Aquino vows to address needs of military

President Benigno Aquino III. PHOTO BY FRANCES MANGOSING/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Gone are the days when foot soldiers have to rely on themselves on a mission.

In his speech before reserve and military officers at the 24th School for Reserve Commission/Armed Forces of the Philippines Candidate School Alumni Association, Incorporated (SRC/AFPOCSAAI) at Camp Aguinaldo on Friday afternoon, President Benigno Aquino III gave assurances he would address the needs of the military in all aspects.

He cited an experience of soldiers when they had to rely on using a can of sardines to serve as rollers to be able to feed the ammunition to a machine gun in helicopters without malfunctioning.

“Before I end [this speech]: Did you know, there are experiences [of field soldiers] in the past that I would like to share with you, for example, about M60 machine gun in our helicopters. It was said that it usually jams, but Filipinos invented a roller for ammunition. Is that correct? And because of this ingenuity, they used a can of 555 sardines, which I heard that were copied by our allies because it turned out to be more effective than what they invented,” Aquino said in Filipino.

In another instance, Aquino recalled that when he was a judge for “The Outstanding Soldier,” an awardee found a way for the soldiers onboard  helicopters and planes and ground troops to communicate.

“In other words, I believe that we don’t send a person to a mission and tell him ‘It’s up to you how you do it.’ That’s wrong. Our aim is to give all your needs and so if it’s your turn to fall short, we have the right to ask, ‘Why did you fail?’ And if you were able to do your job, you deserve to be recognized and be thanked for fulfilling your duty,” he added.

Also in his speech, Aquino clarified that he was not against AFP modernization.

“I heard that there were soldiers bothered in my speech about modernizing the military, particularly in buying fighter jets and other war equipment. I agree with modernizing the military, but we cannot risk our other priorities for our countrymen such as education, health jobs, just to be able to appear strong before other countries,” he said, referring to his fourth State of the Nation Address last Monday.

“To those still having their doubts, let me emphasize this: We will continue to strengthen the Armed Forces, and I will make sure that we will do it the soonest possible time,” Aquino said.

The SRC/AFPOCSAAI is the alternate source of commissionship of military officers other than the Philippine Military Academy.

At present, there are 3,072 active members in the AFP, Philippine National Police and Philippine Coast Guard who are produced by the OCS.

The President also witnessed the awarding of the outstanding graduates during the event.