A Glimpse of Plebehood

During my first year, or “plebe year”, at the PMA, I was assigned to the Hawk Company – the best company, according to its members, in the Cadet Corps Armed Forces of the Philippines (CCAFP). There were eight companies all in all. Aside from Hawk, there were Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, and Golf companies.

Plebe year was the toughest, as I had to make the transition from the life of a civilian to the regimented life of someone in the military. In the first two months at the PMA, we, plebes, underwent “The Beast Barracks.” As a part of it, we had to learn the Plebe Knowledges. These were cadet doctrines and affirmations that had to be memorized ad infinitum – no more, no less. There were a lot, but these are a few of them: How Long is Eternity?, Don’t Quit, and Are you Resigning?

We were told that memorizing the Plebe Knowledges would enhance our memorizing skills and, as such, prepare us for our academics. I didn’t appreciate our training back then. I could barely survive the day. Here’s a sample of a Plebe Knowledge that describes the way I felt during this time.

“How Long Is Eternity?”

“Sir, if it takes a bird from outer space traveling at the speed of a turtle that is taking his time and picks a grain of sand from the earth and brings it back to the place where he came from and deposits it there and does the process once in every million years, and after picking all the minute grains of sand on earth and depositing them on the bank of the galaxies of heaven, he brings them back to their places, eternity shall have just begun. I hope that the lazy and dumb bird will travel forth and my chinning and double-timing be made shorter than the beginning of eternity, Sir!”

--THE RESCUE (2019)