(Edited 18 Jun, for easier reading)
Charlie - Character
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| Located at every classroom inside the AHS Campus. |
As I entered the University of the Philippines, those five characters drove my basic relationship with the people around me. Somehow you lose the touch of doing so when it is no longer drilled into your head and time. I'm not sure about this, but being at Loyola Heights gave me this boost that seemed to be absent in Diliman. Or they may have been something else within that enormous campus.
Did i lose my sense of direction? I wasn't sure.
One year after immersing myself into UP culture, I was built to survive the waves of challenges that each student met. The times forced you to stay up late, put more effort into requirements, meet the demands of the academe and maintain a healthy life with family and friends. Don't forget personal health! Furthermore, I seemed to take another option that separated me from the majority of the UP population.
Here, I enlisted in the Reserve Officers Training Corps as part of my NSTP requirement. Looking back, I wanted to become a medic during high school, but fell into being an ordinary cadet. I joined an org at that time, but that's for another day. Before the first semester, I tried to bring everyone i knew to join my bandwagon. Unfortunately, it didn't pay off and i had to go through this alone. Actually, very alone since my recent loss.
Time flew and i enjoyed the course. Reaching the end of the year, i wanted to do so much more to "improve myself". Besides my already strong personal reasons, i decided to join the Cadet Officer Candidate Course 61-B because of this. The first day of the journey was on 10 January 2011. The days that followed were a multitude and a series of training in as much aspects that my mentors could teach me and my batch. My pit stop was on 9 July 2011 where i graduated with the highest honor, but it never ended there. The training and learning never ends that quick and that easily. It continues on until you graduate. I spent at least two years, undergoing paramilitary/military training that ended well, by accomplishing its goal to train, last March 16 of this year.
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| HONOR AND EXCELLENCE |
On your own
My experiences of being alone are a handful: the sole biologist in my batch to finish the course, the only guy who took cocc, the only member of my batch to proceed to Class 2013, the only Corps Commander, and the only person convinced he was truly alone. Individual training gives you the basic skills and experiences needed for you to survive in the Corps.
These times, training kicks in: the Don't Quit poem, the basic soldiery skills, the accomplish the mission-mindset and leadership trainings ( i'm clearly ignoring that those can all be related to teamwork, im aware). As a leader, you are made to make decisions on your own with the support of your staff or other commanders. I've learned that whatever you do is an action: you say yes, no, some other thing or do nothing at all are actions for a decision-maker to stick with. I've had my share of the outcomes of everything. Individualism is only a part.
Build your resistance
Discipline (n., training to act in accordance with the rules). The common tag of the ROTC program. I carry on a definition shared to us by my Senior Tactical Officer, Vgd. Filomeno Buena: Discipline is doing things right. May nakataingin man o wala. You may create your own understanding of the word.
Following rules was never that easy. You were initially trained to begin and end your sentences with sir only (even for the female cadet officers) (even in text and online communications), you saluted properly, you followed proper format for military correspondences, you executed precision movements in unison with your batch mates, and you familiarized yourself with the rest of the rules and regulations of the institution you got yourself into. It then took on a different form: you follow orders given by command; you respect all individuals - superiors, equals, juniors; you took a break from your routine - clothing, manners, principles and perceptions, and you developed a better sense for what is right, what is just and what is appropriate.
These challenges determine the outcome of each cadet officer, each batch, each class and each corps. Ideally, you get the point of each lessons that at the time you just had to accept. You're too tired to process it at the first time they feed it to you. At the end of the day, they expect you to learn and prove so. You'll get a spike of adrenaline if you don't.
My experiences were unique. I'd like to list some down.
1. Imperfection. As a lower class man, you learn to wait for your turn, or you learn to go through the proper channels and lines of command if you wanted to voice out something. You do not go barging in like you know everything or know better. I've had my share of this.
2. Chow. Down to the last grain of rice, and consumes as much of the sauce to make the plate look clean. Whatever is served on the table you are to eat or feast upon, you hold back the urge to be picky. I've had my share of this.
3. Acknowledge. Greeting a good morning, giving a handshake or mere recognition of someone's presence displays our understanding of courtesy. I've had my share of this.
4. Ruling. You enforce the rules while following them. I've learned to play around the rules without breaking them. It's like working within the box with your arms swinging outside. Humans evolve and so does the law. As a former staff officer, i learned to make the system better (assuming that people are not the problem) and made them stick by making policies that revolve around reason and efficiency. I've had my share of this.
5. Silence. It may be applied to #1. During the expected times: in prayer, in formation or at the position of attention, when a superior is talking, when information is on a need-to-know basis, when in an operation, etc. I've had my share of this.
Much of which you sacrifice your as you submit your free will in order to abide by these rules.
Discipline for going on? Do you have it? Tune in next time for the continuation of Charlie Character.
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