Let me start out by saying that I hated ROTC. I am still shocked to realize that I went through 2 years of ROTC without holding some kind of protest. So if you’re an ROTC officer who does not wish to read an objective (yes, this will be a very objective and very harsh criticism!) take on ROTC, then read anyway! It just might shock you into realizing that power tripping is extremely stupid!
ROTC is funny when I think about it now. I am an extremely calm person and almost nothing fazes me, because almost all the time, I know what to expect about everything. This is just not true with regard to ROTC. It is all “fun and excitement”. The officers make fun of you and you never know what shit you’re going to take from your officers the next day. The ROTC serves some practical purposes – every year, they need the ground on the Bellarmine Field nicely plowed and fresh for grass. Which is why the cadets are often made to march around there endlessly, under the sweltering heat of the sun. And also, it is a test in patience and luck. I was one of those extremely lucky because I was able to avoid having myself considered overcut even if I hadn’t cut once. Several people experienced this, and yes, you could have appealed, but where else can a testosterone-drive, temper-freaked (and totally brain dead) officer possibly be inefficient, arrogant and still be saluted? Yes, Ateneo ROTC teaches you a great deal about life – about how it will always be unfair, how people in charge of things either don’t know what to do or want to change things a gazillion times, and that you are zilch to many people and you have to prove that you aren’t. And that they are.
If at all, ROTC was a course in communication. Sitting around, cooking in the Saturday afternoon UV rays, waiting for something to happen and yet dreading for anything to happen is the perfect time for guys to talk. About being under the sun, about the legalization of prostitution, about teachers whom we’d love to mutilate, about grades, and of course, about how we’d torture each of the officers.
I once wrote in an essay for English class something to the effect of, Ateneo isn’t perfect, just look at the way the Ateneo ROTC is being run. And then my beloved English teachers (who taught me several ways to mutilate another person’s essay) wrote with what seemed like the blood of her previous students: “That’s not the problem of the Ateneo! That’s the problem of the people running ROTC! Yes, Ateneo is not perfect! But your example sucks!” So I thought, is it possible that I am wrong to charge the Ateneo with being accessory to this great crime when I file my case against the ADAST? I don’t think so. Ateneo allows ROTC to run like this. Maybe it all fits into the Ateneo call to make its men humble and value discipline, and be nationalistic and serve the country. But you can serve your country even without ROTC. ROTC in fact, is just an excuse to say, “I have served my country!” Well you do learn discipline and humility – when you control yourself enough so that you don’t kill your commanding officers even though the whole flight can very well take home a piece of him. And it tolerates mediocrity. It’s just another requirement to fulfill, after which you can all go home and think that you didn’t waste 10 days (15 training days x 4 hours each x 4 sems) of your life making some person who went through hazing feel like he’s not scum.
You need therapy for that. With a professional psychiatrist. You don’t bring more people along with you on your way to therapy.