With regards to the things pertaining to the Reservist and Mandatory Reservist Officer Training Corps (ROTC), a quoted commentary is indeed a good writeup to get ponder upon.
VIEWPOINTS BY Edrick Masangkay from DefensePH:
"It's amazing. We have this discussion about ROTC and CAT so many times. And yet it's the military guys in this group (DefensePH) that think that it's a really bad idea.
The whole things seems to me an effort to try to improve our defensive capabilities on the cheap without actually improving our defensive capabilities, and is more intended to let us pretend that we've improved our defenses, and feel good in the process.
The revival of ROTC, as envisioned, still has a very land-centric/army-centric outlook. The whole idea seems to be to train these kids up a little bit, and when the time comes, give 'em a gun, and send them to the front.
Again, it fails to take into account the reality that we are a maritime nation with no land borders. Therefore, from a strategic standpoint, the first line of defense of the nation will be the sea and skies. And for us to defend the nation, we must maintain control of the sea and skies. Efforts to train these kids and turn them into infantrymen do very little to improve the nation's first lines of defense. And if anything, in the bigger strategic and tactical schemes of defense, if such conscripts trained under an ROTC and CAT program were to really be needed in the defense of the country, it would mean that the country is already in very serious trouble. It would mean that an enemy OPFOR has already landed on Philippine soil. And for an enemy landing to have taken place, it would have meant that an enemy controls the seas (thereby choking off trade, supplies, and most importantly fuel oil), and the enemy also has air superiority.......both of which an enemy would need in order to conduct a successful amphibious landing.
At that point despite your sheer numbers of conscripts, they become sitting ducks for enemy armor, and even worse they become easy pickings for enemy aircraft. And thousands of ROTC kids pointing M1 Garands in the sky is not going to do much against enemy aircraft.
It's been pointed out time and again by the military guys in the group that conscripts do not make for effective soldiers. Training and discipline are never going to change the fact that a draftee does not want to be there. And so they will do just enough to get by, but they will never live up to their full potential as a soldier.
Proponents talk about ROTC as means of instilling discipline. While many of us think of 11th and 12th graders as children (and it lot of ways they are), they are also for all intents and purposes young adults. They are already "hardwired" in a lot of their ways. If they weren't already disciplined to begin with, then they aren't going to change very much at that age.
Not unless you put them into a full bootcamp type of situation, where you completely tear down a person and build them back up. But the proposals out there for ROTC revival.......a few hours on a weekend? What about the other 6 days out of the week? Once they get out of their march and drill session, they immediately go back to the way they were before. Where's the discipline there?
Proponents point to countries like South Korea, Singapore, and Israel. In those countries, they tell their young people to give up everyday for two years out of their life. The discipline is constantly reinforced, and backed up with true training in modern equipment in all of the services. And the financial commitment on the order of millions spent to fully equip its conscript forces is there, where their equipment is just as good as that of the frontline volunteer force. It's not going through the motions a few hours on a weekend with what ever you can scrape together, just to make you think you're doing something about the problem.
Proponents want to talk about using the ROTC to instill patriotism........that's a farce. Patriotism isn't going to be learned during a few hours on a weekend. If anything patriotism isn't taught to teenagers. It should be started in the very young. And not just in school, but also in the home. Patriotism is not taught by empty gestures like putting your hand over your heart and singing the national anthem. Patriotism is taught by the examples set by older people like us.......by respecting the laws, paying taxes, voting, taking part in discussion of public issues, not dumping your garbage on the street, following the traffic rules, and so on.
If people really want to improve the armed forces and the country's defense capabilities, then tell your congressman that you want a modernized and well equipped AFP. If you want a reserve force, do as the Americans did. After Vietnam, they got rid of the draft and went to an all-volunteer reserve. Volunteer reservists want to be there, and are willing to put in the commitment. They go through basic training like everyone else. Then go back to their regular lives, and put in their one weekend per month for training. They use the same equipment as the regular armed forces. When the time comes, they can be quickly integrated into the regular armed forces, and have the same combat effectiveness.
It's a lot better system than having battalions of conscripts that don't want to be there, and end up having to be babysat by more effective, better trained regular units."
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