|
|
This issue celebrates a double anniversary at the Asia-Pacific Defense FORUM. It is the 25th anniversary of the magazine and my 20th anniversary as FORUM’s senior editor. I am especially proud to have been FORUM’s editor-in-chief for 80 percent of its existence.
Adm. Dennis C. Blair, Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command (USCINCPAC), hosted a double anniversary celebration at U.S. Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii on 27 June 2001.
FORUM's history and my own have been intertwined by connections that began even before FORUM's existence, in 1974. The FORUM idea began in the early 1970s, in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the Nixon Doctrine of pulling back militarily from Asia. Certain officers at HQ USCINCPAC became concerned about the loss of direct connections with friendly Asia-Pacific armed forces. They proposed that USCINCPAC sponsor a magazine to keep Asia-Pacific military establishments abreast of U.S. security policies and activities in the Pacific, and to serve as a “forum” to share information about regional armed forces and their relationships with the United States.
|
|
| THEN: Editor-in-Chief, Lt. Col. Paul R. Stankiewicz, in Beijing, China, as a guest of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army for three weeks in 1982. |
 |
| NOW: Editor-in-Chief, Lt. Col. (ret) Paul R. Stankiewicz, at the Banker’s Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with Maj. (ret) R. Sachi Thananthan, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Defence and Diplomacy. |
A primary proponent was the late U.S. Army Col. Brick Bentz in the policy directorate at HQ USCINCPAC. A second was then U.S. Information Agency Advisor to USCINCPAC, Mr. Robert Garrity. A third was then U.S. Army Lt. Col. Soot M. Jew (now a retired colonel).
While the value of such a magazine seems self-evident today, it was not so obvious to many staff officers in the early 1970s. It took time to overcome resistance to such a unique project for a military headquarters – the production of an international magazine.
To be honest, I too was skeptical that a U.S. military headquarters, with its frequent turnover of personnel, could provide the continuity and depth needed for such a diplomatically challenging region, composed of 40 countries with widely disparate cultures and outlooks.
It was in 1974, after I finished a presentation on foreign communications at a conference at what was then U.S. Readiness Command, that Maj. Jew informed me of the FORUM idea being considered at his command, HQ USCINCPAC. I expressed my skepticism to him and then forgot about the subject until 1975.
In late 1975, while serving as an International Political-Military Affairs Officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, I was, ironically, the officer appointed to staff a proposed new USCINCPAC magazine for Pentagon approval or disapproval – the FORUM.
A complete mockup issue was hand carried to the Pentagon by its creator, Mr. Phillip P. Katz, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and wounded paratrooper from WWII and the Korean War. Mr. Katz was a key FORUM originator who formulated FORUM’s content for its first 10 years. He was devoted to the magazine and died while working on the 10th Anniversary issue.
Mr. Katz’s enthusiasm overcame my skepticism, so I decided to seek Joint Staff approval for USCINCPAC to proceed with the FORUM. A key officer in this approval was then Lt. Col. Ray Deitch (now retired colonel) on the Department of the Army staff. Col. Deitch later played a crucial role in arranging funding for the magazine. Then, for the second time, I forgot about FORUM until 1980.
In late 1980, while serving as Command Relations Officer for the United Nations Command/Republic of Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command in Seoul, Korea, I was called by then U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Fred W. Walker (later colonel). He asked me to be his replacement in 1981 as FORUM’s editor. This, perhaps, is less a coincidence.
The late Col. Walker, as a young captain, worked for me at the U.S. Air Force Special Operations School in Florida, 1972-1975. The school had selected me, from my second Vietnam War tour with the American Embassy as a Political Warfare Advisor to the Vietnamese government, to write two new courses: Unconventional Warfare and Psychological Operations. Capt. Walker was one of the four new instructors who I had to train. He showed a real flair for appreciating foreign cultures, an essential skill for both course subjects.
FORUM’s first editor (as a temporary job) was then Lt. Col. Jew. From 1976 to 1977, he laid all the initial groundwork for FORUM’s success. He was still at HQ USCINCPAC when Lt. Col. Walker arrived to become FORUM’s second editor
|
|
|
|
