Elefante's opinion on modernizing the military..interesting :)

Modernizing the military


All the discussions and announcements about modernizing the Armed Forces of the Philippines are ineffective unless steps are taken to improve the quality of the people serving in the military.

Obtaining new equipment and weapons for the military is good but all these are rendered useless without the properly trained and motivated soldiers.

Many people look at soldiers as uniformed goons. This attitude should be changed.

For those in the Armed Forces, it is a career and a way of life. At least four decades ago, this was how soldiers here in this country were looked upon. The martial law era under the Marcos administration wrecked this and spawned the outlook that those in uniform were unthinking puppets who knew only one thing: to maim, kill and destroy.

Many have forgotten that the reason for the Armed Forces to exist is to protect.

This attitude has to be changed in order to attract the best people to serve in the military.

One way to change the public’s perception is to improve, not weaken, the country’s Reserve Officers Training Course.

The ROTC could be used as a way to develop a citizen-soldier, a person who knows his rights and obligations, who is willing to serve and protect his fellow Filipinos.

The ROTC could provide a structured setting to show young people how it is like to be called upon to help, to see the eyes of those in need light up when they see that aid is on the way.

However, convincing the country’s young people to willingly do so will not happen if the National Service Training Program is maintained as it is.

The NSTP is one of the reasons why our country’s military never had a chance to shed its martial law image of being enemies of the people. In fact, the NSTP has even eroded the primary source of military’s reserve, the ROTC. Young people are robbed of an opportunity to see what a citizen-soldier can do for this country.

I saw this happening in the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman. Back in the 1986, I was the field artillery battalion’s S1/4 (administrative and logistics) officer. The Corps of Cadets averaged roughly 2,000 students, including cadet and cadette officers, every semester.

I took a look at the old Corps and was saddened at what the NSTP did.

In the last semester of the schoolyear 2003 to 2004, the strength of the Cadet Corps was down to 700, three times less than what it was 18 years ago. I was even more shocked to learn that a little over 90 are left in the Corps this semester, including the cadet officers.

What these remaining few can do, I don’t know. But what I saw makes me worried.

No longer can the people in need tap the ROTC for assistance. The ROTC no longer has the manpower to do so.

When the ROTC was still compulsory, my unit was tapped several times, providing warm bodies for the local government to help evacuate people from their flooded homes in Marikina, watch the balloting during local elections, and lend a hand for various civic activities.

Some ROTC units in other universities did not suffer a drop in strength similar to UP.

The Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila has been able to maintain a somewhat respectable strength. Their decrease is measured in a few hundreds, not thousands. However, this might not last long because there are already moves within that university to have military training as the last choice, instead of automatic first preference in the PLM’s NSTP.

The present situation under the NSTP has also rendered a law signed in 1991 allowing the military to mobilize the country’s reserve force nearly useless.

That 1991 law allowed the government to draft young Filipino men aged 18 to 24 for military service. Guess where this pool of trained men was to be found under this law? The ROTC. However, the ROTC has already been decimated leaving our country with hardly an organization of reservists left.

The military might have, on paper, a reserve command but where would it get its troops?

Has the military lost such respect that the young people of today no longer see it as a worthy institution to maintain?

There is still a faint hope, though.

Some idealist young, lawyers, doctors and educators are teaming up with members of the UP Department of Military Science and Tactics to develop a program to transform the department into an institution, wherein they could offer training and education to young men interested in a military career, much like the way other colleges in UP offer engineering and other courses. Coupled with this goal is to develop a standard for the Filipino-citizen soldier.

If the program is approved, then UP could offer a counterpart to the Philippine Military Academy, where officers are developed isolated from the community. UP could produce a different breed of professional soldiers. The UP DMST’s planned program could lay the groundwork for the coming of age of the Filipino citizen soldier, one who is part of the community and willing to serve, not to rule. Given the chance, this could be the best way to modernize the country’s military.

Link

Reactions anyone...personally I find the idea relevant and viable :thumb:

A counterpart to the PMA, which will turn again into a rivalry like Im a PMAer and you're but a UP Military Academy or something, which will in turn produce new factions within the military. No I don't think we need another PMA like academy.

if we have to create a new academy then let it be a specialized academy, not a general academy - naval academy for example.

:D i am amenable to this sir, a separate academy for us who cannot enter the PMA!

I am not in favor of breaking up the academy (we can't afford the costs of maintaining separate academies), but if it is done, its entry requirements should be no less stringent than the existing academy.

I think the current setup is ok, but add more specialty schools (like an Army School for PA, Navy School for PN, etc.). Then open it graduates of BOTH PMA and the ROTC. In much the same way the PAF Flying School operates, as an advanced training course specific to the service you wish to enter.

this is more like it, inter-academy rivalry is eliminated and more specialized training is instituted. :thumb:

this is good and may come out cheaper too than the pma

Ahhh.. the way I see it, it is not so much as 'revitalising' that is needed. I'd prefer if the whole AFP, not just the officer corps, be 'profesionalized'.

Think of a professional doctor. He will do everything in his power to aid, treat or help any patient. To him, the patient is paramount, everthing else is secondary. He knows that his actions and deeds reflect, not only on himself, but on his profession as well.

Think of a nurse, a priest or even a simple plumber. Heck, even prostitutes are sometimes professionals.

...if people with other professions can be 'professional', why not a soldier?

there are advanced courses for PA... these are open to all qualified officers whether PMAers, ROTC, OCC or OCS graduate.. saka every branch of service has its own officer's school to augment the needs of the AFP.. :exactly:

if a non-ayer officer will try to stop an ayer officer's corrupt practices - what do you think will happen?

The same thing that would happen if an "ayer officer" stops a non-ayer's corrupt practices.

The PMA does not have a monopoly on corrupt officers. There are decent ayers, the same way there are decent ROTC graduates.

http://www.bayanihan.org/html/article.php/20070923143639064

23 - DND chief bats for revival of ROTC for college students
Sunday, September 23 2007 @ 02:36 PM BST

Education

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro is batting for the revival of a mandatory Reserve Officers Training Course for college students following the reduction of reserved officers in the military which is detrimental to national security.

Teodoro said through the ROTC, which is among the biggest sources for military reservists, the youth would be able to contribute to nation-building "more specifically through the strengthening of our reserve force."

"Unfortunately, the ROTC program has been made optional and the manpower for which the Armed Force reserve force taps its manpower from has been greatly degraded which has serious ramifications in ensuring our national stability and security," he said.

He said his office and the AFP is currently organizing a dialogue with the concerned sectors to appraise them on the importance of a mandatory ROTC program. He added that they would enlighten them on the "strong need to strengthen our reserve force as we cannot afford a large standing army."

Teodoro added that National Defense Act or the Commonwealth Act No. 1 required a large number of reserve force, who maybe called to active service in case of war and national emergencies, "because the military cannot afford to have a big number of soldiers".

He said the Armed Forces is now studying the possibility of providing scholarship programs to ROTC cadets in the hope of recruiting more students to join the military force.

He said under the proposed ROTC scholarships program, the qualified cadets would be commissioned directly as regular officers after college or serve as enlisted personnel.

The ROTC program was made optional following the passage of Republic Act 9163, An Act establishing the National Service Training Program for tertiary students, amending for the purpose Republic Act No. 7077 and Presidential Decree No. 1706 for other Purpose, in December 2001.

The law was passed, months after Filipino-Chinese mechanical engineering student Mark Wilson Chua was allegedly abducted and killed by his ROTC soldier-instructors at the University of Sto. Tomas in March 2001.

Chua's bloated and decomposing body - with his face and head wrapped tight in a tape and his hands and legs hog-tied - was found floating at the river beside Jones Bridge in Manila, three days after he was abducted on March 15. (PNA)

Does the DefSec really believe his stupid pronouncements or does he have other motives in reviving the reviled ROTC program? What good are these "military reservists" who, like most of us, spent our ROTC training standing under a hot sun doing nothing and learning almost nothing about soldiering?

Guys,

I hate to say this, As I mentioned before on the previous threads. "bato bato sa langit ang matamaan huwag magalit."

I like military training, but I am a product of basic ROTC. And goes of thousands of cadets who completed this course. I only learned in ROTC is just sunbathing and doing nothing. Wasted two years on this. The irony I had a proper military training when I was summoned for Pre-Mobilitazatin training back in 1994. At 1303rd CDC, RESCOM PA.

Anyway, you cannot change what was happened already! You PMA'ers and ROTC or whatever the school you come from. You already had your shot. You guys blew it!

When Cadet Chua died because of your arrogance. Had already sealed the fate of ROTC. It is your monumental disgrace!

Let us face the reality and move forward. You guys must re-think your strategy.

The ROTC after EDSA I was hanging by a thread. Strong sentiments of anti-militarism among schools were growing which was blown out of proportion after the Chua case. An incident being waited upon and taken advantage of by activist groups.

The only way that could bring back compulsory ROTC is the aftermath of another World War.

As of now, quality training is needed rather than quantity. Graduates ends up as Ready Reserves that could respond to the call of duty, revitalizing the AFP with quality graduates.

I think there are two things to bring back ROTC.

1. You need WORLD WAR III as SAVERIII as said.

2. Revert back to Martial Law so that President (military junta) can enact laws whatever he wants.

For now, this is a democracy in which we had to follow. The majority had spoken in which few years ago, in which once upon a time we were once a basic ROTC cadet who learned nothing and paid over priced softdrinks.

This is your payback.

Ladies and Gentlemen graduates of the ROTC & PMA on this thread. Remember, you had your shot. We don't care who started this tradegy, but the bottom line is... Cadet Chua is dead and so is the ROTC mandatory crap thing.

If I am a parent, I would not let my son or daughter join the ROTC. because it is insane.

What are the benefits? What is it for me? That is the question you had to answer to the teenagers and parents of this country.

In America, they don't need mandatory conscription because they have manpower are willing to volunteer because of a lot of benefits, perks and above all technical skills that proven useful in the civilian sector.

Funding is another thing... we all know where is gone to.... to their pockets.

So guys, improve the Armed Force first (clean your backyard first). Before you guys try to convince us later.

"no bucks ... no Buck Rogers" quoted by Gus Grissom