55 lines
2.7 KiB
Plaintext
55 lines
2.7 KiB
Plaintext
|
||
FOXHOLE CONVERSIONS
|
||
By M.L. Verb
|
||
|
||
One of the most poignant ways to view the upheaval in the Philippines was
|
||
through the eyes of bewildered soldiers. At some point each one had to decide
|
||
whether to continue to fight on behalf of Ferdinand Marcos or to join rebel
|
||
military officers supporting Corazon Aquino.
|
||
|
||
Individual soldiers found their system of military discipline breaking down all
|
||
around them. No longer could they rely on orders to know what to do or how to
|
||
behave. They were facing what eventually each of us faces in some way--a
|
||
decision about where they stood, about the direction of their own lives.
|
||
|
||
As the country dissolved into chaos, soldiers who supposely were members of the
|
||
same army were dividing their allegiances and trying to display in public which
|
||
side they were on. The pro-Marcos forces tied multi-colored ribbons on their
|
||
bayonets. The pro-Aquino troops hand-sewed distinctive patches on their
|
||
uniforms.
|
||
|
||
It was an untrustworthy system, of course, as such systems always are in fluid
|
||
periods of social disintegration. It no doubt was easy for soldiers to carry
|
||
both identifying marks with them and to wear whichever one would, at the
|
||
moment, help them survive.
|
||
|
||
But the vagaries of this ad-hoc method of loyalty identification did not,
|
||
ultimately, prevent soldiers from having to make a choice. And when it came to
|
||
that moment it was too late for them to ask for more time to think it all
|
||
through or to ask for more information on which to base a rational judgment.
|
||
For the hired guns it was election day.
|
||
|
||
When the chaos descended on Manila--when freedom finally became not just an
|
||
ideal but an irresistable force--the soldiers, who until then had been employed
|
||
to keep order for an oppressor, already had to know in their hearts and minds
|
||
what they thought about the Marcos regime. They had to know whether they felt
|
||
guilty enough about being part of the means of state violence to change sides.
|
||
They had to know whether they felt owned by the Marcos regime and, thus,
|
||
responsible to its leader.
|
||
|
||
TV viewers were treated to scenes in which pro-Marcos troops were ordered to
|
||
break up a crowd, for instance, only to have the whole operation end with
|
||
befuddled individual soldiers, jeering in their ears, walking away from their
|
||
assignment and talking to camera crews.
|
||
|
||
Soldiers throughout history are sworn to loyalty, are indoctrinated to take
|
||
orders, are trained in the benefits of strict discipline, are taught to respect
|
||
authority.
|
||
|
||
Which is why it was so moving to see whether soldiers, in the turbulence of the
|
||
moment, were discerning enough to choose whom they would serve.
|
||
|
||
It must be some comfort to the Aquino government now to know that--at least
|
||
once in a while--foxhole conversions are the real thing.
|
||
|
||
|