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Eskrima, US Military & the Philippines (an article)
By gold_chapter - Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:35:33 GMT
Originally Posted at: FMATalk
====================
a very informative/interesting article found in: http://peyups.com/article.khtml?sid=2623
Quote:
My grandfather immigrated to the United States in the 1920s to seek a better lifehe was born in Cebu. He worked as a migrant farmer throughout the western States. When World War II broke out, he volunteered for the US Army. There were two Filipino infantry regiments formed at Fort Ord, Monterey, California. When the two regiments were consolidated for deployment, a reconnaissance group was formed. This particular group was comprised mostly of Eskrimadors from the Visayas and Mindanao. My grandfather belonged to this group. This reconnaissance group later proved most valuable to General MacArthur, they were his eyes and ears, sending them as advance party to weaken Japanese defenses prior to the actual force invasionthe Americans' return to the Philippines. My grandfather kept a Japanese officer's samurai sword, still laced with dried blood, as a reminder of his role in the Philippines during World War II.
When the war ended, my grandfather and grandmother met. One month later, they married and moved to California. For my grandmother, the voyage to the US was full of excitement and hope. To my grandfather, his return was full of apprehension. Will the signs of "NO DOGS OR FILIPINOS ALLOWED" still hang outside restaurants and hotels? Will random acts of murders by white mobs still happen now that his people fought for this country? Will they be able to buy a decent house in a decent neighborhood? Will his family go through the violence and hardships he went through as a Filipino before the World War? All these thoughts raced through his head on that return journey. He was all too familiar with oppression in this land, his home.
As expected, racism still ran rampant. But as in any situation, you make the best with what you have. And so, my grandparents raised a family. They had eight children. My father was the youngest. At the age of 5, my grandfather taught each child EskrimaCebuano style, he proudly always said. My grandfather credits Eskrima to his survival. According to him, you can never go wrong with teaching your children martial arts. Among his children, my father excelled at the art. He was the most like my grandfather, adventurous and proud. Following my grandfather's footsteps, he joined the US Army.
Since he was a child, my father had always wanted to join the military. He went to West Point, and became an officer. He served two tours in Vietnam, with the Tropic Lighting Infantry Division. He too credits Eskrima as a life saving art, as taught by his father. But unlike World War II, Vietnam was a different war. It was a political war, based on assumptions of fear, my father used to say. He never said anything else about Vietnam. But I remembered nights, when he would just squat on the floor in corner of the living room and cry. After two tours in Vietnam, he was assigned to Washington DC, where he met my mother.
My mother is a third generation Filipina-American. Her grandparents were pensionados who came to the US in the 1910s as students. Their studies in America was subsidized by the government. After graduating, both decided to get married and stay in the U.S. They had two boys, one was my mothers fathermy grandfather. In Chicago, my grandfather met a beautiful blonde from Kentucky. And soon after, my mother was born. Having grown up in America, she was also all too familiar with the prevalent racism of the 50s and 60s. With a great sense of connection to each other, amidst a turbulent era, my father and mother married. And moved back to California.
I was born and raised in California, a Filipino-American. I am the second of three boys. I attended UC Berkeley, and later joined the US Army. I attended the Defense Language School in Monterey, California. I am in the Special Forces. I too inherited my grandfathers Eskrima. I have never been to the Philippines before, although Ive heard stories from my grandparents. For 6 months now, I have been assigned to the southern region of the Philippines. Recently, the Balikatan Exercises for 2003 commenced. U.S. Army soldiers and Marines are now participating in hunting down terrorist elements in this region. I am very worried about our purpose here. My family has seen first hand the stupidity of the Vietnam War, as the U.S. imposed its military strength to an internal conflict they were not a part of. My grandparents have experienced American racist arrogance. The same arrogance which brought U.S. soldiers to the Philippine south, where I am now, a century before. I am all too familiar with this arrogance, and its cost. I thought my country had learned its lessons and moved forward.
De Oppresso Liber, means to free the oppressed. This is why I joined the Green Beretsour credo, something we aspire to do as a unit and as individuals. My grandparents and great-grandparents experienced America's oppression, its racism and violence. I know about oppression from their stories, and from my fathers silence. Yet I grew up in a better America. I believe in the ideals my nation is trying to reach. I believe my nation is closer to this ideal than others. I am a proud American soldier. But as I spend more time in the southern Philippines, I have begun to doubt. We are not freeing the oppressed here, we are helping a nation oppress its own.
I learned a few months ago that the majority of field officers in the Filipino Armed Forces are Ilokanos, remnants from the Marcos era. Throughout Mindanao, battalion size elements are headed by Ilokano colonels whose majors and lieutenant colonels are also mostly Ilokano. It seems that in addition to running a military outfit, they also dabble in real estate, land acquisition and extortion. They also lend their military power as a service to local Christian politiciansmost from Luzon and the Visayas, who wish to affect the publics opinion in a much more direct manner. This is very obvious, yet the higher officers of the US military and the US State Department have decided to turn a blind eye to this.
The US wants a base in Basilan. Road and infrastructure construction is already underway. They have continued to charm the locals. Prostitution has already ran rampant. I believe this is the only reason why we are here. The Philippines is a very useful staging area for operations. It is also a beautiful place for R & Ras it is very easy to lure young Filipinas to become prostitutes for the American servicemen. Maybe the US military misses the times it had in Angeles and Olongapo.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has no control of her military. This is also why we are here. There is a group of "terrorists" running around in the South, which seems more like a smoke screen for the Philippine military's extortion and land acquisition operations in the South. The Abu Sayyaf number at most 500, yet they consistently evade the Philippine military. In the mean time, while this small group is running around the South, playing tag with its Philippine military counterpart, President Arroyo finds a way to utilize current American fears and requests the NPA, MNLF, and MILF labeled as terrorists. These are groups with legitimate government grievances. This is a problem that the Philippine government should solve by itself, but Arroyo chooses an easier way out. She turns to the Americans. So, the Americans are called over, and we swing our swords around and ask for a base. While all this is going on, people in small towns are getting annihilated, peasants are ousted from their ancestral lands. We are not freeing the oppressed here, we are helping a nation oppress its own.
The MorosFilipino Moslemsthroughout centuries have fought foreign invaders, never being conquered. They resisted the Spaniards and the Americans, at the turn of the century. The Yakan warriors of Basilan were the reason the caliber .45 became necessary. They fought proudly and bravely. But, in the end, they were no match for their colonized brethrens from the North, who came with deeds to lands, a piece of paper that made you an owner of a piece of the earth. This is very similar to what happened to the American Indians, when white Americans divided parcels of land which the Indians thought could only belong to Nature. And as the Native Americans have slowly disappeared, with their lands stolen, so too will the Filipino Moslems. But because their proud tradition dictates, they will not go without a fight. Sadly, they will have to fight us, the liberators of the oppressed.
This goes against everything my family has gone through. This goes against everything I believe in. I should not be here. We should not be here. De Oppresso Liber.
Read More...
------------------------------------
FMATalk.com Post Bot - FMA Feed
By gold_chapter - Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:35:33 GMT
Originally Posted at: FMATalk
====================
a very informative/interesting article found in: http://peyups.com/article.khtml?sid=2623
Quote:
My grandfather immigrated to the United States in the 1920s to seek a better lifehe was born in Cebu. He worked as a migrant farmer throughout the western States. When World War II broke out, he volunteered for the US Army. There were two Filipino infantry regiments formed at Fort Ord, Monterey, California. When the two regiments were consolidated for deployment, a reconnaissance group was formed. This particular group was comprised mostly of Eskrimadors from the Visayas and Mindanao. My grandfather belonged to this group. This reconnaissance group later proved most valuable to General MacArthur, they were his eyes and ears, sending them as advance party to weaken Japanese defenses prior to the actual force invasionthe Americans' return to the Philippines. My grandfather kept a Japanese officer's samurai sword, still laced with dried blood, as a reminder of his role in the Philippines during World War II.
When the war ended, my grandfather and grandmother met. One month later, they married and moved to California. For my grandmother, the voyage to the US was full of excitement and hope. To my grandfather, his return was full of apprehension. Will the signs of "NO DOGS OR FILIPINOS ALLOWED" still hang outside restaurants and hotels? Will random acts of murders by white mobs still happen now that his people fought for this country? Will they be able to buy a decent house in a decent neighborhood? Will his family go through the violence and hardships he went through as a Filipino before the World War? All these thoughts raced through his head on that return journey. He was all too familiar with oppression in this land, his home.
As expected, racism still ran rampant. But as in any situation, you make the best with what you have. And so, my grandparents raised a family. They had eight children. My father was the youngest. At the age of 5, my grandfather taught each child EskrimaCebuano style, he proudly always said. My grandfather credits Eskrima to his survival. According to him, you can never go wrong with teaching your children martial arts. Among his children, my father excelled at the art. He was the most like my grandfather, adventurous and proud. Following my grandfather's footsteps, he joined the US Army.
Since he was a child, my father had always wanted to join the military. He went to West Point, and became an officer. He served two tours in Vietnam, with the Tropic Lighting Infantry Division. He too credits Eskrima as a life saving art, as taught by his father. But unlike World War II, Vietnam was a different war. It was a political war, based on assumptions of fear, my father used to say. He never said anything else about Vietnam. But I remembered nights, when he would just squat on the floor in corner of the living room and cry. After two tours in Vietnam, he was assigned to Washington DC, where he met my mother.
My mother is a third generation Filipina-American. Her grandparents were pensionados who came to the US in the 1910s as students. Their studies in America was subsidized by the government. After graduating, both decided to get married and stay in the U.S. They had two boys, one was my mothers fathermy grandfather. In Chicago, my grandfather met a beautiful blonde from Kentucky. And soon after, my mother was born. Having grown up in America, she was also all too familiar with the prevalent racism of the 50s and 60s. With a great sense of connection to each other, amidst a turbulent era, my father and mother married. And moved back to California.
I was born and raised in California, a Filipino-American. I am the second of three boys. I attended UC Berkeley, and later joined the US Army. I attended the Defense Language School in Monterey, California. I am in the Special Forces. I too inherited my grandfathers Eskrima. I have never been to the Philippines before, although Ive heard stories from my grandparents. For 6 months now, I have been assigned to the southern region of the Philippines. Recently, the Balikatan Exercises for 2003 commenced. U.S. Army soldiers and Marines are now participating in hunting down terrorist elements in this region. I am very worried about our purpose here. My family has seen first hand the stupidity of the Vietnam War, as the U.S. imposed its military strength to an internal conflict they were not a part of. My grandparents have experienced American racist arrogance. The same arrogance which brought U.S. soldiers to the Philippine south, where I am now, a century before. I am all too familiar with this arrogance, and its cost. I thought my country had learned its lessons and moved forward.
De Oppresso Liber, means to free the oppressed. This is why I joined the Green Beretsour credo, something we aspire to do as a unit and as individuals. My grandparents and great-grandparents experienced America's oppression, its racism and violence. I know about oppression from their stories, and from my fathers silence. Yet I grew up in a better America. I believe in the ideals my nation is trying to reach. I believe my nation is closer to this ideal than others. I am a proud American soldier. But as I spend more time in the southern Philippines, I have begun to doubt. We are not freeing the oppressed here, we are helping a nation oppress its own.
I learned a few months ago that the majority of field officers in the Filipino Armed Forces are Ilokanos, remnants from the Marcos era. Throughout Mindanao, battalion size elements are headed by Ilokano colonels whose majors and lieutenant colonels are also mostly Ilokano. It seems that in addition to running a military outfit, they also dabble in real estate, land acquisition and extortion. They also lend their military power as a service to local Christian politiciansmost from Luzon and the Visayas, who wish to affect the publics opinion in a much more direct manner. This is very obvious, yet the higher officers of the US military and the US State Department have decided to turn a blind eye to this.
The US wants a base in Basilan. Road and infrastructure construction is already underway. They have continued to charm the locals. Prostitution has already ran rampant. I believe this is the only reason why we are here. The Philippines is a very useful staging area for operations. It is also a beautiful place for R & Ras it is very easy to lure young Filipinas to become prostitutes for the American servicemen. Maybe the US military misses the times it had in Angeles and Olongapo.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has no control of her military. This is also why we are here. There is a group of "terrorists" running around in the South, which seems more like a smoke screen for the Philippine military's extortion and land acquisition operations in the South. The Abu Sayyaf number at most 500, yet they consistently evade the Philippine military. In the mean time, while this small group is running around the South, playing tag with its Philippine military counterpart, President Arroyo finds a way to utilize current American fears and requests the NPA, MNLF, and MILF labeled as terrorists. These are groups with legitimate government grievances. This is a problem that the Philippine government should solve by itself, but Arroyo chooses an easier way out. She turns to the Americans. So, the Americans are called over, and we swing our swords around and ask for a base. While all this is going on, people in small towns are getting annihilated, peasants are ousted from their ancestral lands. We are not freeing the oppressed here, we are helping a nation oppress its own.
The MorosFilipino Moslemsthroughout centuries have fought foreign invaders, never being conquered. They resisted the Spaniards and the Americans, at the turn of the century. The Yakan warriors of Basilan were the reason the caliber .45 became necessary. They fought proudly and bravely. But, in the end, they were no match for their colonized brethrens from the North, who came with deeds to lands, a piece of paper that made you an owner of a piece of the earth. This is very similar to what happened to the American Indians, when white Americans divided parcels of land which the Indians thought could only belong to Nature. And as the Native Americans have slowly disappeared, with their lands stolen, so too will the Filipino Moslems. But because their proud tradition dictates, they will not go without a fight. Sadly, they will have to fight us, the liberators of the oppressed.
This goes against everything my family has gone through. This goes against everything I believe in. I should not be here. We should not be here. De Oppresso Liber.
Read More...
------------------------------------
FMATalk.com Post Bot - FMA Feed
