"Obey First Before You Complain": The Ultimate Military Rule

They say being in the profession of arms, rules are not complicated for one should only follow two important rules: (1) obey first before you complain; and (2) if the senior officer is wrong, go back to rule number 1.

As an Advance ROTC Officer, reporting to our command post and being immersed whole day in the training field (rain or shine) during weekends has been a normal routine for me. I had to wake up early every weekend morning when most of the student my age were enjoying their weekend vacation. But me, I had to prepare and be early than my senior officers during weekend formation because whenever they found out that I am late, they would become cross and exclaim,” Why are you late?!” And without hearing any of my explanations would give me punishment which for me, in some instances, absurd because even if I arrive early they would still apprehend me for coming early than them. They would exclaim,” Why had you come before me?” And if they want to they can even give me a punishment which most of the time confuses me on where to position myself. There is no room for reasoning out because when you do you will again be punished. You cannot, actually, avoid punishment if they want to. Being a senior officer truly holds a great power especially in relation to their subordinates. This can be considered as a result of what they, our military instructors, put in our mind. We are compelled to obey these rules.  And because we are not encouraged to complain, we pass on the burdens to our subordinates by doing exactly or even worse on what our senior officers did to compensate any loss/ damage inflicted on us. But in spite of it all we are still willing and still looking forward for another weekends’ activity because as what our commandant puts it, we will be the future’s defender of justice (which, I reacted with a raised brow because how can we be a defender of justice when in fact injustices is evident inside the system, but that would be another blog to post); and that we are luckier that we are privileged to wear the BDU (battle dress uniform). We are reprimanded to do things that are against the doctrines of militia. We are prohibited to attend rallies especially those that are against the government (although, he always stresses that we are not really pro-administration but pro-constitution). And that we do not serve for the present administration but serve and preserve the nation's constitution.

- originally posted on my friendster blog