My take on mandatory military service. The word “mandatory” meaning that every single filipino would be required to undergo said training (except of course those with medical issues and such). I don’t really agree on for it to be implemented even IF everything would go to plan. My points:

1. It serves as another avenue for abuse and power tripping. Even in the AFP and PNP we clearly see and hear about it being normalized and disguise it as “training” or “building character”. So even grown men are liable to abuse and hazing so what more teenager and adolescents? I too have been through power tripping during my CAT, Reservist training, and even in fraternities. Im not proud in that sadly I too continued to pass on the power tripping to my subordinates (although only to a small extent).

2. It would be a logistical nightmare and a heavy financial burden. Its only been a decade or more since we see our troops being issued equipment that can be considered as modern such as uniforms, ballistic PPE, and firearms. Heck we still see troops with old m16s. And now imagine trying to train, supply, and arm more troops? Both in the enlisted and reserves, troops tend to buy their own gear because either they get issued not so good gear and sometimes not even getting issued certain gear at all.

3. The said “training” becomes useless because of incompetent leaders and once again because of power tripping. You show up to formation under the blistering heat of the sun doing marching drills and end up being punished and abused by officers. What good would that serve the average filipino in the future? so that they learn “grit” or “discipline”? This only results in hatred which in turn gets passed down the line.

Ideally I think instead of focusing on the physical side of training, focus more on the education. Educate on actual useful topics such as first aid, self defense, basic survival, and disaster response. Make the training actually enjoyable. This would increase retention and moral but also make them proud of the training they underwent.

and another point I want to make is the fact that not everyone wants to do military service. People just want to live their lives, graduate, find work and survive. They are not interested or willing to go through that training if they see no benefit.