Perhaps, the dream I had last night should remind me that the reason why I graduated in high school is because the CAT commandant gave me a reprieve with regards to my demerits. You see, I was a lousy private then. Every inspection, the officers would find flaws in my fatigue like a not-so-polished buckle belt, or a dirty combat boots, or a tickler (black notebook) devoid of any notes. Such flaws earned me demerits and in time, these demerits accumulated and started affecting my final grade.
They considered me a weak and fragile cadet, despite my large frame and tall height. Pano kase, after the morning exercises, which included jogging, jumping jacks and stretching, I would excuse myself from my platoon just to throw up behind the trees. I later found out that throwing up after an extreme workout makes your body adjust to the physical strain. It's like releasing tension that had build up after your body recieves more blows than it could take.
- - -
Dream Sequence:
It is already sundown. Still in my fatigue uniform and rifle on my side, I am standing-in-attention meters away from flagpole facing the Main Library. Behind me is the corridor where the classrooms are located and at a distance, I hear a platoon marching, probably practicing for an inter-high school drill competition.
Beside me is a senior officer. This outgoing officer reminds me of a CAT officer in real life by the name of Santillan. He was busy writing a farewell (thank you) letter for our commandant who is inside the faculty room.
He kept on saying to himself that he's gonna graduate and he needs to thank all the people who supported his leadership of an entire batch of cadets. Apparently, in this dream, he is the corps commander.
The commandant came out of the Faculty room, which is the first room behind me. Despite her aloof mood, she approached me and asked what are my plans for the program. I knew what she meant since I suddenly remembered that I am on the verge of flunking the subject. If that happens, I will not march on graduation day.
So I told her that I would do anything just to boost up my grade. "kahit magparesearch pa kayo sa akin maam gagawin ko," I said. She paused for a moment, perhaps thinking what project she would ask me to do.
"Provide me a report about the German Hard Hat."
Visions of Wikipedia forms in my mind.
"The one worn by German soldiers which had pointy tops maam?" I asked her.
"Yes," she replied
The dream sequence ended in another scene, where I was facing a computer screen and slowly writing down on paper, what I've found about the hard hat.
---
I may have a disappointing record back in CAT. But you know what, a year later in ROTC, perhaps because of my overwhelming dread of getting demerits once again, I wore a complete fatigue uniform on the first sunday of training. This paved way for me to get noticed by a special platoon, that has been created to represent and reinforce the ROTC's presence in the university.
They recruited me to become UST's honor guard. And for two years, I wore this red uniform, which we called Gala Outfit, much like those from the British Royal Guard and welcomed dignitaries in the university. I may not have been an officer, but the rank I had was one notch higher than all my classmates and even the officers in CAT when they were in the ROTC program.
They considered me a weak and fragile cadet, despite my large frame and tall height. Pano kase, after the morning exercises, which included jogging, jumping jacks and stretching, I would excuse myself from my platoon just to throw up behind the trees. I later found out that throwing up after an extreme workout makes your body adjust to the physical strain. It's like releasing tension that had build up after your body recieves more blows than it could take.
- - -
Dream Sequence:
It is already sundown. Still in my fatigue uniform and rifle on my side, I am standing-in-attention meters away from flagpole facing the Main Library. Behind me is the corridor where the classrooms are located and at a distance, I hear a platoon marching, probably practicing for an inter-high school drill competition.
Beside me is a senior officer. This outgoing officer reminds me of a CAT officer in real life by the name of Santillan. He was busy writing a farewell (thank you) letter for our commandant who is inside the faculty room.
He kept on saying to himself that he's gonna graduate and he needs to thank all the people who supported his leadership of an entire batch of cadets. Apparently, in this dream, he is the corps commander.
The commandant came out of the Faculty room, which is the first room behind me. Despite her aloof mood, she approached me and asked what are my plans for the program. I knew what she meant since I suddenly remembered that I am on the verge of flunking the subject. If that happens, I will not march on graduation day.
So I told her that I would do anything just to boost up my grade. "kahit magparesearch pa kayo sa akin maam gagawin ko," I said. She paused for a moment, perhaps thinking what project she would ask me to do.
"Provide me a report about the German Hard Hat."
Visions of Wikipedia forms in my mind.
"The one worn by German soldiers which had pointy tops maam?" I asked her.
"Yes," she replied
The dream sequence ended in another scene, where I was facing a computer screen and slowly writing down on paper, what I've found about the hard hat.
---
I may have a disappointing record back in CAT. But you know what, a year later in ROTC, perhaps because of my overwhelming dread of getting demerits once again, I wore a complete fatigue uniform on the first sunday of training. This paved way for me to get noticed by a special platoon, that has been created to represent and reinforce the ROTC's presence in the university.
They recruited me to become UST's honor guard. And for two years, I wore this red uniform, which we called Gala Outfit, much like those from the British Royal Guard and welcomed dignitaries in the university. I may not have been an officer, but the rank I had was one notch higher than all my classmates and even the officers in CAT when they were in the ROTC program.
No comments:
Post a Comment