SSGFRI on loan, so that the indicated transport services may be carried out once the Technical and Mechanical Division of Air Battalion No. 42 of the Amazon District has put the plane in a state that will render it fit to resume flying;

  2. That before it is separated from the air base at Moronacocha, PAF Catalina Hydroplane No. 37 be duly camouflaged in such a way that it cannot be recognized at any time as belonging to the Peruvian Air Force while rendering service in the SSGFRI. For this purpose, changes will be made in the color of the fuselage and the wings (from blue to green with red borders) and the name (from Requena to Delilah, according to Capt. Pantoja’s request);

  3. That the piloting of Catalina Hydroplane No. 37 be assigned to the subofficer of Air Battalion No. 42 who has had the greatest number of disciplinary actions and reprimands in his service file for the current year;

  4. That in view of the state of technical deterioration of PAF Catalina Hydroplane No. 37, due to its many years of service, it be examined weekly by a mechanic of Air Battalion No. 42 of the Amazon District, who will be transported for this purpose, discreetly and in mufti, to the logistics center of the SSGFRI;

  5. To earnestly beg Capt. Pantoja that the Special Service take the greatest care and precaution with the Catalina Hydroplane because it is a true historic relic of the PAF, since it was in this noble machine that, on 3 March 1929, Lt. Luis Pedraza Romero linked the cities of Iquitos and Yurimaguas in direct flight for the first time;

  6. That the fuel as well as all other expenses that the maintenance and use of the PAF Catalina Hydroplane may incur be the exclusive responsiblity of the SSGFRI itself;

  7. (a) That this Decision be communicated only to those it affects or mentions; and (b) that because of its top-secret nature, whoever divulges or shares its contents beyond the mentioned exceptions be punished with sixty days at hard labor.

  [Signed]

  COL. ANDRÉS SARMIENTO SEGOVIA, PAF

  Moronacocha Air Base, 7 August 1956

  cc: Command of Administration and Development for the Staff of the Peruvian Air Force

  Department of Administration, Supply and Logistics of the Army

  Command of Region V (Amazon)

  Internal Order of the Medical Corps

  of the Vargas Guerra Military Encampment

  Commander (Medical Corps) Roberto Quispe Salas, PA, Chief of the Medical Corps of the Vargas Guerra Military Encampment, having inspected the confidential instructions received from the Command of Region V (Amazon), approves the following directives:

  1. Major (Medical Corps) Antipa Negrón Azpilcueta, PA, will select from among the corps of male nurses and practical health officers in the Infectious/Contagious Illnesses Section the individual he considers most scientifically and morally trained to fulfill the duties that the instructions from the Command of Region V (Amazon) specify for the future Medical Assistant for the Special Service for Garrisons, Frontier and Related Installations (SSGFRI).

  2. In the course of the present week, Major Negrón Azpilcueta will impart to the male nurse or military health officer selected, accelerated theoretical-practical training, with a view toward the duties he will have to discharge in the SSGFRI, which essentially will consist of detecting the infestation of nits, bedbugs, lice, crabs and mites in general as well as venereal diseases and chronic infectious/contagious vulva-vaginal diseases in the female recruits composing the convoys, imme
diately before their departure to the utilization centers of the SSGFRI.

  3. Major Negrón Azpilcueta will supply the Medical Assistant with a first-aid medical kit, including probe, pallet and rubber finger cot for vaginal exploration, two white smocks, two pairs of rubber gloves and an adequate number of notebooks from which the latter must send weekly dispatches to the Medical Corps of the Vargas Guerra Military Encampment on the quantitative and qualitative operation of the Post of Medical Assistance of the SSGFRI.

  4. Communicate this order only to concerned parties and file it with the classification “Secret.”

  [Signed]

  COMMANDER (MEDICAL CORPS) ROBERTO QUISPE SALAS, PA

  Vargas Guerra Military Encampment

  September 1956