MetresEssay

ASSOCIATION OF PATRIOTIC ARAB AMERICANS IN MILITARY
"Patriotic Arab Americans Making a Difference"

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Captain Phil Metres, Jr.- Essay

As a young boy, I was struck by the patriotic fervor of my uncles (4) and father who served in the Army, Army Air Corps , & Merchant Marine during WWII . Later my 2 other uncles served in the Army & Navy. There never was any question in their minds about their duty toward their country as immigrants who happened to be Arab American. They inspired me to join the NROTC Unit at Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA where I majored in psychology and received a scholarship for 4 years . Commissioned as an Ensign in 1964, I was assigned as Asst Communications Officer aboard USS PURDY (DD734), A WWII destroyer where after completing refresher training, went to the Mediterranean Sea ,Red Sea and Persian Gulf in Dec 65. We visited Jiddah SA, Dubai, UAE, Bahrain & Iran. I was struck that my folksy Lebanese Arabic wasn't quite fluent enough to be understood.( I knew no other Arab Americans till I joined the Naval Reserve & met CDR Al Nejame in San Diego in 73). Culturally I knew I had a very rich heritage, which I found difficult to adequately explain to others. I felt completely American & yet had no other peers I could talk about my heritage with & felt like a duck out of water.

My Next assignment was a destroyer school ship out of Newport RI as Communications Officer, Gunnery Officer’s & later Acting Weapons Dept Head. In 1967 I received orders to Naval Advisory Group Vietnam via 3 months training in San Diego. On arrival in VN I was assigned as the Communications Security Officer on the staff of the Commander Naval Forces, Vietnam and then transferred to the Naval Advisory Group as a shipboard advisor aboard 2 RVN Navy patrol gunboats .My cross cultural orientation helped me enormously. When my ship was in port in Saigon, I would teach English at an orphanage in Saigon & enlisted some of my peers to teach & help in other ways. We patrolled the Rung Sat Special Zone and off the coast of South VN and performed boat searches & gunfire support for VNN forces. The Tet Offensive turned the military situation very hot, but the VC & NVA suffered enormous battle damage & loss of forces.

Upon return to CONUS I taught counterinsurgency at the Naval Amphibious School in Coronado CA & was released fm active duty in July 69.

I affiliated for 22 years with the Reserve & served aboard USS Shields (DD596) as Ops Officer & USS BAUER (DE1025) as Prospective Executive Officer. I held various shore duty reserve billets including Action Officer for Deputy Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Concepts branch, CO of Volunteer Training Unit, and Emergency Management billets as a Naval Liaison Officer to FEMA , Commander Naval Center Grt Lakes, & to 4th US Army. I retired as CAPTAIN USNR (Retired) in 1991. The most meaningful input as an Arab American came as a strategic concepts officer where I had a closer understanding of the intricacies of international affairs in the Middle East.