Einstein’s theory for the academy

As preparations were made for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s visit to Fort Del Pilar, I could not help but see the ghost of yesterday’s offenses float by in the horizon.

I wondered if the President would once again fall victim to some self righteous heckling or if placards of condemnation would rise up in the gallery like some cheap opportunistic advertisement.

After all the glory be’s embellished on the female honor graduates, I could not help but wonder how many of these fine and ideal graduates would become tomorrow’s most corrupt or next year’s coup plotters.

Somehow the string of offenses has left a frightening expectation of the worst scenario from those who have been named our best defenders. The Commandant and his staff managed to host an uneventful day for hecklers. But if cadets were left to their own devices would the outcome been the same?

I spoke to several products of the Philippine Military Academy to somehow gain a better understanding of the experience and hopefully arrived at a hopeful if not optimistic situation.

To the veterans the academy has gone soft…caved in to the pressure of the gentle society ignorant of the warriors’ ways. Fingers point to the lack of discipline and excessive politics.

I spoke to PMA rebels who during incarceration had a life changing experience through "a personal encounter with Jesus Christ." They all lament the absence of value formation and real life character concerns such as integrity, submission to authority etc.

That last one may have you wondering specially since the military is suppose to promote loyalty to the chain of command. Well if the leaders have failed in leadership, what then?

Consider the fact that in the early days the line was: "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away". But all that has changed. Infected by the excess of the Vietnam war, violations of the Code of conduct on the part of US officers stationed at Clark and Subic, it was just a matter of time when the Pinoy version of the Officer and a Gentleman would become moral casualties.

Martial Law was declared and this institutionalized favoritism, regionalism, and political partisanship in the AFP. In time we would see the reference to "Old Soldiers…" rewritten to accurately suit the times…

"Old Soldiers never die nor do they really retire." They become appointed as Cabinet members along with their Mistahs or classmates. Those who did not risk as much or kissed as much Presidential ass get appointed as ambassadors. The inconsequential and politically dense members of the PMA batch can take comfort as undersecretaries or board directors in various government corporations or TV stations!

So what we have are "Parents" in a sense who do not practice what they preach. We have Commanders in Chief who have adulterated the time honored tradition of Discipline, Integrity, and Accountability.

We have retired and active generals who would not be able to defend their lifestyle, their wealth, or even their presence in high class night clubs or exclusive golf courses.

In a little over 40 years we have had five Presidents, three of them did not respect the sanctity of the Armed Forces, did not honor the integrity of promotions and assignments, and clearly manipulated the leadership of the command in order to have a cooperative, supportive and loyal Armed Forces and Police.

Sadly in institutions based on obedience and respect to the chain of command the role models hardly play the true role and are nowhere near being true models. This is not to say that there are none but like an adulterous wife, we in the media promote the bastards and not the saints.

Given such a sick scenario what can we expect, when "should be leaders" treat their assignments and commands more as windows of opportunities and are more concerned with future promotions or post retirement assignments.

Is it then any surprise that our future officers undergo a maladjusted education and training at various academies. Training that is outdated because mentors and leaders are too busy playing politics in the real world.

Because we normally view the world from our experience, many think that students in the academy are much like college and university students in private schools or UP at the least.

But the reality is that PMAers are no different from the poor teens in rural America who enlist in the Navy or the Air Force or the Marines as their ticket out of poverty and a bleak future.

More and more crops of the academy are poor, poorly educated and determined to get out of their bleak dead end reality. They go to the academy where they are exposed to the harsh sometimes brutal reality of what life in the service will be. That teaches you survival at all cost and at anyone’s expense.

After surviving mind numbing rituals that destroy your individuality, they press you on with corps discipline, peer pressure, then ultimately they give you power from the barrel of the gun, then you graduate suddenly with rank. With power, with authority over equally poor probinsyanos poorly educated and determined.

But even the graduates admit that you graduate as an incomplete and incapable product versus the reality of life outside the academy. You’ve graduated with very little grounding or mentoring on ethics, integrity, accountability, moral leadership, etc.

You may be the top marksman, top of the class in strategy, recon etc. But you won’t survive a year against corruption, adultery, moral issues, and ethical decisions.

Some get lucky. Some end up in a church. Some get invited to leadership groups or tap into groups like "FORCE Ministries". If they're young enough they learn what they need. Even old guys like myself got hooked out of the pond by Every Nation Leadership Institute. But we're the lucky ones.

The Academy or the Armed Forces is not without hope. But it must first realize that the solution may not be from within but from others. As leaders we must first admit that we have a problem, even if it requires admitting that we are the problem.

It was Albert Einstein who said: "WE CANNOT SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS WITH THE SAME THINKING THAT CREATED THEM."