Soldier Speak: Effective Communications in the Military

"The day soldiers stop bring you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them."

— General Colin Powel

As soldier in the Philippine Army, my job requires me to be assigned in different areas and serve in different capacities under different levels of command. The career of an Army Officer starts as a Second Lieutenant and as a Platoon Leader (PL) with about thirty soldiers under his leadership. A  PL is usually the most junior officer in a unit and he leads soldiers in tactical or combat missions. As such, he is more directly involved with the day-to-day lives of soldiers compared to those in higher positions.

When I was a PL, the soldiers under my platoon were mostly high school graduates and college undergraduates. Only a handful of them finished tertiary education. Majority of them were Hiligaynon- speaking while some had Cebuano or Bisaya as their native tongue. Though most of them understood English language well enough, majority of them were not proficient in written and oral communications. While English is part of the curriculum in most, if not all levels of education, it usually becomes just the third or fourth language most commonly used at home, school or work particularly in provinces where the primary tongue is not Filipino or Tagalog,

Even though the mode of instruction in the training of Candidate Soldiers (the pre- entry training of soldiers) is usually Filipino or a local dialect, all training manuals of the Army were written in English as most of these were mere adaptations of manuals from the US Army and other armed forces. To date, I have not seen or read any training manual that was written in Filipino. This is probably because, we can never adequately translate all of the terminologies contained in these manuals without sounding hilarious. How do you translate ‘geographical coordinates’ for example? How about ‘Light Reaction Battalion’ or ‘Scout Ranger’? Most military manuals are laden with technical terms that do not have any exact translation in the Filipino language. Hence, during trainings, the mode of instruction usually becomes a combination of two or three languages- English, Filipino and the language or dialects the instructors and students speak and understand.

As a Platoon Leader, I was with my soldiers day and night especially during security operations in the mountains. Communication was simple. It was a combination of visual, oral, written communications and hand signals. At first, I only spoke with my troops in Filipino or Tagalog as nobody understood my own native tongue which is Bicolano. English was just too complicated to use or practice especially in giving orders or commands.  I had to quickly learn their language otherwise I would be left out in their conversations.

Messages which contained orders, tasks, guidance or instructions and information from higher units were all written in English. Even the usual ceremonial messages and speeches or occasional greetings from commanders were in that language. As a unit leader, it was my responsibility to understand them properly first before even attempting to pass it on or communicate to my subordinates. Orders and corresponding information were always exact and accurate, and there was no room for misinterpretation or second-guessing because it always involved my life and the lives of the soldiers I lead. For example, if we were asked to reach point Alfa by passing along route Kilo in two hours, we will do exactly that. Deviations are absolutely not allowed unless properly coordinated and coordination means knowing what they mean and being able to communicate exactly what you mean. Many accidents and unfortunate incidents in the combat zone were borne out of miscommunication among soldiers themselves. Needless to say, it all originated to communication-from the sender to the receiver through a certain medium.

As I have said, it is the responsibility of the leader to fully understand whatever message or communication is being passed to him before he further communicates this to his subordinates. He is not prohibited from clarifying any point which he thinks can be interpreted in several ways nor in asking the correctness of the information relayed to him should he find any deviation or discrepancy. While accuracy and precision are the names of the game, a combat leader must always remember that these are all time-bound or should be done under a certain period of time only hence the need for quick thinking.

Again, the major challenge for a tactical leader is to make sure that all elements under his command or leadership- from the highest ranking to the lowest, understand the mission. Each soldier should know his duties and responsibilities for a particular mission other than his tasks or functions when outside of mission. He should know what the basic plan of the unit is and the corresponding contingency or back-up plans in case the first plan didn’t go as planned or desired. It is true that the first casualty of combat is the plan itself and that no plan survives the first hail of bullets but if each soldier knows what to do amidst the confusion, there is always a big chance that the mission will succeed. It is the responsibility of the unit leader to adequately and properly communicate to his subordinate these things. However, he must also provide enough room for flexibility and initiative to his subordinate leaders as situation in the combat zone rapidly changes and there might be no time to further clarify things and seek guidance. These kinds of situations must be mapped out through comprehensive planning using effective communication skills.

When I became a Company Commander or Commanding Officer (CO), I had a little over 100 soldiers under my command. Early on, I realized I needed to have a higher set of communication skills to be able to effectively lead my unit. As CO, I was supposed to be a combat leader and at the same time a resource manager. Being a resource manager means effectively and efficiently managing the resources entrusted to you- the personnel or the soldiers, the funds or finances, the supplies, equipment and facilities. Among these, managing the human resources of the unit is usually the most challenging as it entails dealing with 100 personalities with different backgrounds. They have different trainings, socio- economic status, families, ethnic origins, languages, attitudes and beliefs. The challenge of the CO lies in unifying them into a single effective fighting force. The CO must be able to channel all raw energies towards a common vision by performing one mission at a time.

Crafting a Vision for the company is in itself a challenge for the commander. It begins by adequately expressing to your men the need for such Vision to guide the unit in its day to day operations. The visioning process relies on the ability of each member of the unit to communicate his ideas or opinions based on his experiences, beliefs and values. The commander must be able to skillfully facilitate this process in order to come up with a vision that adequately and accurately reflects and enshrines the values of the unit and the core values of the Philippine Army as a whole. The product must then be communicated to all personnel to ensure uniform understanding and interpretation among them.

            

            Effective oral communications is also vital in the daily operations of the company. Aside from combat or security operations, the unit also conducts Civil-Military Operations (CMO). These are operations-programs, projects and activities, conducted with or in coordination with civilian entities. These are the so-called Civil Affairs, Public Affairs and Information Support Affairs. All of these require close coordination with the civilian populace- masses, government organizations, non-government organizations, public and private entities and civil society organizations. During my time, the company under me initiated, participated or jointly conducted projects or activities in partnership with GOs, NGOs/NGAs and various sectors which are aimed at making the lives of the people better by promoting peace, security and development. The said activities necessitated close coordination especially during the planning, implementation and supervision and it goes without saying that effective communication is the key to its success.

High School Life o’ My High School Life.

In June 1994, I began my journey as a high school freshman in the nearby Partido State College. As a freshman, it wasn’t easy for me to abandon my old habits as a boy. I still did a lot of running, jumping and other rough child’s play. My teacher, Ms. Marilou P. Competente would always scold me for being so sweaty after a bout of ‘tatso’ or ‘agawan’ base with other boys. In spite of this, I managed to make it to the honor roll and at the end of our first year I was awarded the most outstanding freshman. Come summer of 1995, I was again back in the woods wandering and frolicking- fishing, swimming, bird-hunting and sometimes planting rice and corn. I became closer with  cousins’ from my mother’s side and I spent more time with them. During that time, my mother’s father and mother were still alive and strong and I stayed with them for some time. My father’s father would often get jealous and he would fetch me to stay with him.

I barely noticed I was fast becoming a teenager and in a few years’ time, I began having little crushes on pretty and popular girls in our school. I became more responsible at home. I learned how to cook and do other house chores. By then, I felt I had to maintain my good standing in school and somehow understood what pressure was all about. I continued studying well and I am glad it paid off. My classmate Tom Tan still got the first honor with me as his wing man at number 2. Well, he was always the first honor since kinder while I proudly stood beside him as second except in Grade 4 and Grade 5 when I became the first honor. We were always good friends and our closeness still remains until today.

Our second and third years quickly ended but I’d always remember the times I spent as a sophomore and junior. Mrs. Nehlia P. Esmeralda was our class adviser on our second year and Mrs. Marichu B. Borre during the third. On our senior year under Mrs. Nora E. Bacares, we took the first ever National Secondary Achievement Test (NSAT). I think our school got the highest rating throughout the province that time. I recall we also both topped the National Elementary Achievement Test (NEAT) in 1994 and we were paraded around our town for such feat. In 1998, we graduated from high school, again with Tom as the Valedictorian while I was the Salutatorian. It wasn’t all that bad for a farm boy who once dreamed of riding a horse and conquering the mountains.

Iskolar ng Bayan

When my high school life closed in 1998, I didn’t know I would be ushered into a completely new beginning. It was the first time I felt I was standing at a crossroads without knowing which path to take. There was the road towards priesthood waiting for me, and there was the simple life in the farm where I grew up. Meanwhile, I was also at a loss whether I would go for the university life and the hustle and bustle of the big city. In the end, I opted to go to the University the Philippines in Diliman, not for anything but for the DOST Scholarship I was lucky enough to be accepted into. Besides, my older sister, Sindhy, already went ahead and was already on her second year that time. That time, my parents cannot afford the two of us to be in college at the same time without help. Thanks to DOST, we were both able to enter university for free.

I enrolled as a freshman Chemical Engineering student in the summer of 1998 and I underwent orientation together with other DOST scholars to help us acclimatize to university life. There, I met various freshies like me from all over the country. Except for a few Manileños (those who grew up in Metro Manila), most of us were promdis or probinsyanos- newcomers in Manila. It didn’t take me long to get the feel of big city life but it didn’t stop me from missing my hometown. There were a lot of times when I felt I’d like to just go back to my hometown because I missed my family but I thought I didn’t want to go home empty handed. At least that’s what kept me going and buoyed my spirit whenever I felt down. It was not easy for me and my sister as we were always financially constrained despite the allowance that we were receiving. Nonetheless, we didn’t lose hope. We didn’t lose sight of our dream to finish what we have started.

Amidst the harsh academic environment, I met a lot of people from different walks of life. Some of them remain my friends until today. I also joined the Tau Rho Xi Fraternity which helped me get through university life and eventually shaped me as a leader. I became its head in 2001 and we had a very productive year then. The brothers I have embraced then are the same brothers I have until today. They have inspired me in a lot ways and I have always carried with me the values it believes in- brotherhood, loyalty, determination.

But throughout the years I have spent in UP, I have always thought I was meant to do something else. There was this nagging voice inside my heart calling me to a different path-soldiery. As fate may have it, I found myself being herded to the hallowed grounds of PMA in 2002 along with 480 other young men and women who heard the same voice, who had the same calling. I left behind me a promising engineering career but I brought with me a wealth of memories. These memories and the fear of failure-of going home empty handed, were essentially what propelled me throughout my stay inside Fort del Pilar in Baguio City.

Childhood: Reminiscing the Best Years

My father was the 3^rd in a brood of nine. Their eldest died in infancy while his older brother never married and never had kids of his own. Hence, I easily became my grandfather’s favorite and I spent the early years of my childhood with him and my grandmother. I used to stay with him in a small farm house in our village until such time that I had to be enrolled in Kindergarten. I had to stay at my parents’ house because it was closer to school but I would always go ‘home’ every weekend to stay with the oldies. Most of the village folks used to tease me that I was in fact the youngest child of my grandparents and I was the brother of my father (which I often ignored). I stayed with them until the fifth grade after which school activities got me more preoccupied so I had to stay in our own house for good except during summer vacations.

Summers were always the best parts of my boyhood. I bathed and swam in the river, frolicked with other boys in the vast rice fields and went bird- hunting with my tirador (slingshot). I made and flew my own kite and made my own toy guns out of banana trunks and other indigenous materials. I also made my own toy car, boat, plane and other toys for the boys. My grandparents’ house was quite far from the nearest neighbors so I played alone most of the time. I was virtually fearless when I was small. I could traverse the woods alone even at night, and cross the rivers without help. I always had my slingshot hung on my neck and I loved sporting knives and jungle bolos. I could hack any snake or beat any dog that cross my way but I was scared of geese. At first, I was scared of the deep waters but my grandfather and uncle helped me conquer my fear. My uncle- the youngest brother of my father always brought me to the woods and we slept in tree houses. The other uncle helped me understand guns at an early age.  Sadly, both of them passed away before I became a soldier. I could’ve told them personally how much they have influenced the early years of my life.

My grandfather brought me with him and we lived deeper into the woods in a remote village when he was made a caretaker of a big hacienda. There, I learned jungle survival and land navigation at an early age. I could easily find my way in the midst of abaca and corn plantations day or night. I feared no ghosts or wild animals but I was afraid of kapre and dwende mainly because my uncle always told me horrible stories about them.

I remember striking a trunk of a banana with a sharp bolo that was too long for my age and ended up cutting myself. The scar is still very much visible today- a reminder of my carelessness and aggressiveness as a kid. I never told my grandfather or father about it until they noticed the bleeding a few days after it happened.

My recklessness always got me into trouble when I was small. I remembered cutting my finger while sawing a piece of wood for the wheels of my wooden truck. My finger was almost severed but I never cried. Once, I also cut my fingers again with a sharp sickle while harvesting rice. I winced in pain but I never cried or showed it to my parents for fear of being scolded by my feisty mother. I also jumped out from the back of a moving tricycle because I thought it was fun and other boys did it. I also jumped from the roof of our classroom just to know how it felt like. I have climbed trees-coconuts, guavas, kaimitos, star fruits, mangoes and other fruit trees and got stung by bees many times. I’ve outrun dogs and swam with tilapias, played with mud, fell from cliffs, and slept on the ground. Alas, my boyhood was so fun it makes me smile just remembering them.

I enjoyed being a child so much that I never felt it flew so fast. It was gone in an instant.

My mother enrolled me in Goa Central School in 1987 as a kinder pupil. My first ever teacher was Mrs. Brenda R. San Roque who saw me through until Grade 1. Under her tutelage, I learned how to read and write, color and draw, and a lot more. I’d say early on, she was the one who opened my love for learning. I enjoyed all of her classes and I was never absent a single day during the entire year except when I got sick. My love for learning never stopped there. Without me knowing it, I became more diligent with my studies and at the end of the year I would always finish with honors and awards. My Grade 2 teacher was Mrs. Cyril R. Pacao followed by Mrs. Norma E. Salva and Mrs Fe Pelo. Another teacher named Fe followed- Mrs. Fe Baclig and then Mrs. Myrna P. Mababa who became my last teacher in elementary.

Our school was a powerhouse in inter-school competitions such as Math and Science Olympiads and other academic tilts. My and I sister were always members of the winning teams that brought home the medals. I was also a member of the Boy Scout of the Philippines that saw the First Asean Jamboree in Mt. Makiling, Laguna. I finished as the salutatorian of the Class of 1994- not bad for a country boy who knew nothing but slingshots, bolos, sickles, carabaos and rivers.