Tomken

TomKen

   ZM remembers his friend: TomKen mashed his real name "Tom Kenyon" together to make his pen-name "TomKen".  Mind the capitalization, that was important to him.
   (Fairy Tales start "Once Upon a Time...".  Sea Stories start "Now, This is No Shit...").  Tom lived in Washington (the state, not the district), but he had family in Florida.  He flew all the way across the country a couple times a year, and after I moved to the Tampa area we met at assorted restaurants to argue Swarm Cycle topics over our coffee.  I remember that one of the conferences Nukie set up for us to argue-out how the "Battle for Earth" would work was scheduled for dates when Tom would be in Tampa.  After Tom's wife passed away he wanted new surroundings so he and his daughter moved to the Philippines where his pension went a lot further than they would in the US.  I served as one of his agents here in "the old country".  We talked several times, usually via email but he called me a couple of times when he had an urgent need.
   Tom remarried, and one of his new adopted daughters needed some guidance on entering the US Navy.  I knew all about that; after the US took over all of Spain's colonies (in 1902?), the Philippines were legally one of the US's territories like Guam, Alaska, and Puerto Rico.  Anyone from one of the US's territories has most of the rights of a citizen from one of the states.  Not all of them, but most.
   One of the best ways for a Filipino to get ahead economically was to serve in the US Navy.  After WW2 ended, part of the treaty that gave the Philippines their independence included a clause that continued the right of all Filipinos to enlist in the US Navy just as they could before independence.  As I understood it, this was limited to the Navy; they couldn't join the Air Farce or Army.  I served with quite a few Filipinos during my time in the Navy.  They had to meet the same standards as normal American recruits, but they could do it.  And the standards were fairly lax, on ship I had more than one illegal emigrant work for me, men who spoke fluent Spanish but almost no English.  No biggie, they learned English and I learned Spanish.
   Well, times change.  Apparently, that treaty clause had a limited duration.  I called my local recruiter in Florida, and he had to check on some things and get back to me.  He called me back the next day and told me that, officially, that policy was no longer active.  Unofficially, though, the Navy was ALWAYS looking for good people.  If my friend's daughter could make it to any US military recruiting station with valid ID and passport, she would be allowed to apply.
   The catch was, the US no longer had any military bases in the Philippines by this point.  The nearest recruiting station was in Guam, God knows how many miles away across the Pacific.  I passed this on to Tom with my recruiter's advice on what to bring, and I think that was the last time we talked.  Tom had cancer and was going downhill fast; I think that getting his (adopted) Filipino daughter into the US Navy was about the last thing he could do for his new family, and he was hoping that if he did this, they would continue to take care of his (natural) daughter after he was gone.
   I never found out if she got in or not.  I seem to remember that she had a college degree and would probably get commissioned as an Ensign.  My wife says if I could remember her name I could probably look her up.  Well, yeah, but I suffer from "Chronic and Debilitating CRS".

TonKen's Stories

Albion Elizabeth's Story

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Going, Going...

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Going, Gone

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Prodigious Collection

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