We
were recognized sometime in September of 2002, again in a very memorable and
dramatic ceremony which brought my family back to Baguio City just a few months
after the Incorporation Day. But unlike during their first visit, I no longer
requested them to bring food for me. They must have wondered why.
Recognition
Day is easily one of the most memorable moments for any member of the long gray
line. The so called blessed handshake of the upperclassmen virtually brings
tears to every plebe who had to live one day at a time before being recognized
as a regular member of the corps.
After
being incorporated or integrated to the regular corps, a fourth class cadet continues to live
each day like a recruit, like a neophyte. He spends his day-to-day life perfecting
basic cadet skills. He learns how to iron different sets of uniform and shine
pairs and pairs of shoes to corps standards, while studying his lessons and
memorizing trivia’s. He sees to it that his room is always inspection-ready;
his M14 rifle as clean and rust-free as possible; his bunks as neat as can be;
and his closets as organized as his schedules. He perfects the art of complying
with several orders at a time by mentally planning his routes and actions, and
calculating the risks involved. He learns how to prepare contingency measures
in case one or two of his actions fail. He keeps tab of the peculiarities of
his upperclassmen so that he wouldn’t have to second guess every time he
receives orders from them. He learns how to prioritize tasks not just based on
its importance or urgency but also on the personality of the person behind it.
A
plebe knows that his existence and survival inside the corps depend on his
ability to adapt to a tight and peculiar environment. As such, he learns how to
deal with different personalities and tries to be a friend to everyone. He
delivers what is required of him with or without the help of his fellow plebes,
but then again, he is prepared to extend a hand to those in need. He complies
with orders as efficiently as he can without making others look bad or shabby,
without stepping on their shoes. He tries to befriend everybody without
appearing shabby and assuming or over-bearing. He tries his best to be as
pleasing as possible in the eyes of his peers and seniors without being labeled
as “sip-sip” or bootlicker. More
importantly, he doesn’t let a day pass without doing any good to others, and
without learning a single thing.
Only
recognized plebes can shake hands with the senior cadets thus the so-called “blessed
handshake”. Recognition is a rite of passage. It signifies that you have
hurdled what the senior have gone through. It means you have passed the same
pathway they have traversed; the same uphill and downhill they have gone
through; the same shoes that they have worn. It mean that you now share a
common experience, a common bond. Being recognized means you have done the most
impossible tasks such as finding a blue rose before the break of the dawn; wearing
50 bath robes all at once that you look so fat you would even laugh at
yourself; and producing a hundred and one white hankies or bed sheets just
because you forgot to bring one or had one with a smudge on it. Recognition
means you have done your part in cleaning the bathroom using a toothbrush just
because the tiles and bowls weren’t as white as your teeth. It means you have
tried catching a fish in the middle of the night without getting yourself
caught by the sentinel. It means you have written dozens and dozens of love
letters and sweet nothings to a girl you don’t even know except for the
description given to you by his cadet-suitor. Recognition says you have run
back and forth from the main gate to the rampart countless number of times. It
says you know how to dash from the barracks to the canteen or wherever the
source of food is without being noticed at all. It says you have succeeded in
drenching a whole spread of a newspaper with just your sweat or spent an entire
night learning all types of knots.
For
every cavalier, Recognition Day is no ordinary day. Beyond the endless orders
which may appear more trivial than practical; tasks and activities that may look
useless than valuable and worthwhile; and jokes that may sound corny than
funny, recognition means a plebe hurdled his initial journey towards being
called a PMAer. It means he has shed off a significant amount of his civilian antics
and that he has surrendered most, if not all of the liberties available to men
or women of his age. It means he has begun to embrace honor as a way of life.
It says he has submitted himself to a life to be lived with courage, integrity
and loyalty. It says he has begun to internalize Charles de Gaulle’s undying words:
"Men who adopt the profession of arms submit to their own free will
to a law of perpetual constraint of their own accord.
They resist their right to live where they choose,
to say what they think, to dress as they like.
It needs but an order to settle from their family and dislocate their normal lives.
In the world of command they must rise, march, run,
endure bad weather, go without sleep or food,
be isolated in some distant post, work until they drop.
If they drop in their tracks, if their ashes are scattered in the four winds,
that is all part and parcel of their job."
