tHe tRuth BeHiNd COCC
“Dumbguards form!”. That’s the same call that would make me feel nervous yet excited, happy yet fearful and still a lot of other feelings and emotions I really can’t explain. What is COCC?… you might ask. Well, COCC simply means Cadet Officer Candidate Course- a military training program used to train junior high school students to become CAT officers.
At first, I was kinda hesitant to join COCC coz I thought I couldn’t make it through. Imagine, a small girl like me…so naïve, no feeble, so innocent(char!) can endure the hardships of military training! Those were my thoughts. But then, all my friends and classmates were joining so I joined too so that I wouldn’t be “out of place”. I just joined for experience, honestly, and I said to myself that “kutob lang q first level”.
Our Saturdays were hacked up with series of trainings. We woke up at 2:00-3:00 in the morning for our Army Dozen, Roadruns, Rifle Drills, Voice Culture, Marching and the lectures. With all those arduous tasks, di jud maiwasan ang mga reklamo. And even though I didn’t say a single word, among gihap ka! The motto is “all for one’ one for all”.
It’s the sense of unity being built up. Midaghan pa ang reklamo pagsulod sa 2nd and confinement level. Nasulod man tahay ko..
The confinement stuff was a hard one..but really fun. More Army dozen and roadruns, dressing drills, crawls before eating, boddle fight, vacuum etc. That’s why some of the parents make reklamo about the training. They say it was “over” for their kids, but not really. Pero ang ila lang jud gikagul-an kay ang kwarta. Lisod na baya ang panahon ron.
The last day was the most fun! Squad tactics and going to the dam na naka-blind fold! Then the acceptance that we are already JOs (Junior Officers) and we headed back for the closing program: The announcing of our ranks by Sgt. Dario Lina. The ff are the results:
*CLt.Col. Christauf Uy(Junior Bn Corps Commander)
*cmAJ. Gregg Virgil Pomida (Junior Bn S1, Personnel Manager)
*CMaj. Eden Fleurdeliz Abogadie (Junior Bn Adjutant)
*CMaj. Willie Trinidad (Junior Bn S2, Intelligence and Training Officer)
*CMaj. April Gayle Valencia (Junior Bn S3,Executive Officer)
*CMaj. Kirsten Mae Andrade (Junior Bn S4, Logistics, Finance and HQ )
*CMaj. Mark Albert Taveros (Junior Bn S8, Education Officer)
*CCapt. Mauren Faller (Junior Alpha Commander)
*CCapt. Rose Merino (Junior Bravo Commander)
*C1LT. Anilyn Flores (junior Alpha Ex-O)
*C1Lt. Rochelle Ronato ( Junior Bravo Ex-O)
*C1Lt. Laurence Comandao (Junior 1st Alpha Plt Leader)
*C1lt. Kent Anthony Lim (Junior 1st Bravo Plt Leader)
*C1lt. Abigail Amestoso (Junior Communication ans Liaison Officer)
*C2Lt. Jehann Mae Dizon (Junior 2nd Alpha Plt Leader)
*C2Lt. Joshua Bandalan (Junior 2nd Bravo Plt Leader)
*C2Lt. Francis Marc Oponda (Junior Colors Officer)
*CLt. Ronilo Ramada (Junior Band Officer)
Because of COCC, I learned to value the simple things in life. Di ra man tali ako..kami jud tanan! We really value watermost of all and rest. Bisan sa kalsada lang mi pahigdaon, ok na kaayo!
And most important para nako… ang friendship, ang bonding, ang ka-close namo sa usag-usa. We’re together through the bad and good times, init or tugnaw, sunny or stormy (hehehe), sa shopping, sa bath time or no bath time at all! (wakekekekekek), sa kaon, sa hipos, sa kakapoy og kalipay og sa uban pa! Thanx guys! Thank you pod sa mao mga seniorz na walang sawang sumubaybay sa amin…hehehe. Ka Sgt. Lina og sa mga teachers na nagpahuwam og room nga gihimo namo og barrackz. ”Dismissed!”
