The
Experiences of a Pinoy M.D.
in
Uncle Sam's Navy (1967-1996)*
man
just getting out of high school. I came from the barrio of Talaba, town
of
Bacoor, province of Cavite in the Philippines, a mere 10 miles or so west
of
the U.S. Naval Base at Sangley Point in Cavite City where many young men
from
the surrounding towns of this Base and from other provinces had gone
to,
to "join the U.S. Navy" and "see the world.” I perhaps carried a similar
interest
in my mind although not strong enough for me to leave school. An
uncle,
Mariano Torres Pilapil, had joined the U.S. Navy not long before I
entered
College and I communicated with him for a while after that, out of
curiosity
about the Navy.
every
now and then but soon, I was in medical school and had totally
forgotten
about ever getting into the U.S. Navy. After finishing medical
school,
passing my Philippine licensing and the ECFMG (Educational Council
for
Foreign Medical Graduates) examinations right after graduation in 1962,
I
was
on my way to the United States as an Exchange Visitor under that Program
for
postgraduate medical training. When I left, I had all the intentions of
remaining
in the United States because of my personal disillusionment with
the
political and economic atmosphere in the Philippines.
I
arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii 11 January 1963 on the first leg of my
trip
that turned out to be a year of rotating internship, two years of
Pediatric
residency, and another two years of pediatric cardiology fellowship
at
different institutions in the mainland.
States
and not returning to the Philippines, I was soon at work at finding
out
how, during my first year in the country. I made indirect verbal and
written
inquiries about my interest within the first year of my arrival. By
the
third year, it soon became apparent that there was nothing open to me to
be
able to stay in the country by the usual normal routes without leaving
the
country
first for two years after completion of my training and then
reapplying
for re-entry because of my Exchange Visitor status.
military
services in order to stay without having a need to return to the
Philippines
for two years as generally required of all Exchange Visitors.
The
U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army had nothing good to offer because of my
status.
The U.S. Navy was more receptive, perhaps because of a pervading
atmosphere
of their need for physicians due to the on-going Vietnam War, and
perhaps
because of the idea that I introduced to the recruiter who became a
willing
accomplish in my pursuit to join the U.S. Navy.
year
of pediatric residency and my third year in the country, I told the
recruiter,
Leahman Garrard, Chief Yeoman, U.S. Navy Officer Programs, that I
was
interested in joining the U.S. Navy as a physician. He looked at his
recruiter's
guidebook to check on the requirements. As it turned out, I
could
not qualify by the book since in order to join, I had to be either a
U.S.
citizen or an immigrant, or have a Selective Service Number. However,
to
have a Selective Service Number, I needed to be either a citizen or an
immigrant.
There was no way of going around it. It was a circle with no way
out.
that
what he had just cited to me were the requirements needed to qualify to
join
the Service. However, I told him that there was nothing in the book
that
says that an Exchange Visitor cannot join. Thus, I have not been really
disqualified.
This must have created a spark of an idea in the his mind as
well,
as right after this, he was talking on the phone to somebody who turned
out
to be someone in the Selective Service System office in Jacksonville.
Perhaps,
because of the Navy's need for physicians, and perhaps because the
recruiter
had a quota to fulfill, the idea I gave him provided him with an
opening
to fulfill his and the Navy's goal - and my goal.
where
the gentleman whom he had talked to earlier gave me a form to fill out
for
a Selective Service Number application. I filled out everything except
the
one number that asked for my citizenship. Wanting nothing illegal to
come
from me, I asked the gentleman what I should do with it. He said to
leave
it blank. I followed his instruction and with that, I became the
instant
recipient of a Selective Service Number. I left the building holding
my
newly acquired Selective Service Number card - the key I needed to "join
the
U.S. Navy and see the world."
Navy
was lengthy and detailed, requiring much background check and
references.
I filled out everything completely and sent it back.
year
of pediatric cardiology fellowship and with only one more year remaining
for
me to be legally allowed to stay in the United States, I received a
letter
dated 28 October 1966 from U.S. Navy Lt. D. A. Shirmer, the Officer
Programs
Officer, telling me to report for physical examination at the Armed
Forces
Entrance and Examining Station in Jackson, Mississippi, the same city
where
I was having my pediatric cardiology fellowship training at the
University
of Mississippi Medical Center. In the letter, I was also
instructed
to report for interview 9 November 1966 at the U.S. Navy
Recruiting
Station in Birmingham, Alabama.
sworn-in
as a Lieutenant in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Navy by Lt.
Shirmer,
my interviewing officer, and the one who had been corresponding with
me.
The date of my commissioning as a lieutenant on the certificate was
April
17, 1967, with rank to date as of January 1, 1963.My commissioning
certificate,
already signed by the then President Lyndon B. Johnson, was
handed
to me right at the end of the brief ceremony. At this point, I felt a
surge
of relief - my goal accomplished, my concerns about having to return to
the
Philippines resolved, and my status in the United States secured. I had
finally
succeeded in accomplishing my goal of staying in the United States
without
returning first to the Philippines for two years.
Hospital
in Camp Lejeune, Cherry Point, N.C. which I was eager to do without
concern
for the unfinished part of my fellowship knowing that I would be
untouchable
by the Immigration Service once I am in Federal military
service.
University
of Mississippi Medical Center where I was, did not want me to
leave
before completion of my training, citing hardship on the part of the
University
because of their need for my services at the time. Luckily, the
U.S.
Navy agreed to postpone my entry into active duty until after completion
of
my training which I accomplished by the end of December 1967.
Hospital
in Portsmouth, Virginia where I would be on the pediatric staff.
Because
there was a pediatric residency training program in this department,
I
felt that I was sent there to augment their subspecialty service because
of
my
pediatric cardiology background. Not long after coming to the Naval
Hospital
in Portsmouth, a request came from another naval facility in New
York
requesting for my transfer there because of their need for my
subspecialty;
however, the Pediatric Department head did not want to lose me
and
did not let me go citing that "it would be too much of a move for me in
a
such
a short period of time.” I stayed.
When
I went into Active Duty in January 1968, it was my impression that I
was
the first Exchange Visitor with a Filipino nationality to be commissioned?
as
an officer in the U.S. Navy, as I was not aware of anyone else before me.
At
that time, it was my understanding that Filipino citizens were just not
being
considered for commissioning as officers in the U.S. Navy.
Portsmouth,
Virginia, Rear Admiral Joseph L. Yon, in January of 1968 after
first
being properly guided to obtain and be in proper uniform for the
meeting.
I was well attended to during my initial "brief" briefing. My
subsequent
Navy orientation consisted of being handed two books to read. The
rest
was an "on the job orientation," learning as I went along. It was
interesting
that lacking proper initial formal orientation and having
forgotten
my background in military training which I had as an ROTC graduate
in
college, it took a little while before I became familiar with the setting.
uniform
was a little confusing to my eyes at a quick glance. It has been my
unqualified
understanding that the more the stripes the higher the rank. And
I
had a little visual difficulty initially of instantaneously recognizing
the
patterns
of the stripes for an officer from that of an enlisted man. Thus, I
once
saluted an enlisted man before he could salute me because of the many
more
stripes that he had than me.
completed
my Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship and being the only qualified
physician
with this sub-specialty, I was appointed to be the Department's
pediatric
cardiologist and the Director of the Pediatric Cardiac Clinic.
Patient
referrals came both from local military sources and from the
surrounding
naval medical facilities in the Tidewater area as well as an
occasional
one from out of state. I was also made a consultant to the Naval
Operating
Base Dispensary in Norfolk, Virginia where I would go once a month
to
see pediatric cardiac patients and give lectures to the Pediatric Staff.
Clinic
and before I could be properly introduced, the adult cardiologist who
had
been attending to it in the past and not yet aware of my training gave
an
opinion
about a cardiac patient that I did not fully agree with and explained
to
him why. He did not argue with me but I found out later that he was
inquiring
about who I was, and I am sure also inquiring about my training.
Later
on, he automatically left the clinic to my charge.
with
and never really felt any discrimination, perhaps because of my
qualifications
and the manner that I dealt with them. However, I had
indirectly
heard complaints coming from other officers when I was promoted to
Lieutenant
Commander only a several months after entering the Service and
ahead
of the others who were already long in the Service when I came. They
had
probably not realized that my promotion, as I felt it, was not at all
based
on the actual time that I have already spent in the service but rather
on
my training and qualifications which they did not have.
his
daughter and saw me, recognized my name and immediately inquired about
me
and
excitedly asked to see me when he realized it was me. He had never
before
seen a Filipino medical officer in the U.S. Navy and was tremendously
surprised.
Some Filipino physicians in the city who were either in training
or
were house physicians wanted to know how I got in and wanted to do the
same.
I told them what I did and the routes that I took but without telling
them
the” creative" aspect of it out of my concern that a leak may lead to
repercussions
on my part. They were unable to get in. It was not until
close
to a year or so later that I became aware that others were now being
allowed
to join the Service and this progressively increased with time. I
always
wondered whether I had become the U.S. Navy's guinea pig in their
intent
to get more physicians to join the Service by accepting foreign
physicians
like me.
Portsmouth
except for five days when I was "volunteered" to go to a ship to
smell
the aroma of being a "real" sailor. It was the Commanding Officer's
desire
that all staff should experience sea duty and those who have had none
were
made to volunteer for a one-week tour. It was an experience that I will
never
forget because it made me understand why sailors were always ready to
jump
ship and "paint the town red" after being out at sea for so long because
I
felt it myself in just three days aboard the ship. I became extremely
restless
and bored aboard the ship at sea, constantly pacing like a father
waiting
for the birth of his child.
out
for two hours on a patient or two every morning and after that, it was
making
the rounds of the ship store and barbershop and whatever may be on
the
way and this I would do repeatedly until it made no sense and then I
would
quit. I brought books to read but it was hard to concentrate. I ended
up
waiting in my quarter for lunch, dinner and the evening movie. By the
early
evening of the third day, we were to land in Quantico, Virginia along
with
the Marines that were doing an exercise with us. When we were ready to
land,
I found myself right in front of everybody, anxious and eager to leave
the
ship and ready to take off to see what's on the ground. But it was a
disappointment
as there was nothing but a small restaurant type of store and
I
ended up just walking around until we were ready to board the ship back.
happy,
but also sad in some ways, to leave what has become my home for two
years.
The Navy shipped all of my family belongings including the
uncollected
garbage in our garbage can to my new home in Springfield,
Illinois,
and I returned to civilian life.
practice
there in January 1970 and became the first Filipino American to do
private
practice in the city and county.
continue
by joining the Naval Reserve.By March of 1970, I was drilling at
the
Naval Reserve Center in Springfield. It was supposed to be for one
Weekend
a month plus two weeks of active duty a year. And this is what I
have
been doing every year since then up to this time. AsI went on, I have
been
assigned to various U.S. Naval military units and had been Commanding
Officer
on several occasions. This month, June of 1996, I complete 29 years
of
Naval military service and I hope to hang on for another year. Thirty is
my
goal and that would be all’s
My
time in the Naval Reserve has been well spent and well worth the
effort
largely because I enjoyed my time there. It also gave me an advantage
in
getting my U.S. citizenship way ahead of what would have been possible
to
expect.
Early in my second year of active duty, a law signed by President
Lyndon
B. Johnson allowed certain veterans and people in active duty like me
to
be able to apply immediately for U.S. citizenship without further
requirements
and this I did without delay. Thus, I became an instant citizen
at
the beginning of my second year in the Navy. I am not aware of any
Filipino
citizen who had become a U.S. citizen directly from an Exchange
Visitor
status at that time. I totally bypassed being an immigrant before
acquiring
citizenship.
places,
not only to various parts of the United States including Hawaii but
also
to foreign countries as far as Spain in Europe, as far to the north as
Iceland,
to Japan and the Philippines in the Pacific and as far as Diego
Garcia
in the Indian Ocean. But more than this, it also gave me the chance
to
meet many and varied peoples, including other Filipinos in every place
that
I went to. Even in the dot-on-the-map island of Diego Garcia, you could
tell
that there were Filipinos there because they put up a sign by the
roadside
for their Filipino community. The Filipinos I met in the Service
during
those tours of duties have always been very nice, hospitable and
friendly,
and obviously took pride in knowing that one of their compatriots
have
made it to be an officer in the United States Navy. And they always
took
care of me.
get
whenever I drill or go on active duty, the pension that I would get when
I
retire, the medical benefits that I would be entitled to at Veterans
Administration
hospitals, the privilege to shop at military commissary stores
or
use military facilities, the privilege of being able to take military
flights
for travel with my dependents at negligible cost, and at death, to be
buried
honorably at any of the national military cemeteries. But perhaps
most
important is the pride that goes with knowing that one had served his
country
well and with honor.
What
I have given is a skeletal run-down of my experiences in the United
States
Navy in my almost 29 years of military service. There are many more
that
are interesting, some funny, which I could not go into because of the
short
time that I am allowed to have. However, there are certain points and
observations
that might be worth mentioning in focus for a basic Filipino
American
interest, and perhaps to give a more meaningful spectrum to my
one-man
odyssey. Let me cite some of them.
any
blatant or easily discernible discrimination against me or any Filipino
medical
officer in my areas of exposure in the U.S.Navy. It has been my
impression
that one's attitude and manner of handling one's self would appear
to
be an important factor in how one is perceived and treated by others. For
another,
Filipino physicians tend to be well-trained and specialized in their
fields
which makes them a little above the others in terms of ability and
qualifications
and thus are depended on many times for their services and
expertise.
And as a rule, when people have to depend on you, they will have
to
like you or at least pretend to be nice to you.
tend
to be hard working people and this makes them more acceptable and more
likable
to the people they work with. Human nature makes people respect
those
who do their best, work hard and takes pride in their work. It is for
these
reasons that I feel one can gain the respect and deference by others -
by
doing one's best.
met,
I noted that through the years, with the change of regulations and the
elimination
of many discriminatory practices in the various Armed Services,
they
have been given the opportunity to upgrade themselves and become
officers
and I have seen a noticeable increase in them in the various naval
facilities
that I have been to during my later years in the Service.
well,
follow proper military rules and decorum, and act like your real proper
self
without getting awed by anyone or being paranoid about anything. Show
the
best and the positive in one's self and act friendly. Then one could
expect
respect and be seen as someone not to contend with. Another, is to
try
to be always one-step ahead or better than the others to get a good
chance
at getting the front seat anywhere. These, however, is not just true
with
being in the military service. This is just as good anywhere else one
may
be.
aspect
of my life. It opened up opportunities for me that I would not have
had,
otherwise, in addition to benefits that could last my lifetime.
_________________
Note: * This paper was presented during the Sixth
National Biennial
Conference of FANHS held June 27-29, 1996 at Park
Central Hotel, New York
City, New York. Pilapil is a pediatrician in private
practice in
Springfield, Illinois and a Captain in the Medical
Corps of the U. S. Naval
Reserve. He was the national president of FANHS (1994-98).
He completed his
Rotating Internship at Bristol Hospital, Bristol,
Connecticut (1963);
Pediatric Residency at St. Vincent Hospital and Duval
Medical Center in
Jacksonville, Florida (1964, 1965); Pediatric Cardiology
Fellowship at
University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson,
Mississippi (1966,
1967). On July 1, 1997, Dr. Pilapil was officially
retired from the US Naval
Reserve after thirty years of continuous military
service. A Retirement
Ceremony was held for him December 14, 1997 at the
Naval Reserve Center in
St. Louis, Missouri.
FAHNS WEbsite:http://www.fanhs-national.org
The article on my experiences in the US Navy follows.
(Copyrighted by FANHS and came out of Volume 6 of FANHS Journal of 1998.)
You have our permission (FANHS) to put it in your Website.
By the way, if you or others wish to get copies of
the FANHS Journal which
would be very enlightening as far as Filipino American
History is concerned,