FAO ICT APEC OJT
Intensity in Kuala Lumpur


by Major John Dacey

Even though I knew way back in May of 1985 when I was commissioned that I wanted to be a FAO, I never really considered that I would someday be involved in a Presidential visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, let alone end up as point man for VP's motorcade.

After two weeks of assistance to the DAO effort at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) Exhibition in December of 1997, the DATT called on me to assist the DAO for the Asia Pacific Economic Council (APEC) ministerial meetings and leaders' summit in Kuala Lumpur during November 1998. Intense activity was expected during this period, as the Secretary of State, the U.S. Trade Representative, the Secretary of Agriculture, the President himself, along with all of their assorted civilian and military VVIP staffs and retainers were all coming. I was granted a two-week leave from instruction at the Malaysian Armed Forces Staff College to participate and by the time I became available on 8 November, I was already behind the power curve (as the Team APEC Flight Logistics Commander).

Sunday, 8 November

Two mysterious, black White House Communications vehicles have already been delivered by C-5 and are now stored behind a security cordon deep in the Embassy inside-the-building parking area. The Air Attaché (AIRA), as the DAO Team APEC Commander plans a coordination social at an open-air Malaysian Chinese restaurant outside Kuala Lumpur (KL). Present are: the Air Force 1 Advance Team leader (USAF CPT) and his replacement-in-training (USAF MAJ), the USMC Major from the Marine 1 (HMX-1) Advance Team, and DAO TDYers from Guam, Hawaii, the embassy in Wellington, New Zealand, as well as TDY reservists from Washington and Ohio, and the local head of airport ground services, one Sarbjeet Singh. We eat tons of Chinese food washed down with cold Tiger beer. Then we move to a the tarik stand so our guest can experience the local tea mixed 50/50 with impossibly sweet condensed milk. Then it's another move to Bangsar, a very trendy and upscale suburb of KL for a look at the night life. Most of us pass on the night lie and opt for bed. Home and asleep by 2330.

Monday, 9 November

I am still somewhat lost, but by talking to the folks who really know what is going on--the DAO NCO's--I get quickly up to speed on the current situation and how I can help. Aircraft arrivals and departures are changing by the minute, so I need to get that into my schedule and alter the planning for transportation and lodging. The rest of the day is taken up with telephone calls, coordination, and double-checking the information we already have for incoming personnel. Home by 1800.

Tuesday, 10 November

Even more TDYers arrive to support the DAO effort, so they have to be brought up to speed, issued Embassy security badges, listed for airport access and badges, and given site recons. Today my work centers on getting everyone passes to the various APEC venues and the two airports. I accompany the DATT on a site recon to the New World and Renaissance hotels (lodging locations for SecState and the President, respectively). Specifically, we are looking for the lodging areas for one each LTG (USAF) Foglesong, the official Joint Chiefs representative accompanying SecState, as well as the communications centers locations and overall general operations locations.

Already the entire 4th floor of the New World hotel has been completely taken over by the Department of State and other TDYers, turning the entire floor into an office suite. Everything is here, from budget and finance, transportation, an Internet room, an ops room, and the displaced Embassy commissary. For the President's visit we expect almost 3000 people in support. Security is already high, with Malaysian police officers manning al of the stairwells, elevator access, and doorways. They are bored out of their minds. I'm back to the Embassy by 1100 for the first formal DAO Team APEC meeting, chaired by the AIRA. At the top of the agenda is getting contact information for everyone, arranging for our own transportation during the upcoming two weeks, coming up with a draft game plan, and filling in gaps in information. There are hundreds of things to be done, from securing airport passes for both the old and new international airports, getting cell phones for everyone, finalizing the aircraft sortie schedule, arranging for site recons, to making sure that the VVIP aircraft get their wet and dry ice shipments delivered on time. My specific responsibilities as the Flight Logistics Commander are to review and validate the hotel reservations and transportation requests, coordinate aircraft arrivals with the embassy GSO for immigration and customs, assist in welcome briefs and all other miscellaneous logistics aspects, and then plan and execute operations at both the old airport (Subang) and the new airport (KLIA). Most Team APEC officers will have to become general experts on all aspects of the operation (more important as things get more intense and less planned).

Operations are divided into Flight Ops and Flight Logistics Ops. I get the logistics and the Deputy SAO Chief, a USAF LTC, is the Flight Ops Commander. We are trying our best to establish a logical chain of command and organizational structure, but it's way too early to be set. I have been given two USAF CPTs, a USN CW3, and a USAF SSG. The CW3 is the OPSCO from the embassy in Wellington, New Zealand, and he is up to observe the DAO ops as New Zealand will be hosting next year's APEC meeting.

Wednesday, 11 November

All day long I prepare for the arrival by C-5 of HMX-1, verifying their transportation and lodging arrangements. This is our first real test, with 33 personnel arriving, and it's our "moist" run for the 29 remaining arrivals and departures in the next nine days.

In the afternoon we have the first POTUS arrival meeting at KLIA. Everyone is there and the meeting goes surprisingly well. Some of the White House Advance Team members are quite pushy and forceful, seeming to forget that we are in Malaysia, but others quickly step in to be more diplomatic. In the end we get all of the concessions we're want and things seem to be well on track. My team takes a recon ride through the security gate to the flight line and the parking area for Air Force 1 (AF1), which will turn out to be crucial in a few days.

At 2130, HMX-1 arrives via C-5. The President's traveling helicopter is a VH-60N, a modified Blackhawk, painted in a glistening dark olive with the traditional white top. Security is very tight, as is expected. The best part of this download operation is the HMX-1 team's Coleman pop-up camper, with air conditioning and its very own Seal of the President of the United States on each of its squat little doors. Most of the Team APEC folks are a little in awe of the President's aircraft, the realization hitting that he is due in just four days. The helicopter and all of its support equipment roll off the C-5 and into the hangar, where the crew assemble the helo in no time flat. They finish just as the monsoon rain breaks at 0300. Then it's on the buses and off to the hotel. Tomorrow is the test flight. I've tried to wrangle a seat on the test flight, but it is not to be. Home and in bed sometime after 0300.

Thursday, 12 November

The C-5 that delivered HMX-1 has already departed, so that one less crew and aircraft to deal with. I've instructed my team members to sleep in as we know we won't get in the coming week. I'm at the embassy by 0900. It's our only free time left before all of the flights begin arriving, virtually non-stop. I focus once again on hotel reservations, transportation arrangement, and customs and immigration clearances. The admin personnel at the Subang airport are very helpful and obliging; those at KLIA are not so easy to work with. They are not being difficult, they just aren't bending the rules for us.

Meals for the stranded air crews and the TALCE (USAF Tactical Airlift Control Element) folks out on the flight line, where the TALCE has an ops center, is already an issue. Box lunches are out, and catered airline meals are not looking too good either, so it looks like the TALCE will be on its own to head to the local A&W restaurant for their meals, and can shuttle air crews if need be.

Friday, 13 November

We don't have any time to dwell on the fact that it's Friday the Thirteenth -- way too busy. At 2300 another C-5 arrives, this one with all of the Secret Service vehicles on board. Out come the two Presidential limousines, as well as another 8 highly modified Chevy Suburbans. Very impressive vehicles from the outside alone, and we aren't even allowed to peek inside. While the motorcade departs quickly enough, the C-5 has now broken. It taxis over to a parking area, and we make arrangements for the crew. Already we have a C-141 arriving tomorrow, as well as a special mission aircraft to support the President's visit -- a C-20. Home and asleep by 0200.

Saturday, 14 November

SecState arrives tonight at Subang. She is due at 2200 or later, so I want all of my vehicles, two sedans and a coach, out to the location by 2100. I coordinate with dispatch and the three drivers, even faxing one of them written directions to the marshaling location. Again, my Bahasa Indonesia--"bahasa"-- comes in very handy. I have collected the names, ID numbers, and vehicle numbers of my contract transportation, but there is no way to guarantee that they'll get in. I take a drive out to Subang and do a site recon of the arrival area, and the Malaysian airport guy, after a bit of bahasa conversation, says there will be no problems with me getting my vehicles through the gate I wish to use.

My hotel guys are double-checking the hotel reservations, which are good to go. My backup plan for vehicles is for the hotel to provide transportation, and the Hyatt is very accommodating in making preparations to do that if they have to. Finally, we have all of the welcome packets ready and in position for the air crew to take upon arrival at the hotel.

I coordinate with the embassy GSO for customs and immigration, which they will handle both for the VVIP party and for the air crew.

I arrive out at the airport by 2000 and things are going fine. I drive over to the VVIP complex and my vehicles are waiting there, early, which is surprising. I speak briefly with the gate guard, ask him if he's eaten, how his family is doing, when he'll be off ship, and my vehicles are immediately cleared through his gate. I take my little convoy of two sedans and one bus out to the apron and park them well out of the way of the developing circus of the motorcade staging.

The plane arrives slightly late, at about 2230. The E-4B is an impressive aircraft, a 747 with the "United States of America" emblazoned down the side. Even more impressive is what the plane's actual mission is. The aircraft is called the NEACP, "kneecap", and is also known as the "Doomsday Plane". This is the National Emergency Airborne Command Post, one of four USAF aircraft with the mission of serving as a flying White House in the event of a national emergency. Up until just a couple of years ago, one of these aircraft was airborne 24/7. The plane itself is not that luxurious, after all it is a working aircraft with a highly specialized mission. But lately it has become an increasingly used VVIP aircraft as it allows cabinet secretaries, primarily SecDef and SecState, to conduct all aspects of their business and stay in constant touch with DC.

SecState comes down the stairs, the motorcade forms up, and they're off. I then move to the plane and pick up the passports for the GSO rep, who heads off to get that done. I speak with the head of the aircraft security's detail, tell him I've his two sedans for his security use. As the plane taxis to its parking location, the Team APEC Flight Ops commander and I board the plane to give the welcome brief. Most of the air crew is concerned with golfing, shopping, and getting some sleep. The crew chief and his men are done by 0300, which gets me home by 0400. I set my alarm for a 0500 wake-up.

Sunday, 15 November

Overnight and while the sun was on the other side of the planet, more important events overcame our own. The President is no longer coming, but is sending the Vice President in his place. Word has also come down that SecState will depart this evening due to the Iraq crisis, moving up her departure by two days. The majority of the day is taken up with revisions to the aircraft arrival and departure schedule. The special mission support aircraft (C-20) for POTUS is scratched. A number of other aircraft arrivals and departures have changed, among them AF1 itself. Now only AF1 is coming, and this aircraft apparently is actually The AF1. There will be no backup, as is usual for a POTUS visit, and there will be no press 747. Apparently POTUS is taking the AF1 backup on his trip to Japan, Korea and Guam, and this AF1 will meet up with him later. We're told that this is only the second time in the entire Clinton Administration that the VP's party has been permitted to use AF1.

As I sic my CW3 on confirming the transportation and hotel details for the VP arrival, I begin to work transportation for the SecState departure. It comes together amazingly quickly and it appears we are ready for the 2300 departure.

We are all out at the flight line for the departure by 2100, and the 2300 departure turns into 2330, then to 0015, and finally 0100. The monsoon breaks and it is pouring. I, the only Army guy in the group other than the DATT himself, am the only one who has his wet weather parka with him, so I get to do a lot of the ground crew duties in the driving rain. I pull back the security cones and signs we've had especially made for this aircraft, as well as reposition the fire extinguishers so that the motorcade can reach the plane. The air crew is aboard, their passports have been returned, and they are ready to go, on another 20-hour direct flight to DC. As we wait for SecState to arrive, I catch a few minutes of sleep in my vehicle. Finally, she shows, shakes some hands, boards, and the plane finally takes off. I'm back home by 0300, and again set my alarm for 0500.

Monday, 16 November

Today is showtime -- the Vice President arrives at KLIA at 0900. Complicating things slightly are the two Presidential backup C-141s at Subang that are departing. My crew splits to handle both. Although I have been arranging this for a week, I am still not comfortable with the way things will work. My sole mission this morning is to get transportation for the AF1 crew, move them through the security gate, and then get them all to their hotel. The appointed time of gathering for the vehicles comes and goes. Panic is setting in. It appears that the AF1 Advance Team CPT has given the vehicles different instructions, simply telling them to be at the plane by 0900. He's totally forgotten about the security arrangements, the fact that none of the Malaysian drivers know there the aircraft will park, and that they need to be led to the site by someone who can take charge of them. Sitting by the main road into KLIA, we watch the VP's motorcade go in at about 0800, and then come back out 20 minutes later to fill with gas at the station across from us. Helicopters are up, and things are beginning to happen. The Canadians pull up behind me at the gas station, staging for the 1000 arrival of PM Chretien. Still no air crew vehicles. More calls back to the DAO and relays to the transportation and dispatch desk finally confirm that vehicles are on the way. At about 1030, we watch the VP's motorcade leave the airport, with all of its black Suburbans, ambulances, commo vans, etc. This means that AF1 is now free to depart the VVIP location and taxi to its parking spot. Time is now critical. At approximately 1050 one sedan shows up, followed by the other sedan and finally the bus. The van is a no-show, and I call to inform the AIRA that I'm going to proceed with what I've got as it is enough to accomplish the mission. Since I don't have individual security passes for my drivers, I hand out passes with other persons' names on them. We head for security, which proves to be very accommodating, and they wave us through with barely a look at my badge scam.

As we pull up to the AF1 ramp, it is just finishing its taxi and is stopping engines. Our timing could not have been better. Eventually the van shows, but it is a modified 5 pax van and not the 8 pax van that the AF1 Advance Team CPT had ordered (not requested). I ask him how many folks will be using the van and his answer is four. Apparently the AF1 crew is used to being treated very very very well wherever they go. The majority of the crew disembark and I send the off in their bus to their hotel. The two sedans will be held at the plane to be used by the Secret Service. One will be parked at the plane as a stationary guard post, so they don't need the driver who brought the car out. I now have to get him back to dispatch. The other car will be the guard suttle, and they are fully prepared to take care of the driver of the car. I again use my bahasa to explain to the two drivers the exact situation. The remaining driver is very excited about his duties, while the relieved driver wonders how he will get his car back. Finally, the remaining four crew members have finished the AF1 servicing and fueling, so they are ready to depart in their van. They descend the steps with an ice-cold six pack of Samuel Adams beer, hop in their van and depart without so much as a thank you. I head for Subang to make sure that all is well with the earlier C-141 departures, which went off as planned. Then I head back down to the Renaissance hotel to drop off the stranded driver. Back to the embassy by 1600, and home by 1700.

Tuesday, 17 November

After the first nights sleep in five days, its off to the embassy at 0800 to learn of a violent riot at the Petronas Twin Towers shopping mall, with police firing shots into the air. This mall is approximately 500m from the embassy, and the VP's hotel is the same distance away in the opposite direction. Also making the news, and increasingly dominating the local news as the day goes on is coverage of VP Gore's speech of the previous night in which he praised Malaysian Reformasi and (in diplomatic terms) criticized Malaysia's apparently increasingly authoritarian government. The word goes out to expect some fallout and reaction to the speech that may affect our operations.

Already the airlift is arriving that will take out all of the equipment that was sent ahead for the POTUS visit. As long as the VP is here, he is using the equipment, specifically Marine 1, the commo vehicles, and the Secret Service special mission vehicles, but they are also preparing to quickly depart. The incoming airlift are all C-5s, and I begin to look to getting them their transportation and hotel arrangements. Also, I am beginning to look to send my TDY'ers home as quickly as possible, or at the very least give them a couple of days off to enjoy and see some of Malaysia.

At Subang, the TALCE guys want to take on the transportation and logistics support mission for the air crews. This is fine with me, the Flight Ops commander, and the AIRA, so we hand it off to them. This means that in many ways I'm now out of the business. Now we prepare for the VP's departure. I take a couple of hours off for a haircut and to pick up and order some more of the official DAO Team APEC hats. They are very popular, and I'm picking up 15 of them for the TALCE crew and ordering another 6 for a C- 5 crew that arrived yesterday.

Wednesday, 18 November

The fallout from Gore's speech continues and grows, with the papers screaming criticism and condemnation. The Malaysian Foreign Minister has weighed in on the issue, preemptively blaming the US for all future Malaysian demonstrations and/or riots. There could be problems with getting the AF1 air crew to its plane, so I head straight off to their hotel to collect information, and then to KLIA to coordinate directly with their security people to make sure that their vehicles will pass through the security gates without problems. This is the only aircraft at KLIA right now, and once the VP is gone tonight at 1800, we will be done at KLIA and overall things will lighten up considerably.

I spend the entire day coordinating the passage of the embassy's and the AF1 crew's vehicles through the KLIA security checkpoint to access the flight line. It is a never-ending odyssey of collecting vehicle license numbers, drivers' names and ID numbers, and then having the list changed again. I depart from the embassy at 1345 for the Subang airport to deliver hats and souvenirs to the TALCE unit and to help coordinate the airlift for one of my team members. The flight schedule if arriving and departing C-5's has changed again, but this is something to worry about only after the VP departs without complication. I get to KLIA at 1515 and the AIRA and security assistance folks have already passed through the main security checkpoint. I am expecting a number of GSO vans and the men who will be handling the AF1 immigration and customs clearance, as well as two AF1 crew vans and one passenger coach. While I wait I schmooze the guards at the gate with extended conversations in bahasa. I also give each of them an America/Malaysia flag pin that the embassy commissary sells for $1.10 each as well as USA Rugby pins that I always keep with me. The immediate passage of the vehicles is now guaranteed. The last vehicle to pass through is the passenger coach, and I go through the gate in the lead, taking the bus over to AF1. Everyone is now essentially in place and all we have to do is help clear the ramp of the signs, cones, and ropes used for security. We take some outside pictures for posterity and the AF1 Advance Team guys finally come up with a tour of the aircraft. There are ten of us and only 8 spots for the tour, so the SAO guy and I opt out to let others go. All emerge about 30 minutes later very happy and with some nice AF1 goodies.

But problems have begun to arise. The Japanese Prime Minister is late to the airport's VVIP complex, then has a photo shoot, a press conference, and decides to change his clothes. It is now 1750 with his 747 is ready to go outside, and we have yet to even begin taxiing AF1 to the complex for VP Gore's boarding at 1800. So the decision is made for the VP to skip the VVIP complex and head straight to our location. This is an entirely new and unexpected crisis. I am tasked to immediately go to the VVIP complex to pick up some Secret Service agents and the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) representative and get them to the aircraft. I get there in no time, breaking all flight line speed limits in the process, only to be halted at every entry by surly Japanese security men. While the Malaysians are very helpful, everywhere I turn there are Japanese security officials. I finally find a side door through the customs and immigration offices, whisk my targets out of the building, and head back toward AF1. As I'm driving through the airport on the way to AF1, I can see that the airport police have responded very quickly and have posted route monitors to guide the VP's motorcade to the proper ramp. I look in my rearview mirror to see the VP's motorcade about 300 meters behind me, all 30-odd vehicles and a dozen police outriders. I am now the point man for the VP's motorcade and everyone is waving me through to AF1. I speed up, put the motorcade farther behind me, disgorge my passengers and their equipment even before I'm fully stopped, and speed away to the edge of the ramp just in time to see the motorcade pull up and the VP step out. The motorcade completely by-passed the AIRA who is still waiting back at the security checkpoint.

The VP departs without incident, and we are officially done. As I'm leaving the airport, the AIRA calls me to say that he has found a White House Staff contract van abandoned on the flight line with the keys in it. I swing back and take charge of the vehicle. I search it and discover a WHCA radio inside. After securing the vehicle outside the security checkpoint, I set off to town to drop off my team members and find the owner of the radio and the van. About two hours later, I finally find a WHCA rep and unload the radio, as well as communicating the van situation to the dispatcher.

There is a wheels-up party in progress for the entire American Team APEC group in the hotel's ballroom, so I stop in for a Coke and some dinner. The Ambassador makes a short thank-you speech and hands out some certificates, and at this point it is most definitely time to head for home. As I'm leaving the hotel, the Malaysian driver who had left his vehicle for the security detail at the airport asks me about his missing vehicle. Happily, the DAO OPSCO has returned it and it is sitting right in front of the hotel -- with that I am finally officially done for the day. It's 2300.

Thursday, 19 November

Today is almost a vacation as all of the important people are gone and all we have to do is get the rest of the DoD personnel out of the country. The TALCE continues to do its job of taking care of the flight crews, and the Flight Ops commander has decided to handle all of the remaining aircraft and arrivals personally. I take most of the day to begin writing this story and my AAR. I'm actually home by 1700.

Friday, 20 November

At 0800, I have a meeting with the DSAO and the AIRA to divide up all of the souvenirs and goodies that we have collected for all of our TDYers, the embassy FSNs, and other Malaysians who helped us the most during the past two weeks. It takes nearly an hour to go through the list of those who are and are not deserving of gifts. I come out of it with an AF1 shirt and an HMX-1 sticker for my FAO journal book; it's more than I expected.

The days ends with a mandatory Town Meeting called by the Ambassador for 1500. He speaks very eloquently for an hour to both the American and FSN's about the Gore speech, its context, its media and real-world fallout, and where we all go from here. The gist of his remarks is that there are genuine human rights issues extant in the Anwar situation and also that the Malaysian political leadership for far too long has been allowed to say increasingly irresponsible and inflammatory things about the United States, and that the time for pointed and forceful US rebuttal has arrived. At the conclusion of the meeting, every single member of the embassy staff -- American and FSN -- are given the official APEC '98 shoulder bag, crammed with goodies. I'm home by 1700, and ready for a date with my wife, our first since our son was born here three months ago. Tomorrow it is Saturday morning, back to the Staff College for the management module and another 10 days of instruction before graduation.

APEC MISSION COMPLETE.

Major John Dacey is a Southeast Asian FAO finishing ICT in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His follow-on assignment is as Chief, Human Intelligence Operations, PACOM, Hawaii.

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