Come friends and gather around. Pass the beer and I tell you a tale about soldiers, fighting men and such...
It all started when I was seventeen and volunteered in the army. After I took and passed both the written and medical
examinations, I was accepted for Basic Combat Training and brought to Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.
In BCT, we were taught not only to learn and master the fine rudiments of soldiering like weapons training, escape and
evasion, map reading, but also to be adept in history, code of ethics, military conduct and courtesy and many more.
I was introduced by the Drill Instructor (DI) to my new partner and buddy- the M-16A rifle as well as to the dictum of
making the ultimate sacrifice as a soldier from the day we graduate to the day that we die.
The DI made our daily life like hell. Day-in and day-out, he is there constantly bullying and reminding us especially
with the old cliches like-that the "army is not for the faint-hearted, it is the place where the angels feared to tread as
well as the place to separate the men from the boys."
The DIs taught us everything about soldiering. We endured all the hardships and emerged as gentlemen and warriors.
Our unit is now fighting the Abu Sayyaf bandits in Basilan and many of my comrades in arms have already distinguished
themselves as fine officers and gentlemen to the point of making the supreme and ultimate sacrifice of giving up their precious
lives for the Filipino people and country.
And looking back to those nights in the barracks in the company of my buddies, I have no regrets in my decision to carve
my own destiny- my way, our way, the soldiers way.
#091201
