This is a "tradition" that confounds me. I dismiss it as a guy thing, an exuberant burst of youthful testosterone. But the PMAyer says it’s not as simple as that. It’s a "practice," not a tradition, he says. He also implies what the PMA superintendent fell short of saying: hazing at the academy is unlikely to end.
"There’s logic, there’s method in the madness," the PMAyer insists.
The logic? The military has its own culture that requires rigid discipline, he explains. To be effective, a fighting force may sometimes require blind obedience from its soldiers. The PMAyer calls this "followership," as opposed to leadership. You can’t lead effectively, he says, until you’ve learned to follow. And leadership is what the PMA tries to instill in its cadets, who will form the Armed Forces’ officer corps.
In the cadet’s second year he suddenly finds himself thrust into the role of commander. Given charge of a plebe, he is initiated into leadership. As he gets his first taste of power, he learns that effective leadership requires using this immense power over another human being with restraint. He realizes that to get his subordinate’s respect, he must not abuse this power or use it for personal purposes. Plebes are discerning, the PMAyer says; they can see when they’re being taught discipline or simply being abused and humiliated for the heck of it.
The sense of leadership broadens as the cadet goes higher in the academy and has more people under him. In his third year he commands the cadets in charge of the plebes. And in his final year his batch commands the entire cadet corps. Along the way he would have learned many lessons in leadership, which can prove useful later when he orders soldiers to go to battle or conduct other missions that could cost them their lives.
For example, you punch the plebe on the stomach, not the solar plexus. If the plebe knows anything about his own body, he’ll steel his stomach muscles for the blow. His superior officer then allows the plebe to catch his breath. He is told to jog a bit to restore proper circulation before he is asked, "Do you want more?" The plebe has no choice but to reply, "Yes, sir!" And he gets another blow.
The problem, the PMAyer concedes, is that mistakes in such a brutal "art" can be fatal.
He disagrees with observations that only a warped culture nurtures hazing. Such experiences in the academy, he says, account for the unique bond among PMAyers, the "mistah" culture.
It was an interesting explanation, but the logic still escapes me. It reminds me of one Army captain who fought in Mindanao. He told me that for courage, soldiers preparing for their first battle were made to eat pickled human earlobes downed with beer. I half-believed him.
Maybe military service requires a certain frame of mind that looks at violence in a different way. True, many PMAyers become responsible citizens, non-violent types whose favorite pastime is a non-violent sport, golf. One of them even became president of the Republic.
But the way I see it, violence begets violence. When you’re bred in a tacitly sanctioned culture of brutality, there’s no telling when it could turn you into a monster, capable of torture and summary execution. This is one art I will never appreciate.