Fred Quimbo's Blog

by Fred L Quimbo

Allow me to begin this story by narrating how my experience as a working student in school made me survive the travails and rigors of ROTC summer camp.

When I first enrolled as a 3rd high school student at the University of the Visayas in 1948, I was a paying student. However, I was finding it difficult to keep up with my periodic tuition payments, so I decided to look for a way that I can be a working student in the University. Almost toward the end of the school year, I started working as mail sorter/mail carrier at the University Post Office.

During the following school year, in my 4th year, I was granted free tuition, which was later upgraded by my being granted a monthly monetary allowance of P40.00. There were about 100 of us working students in almost all of the offices of the University. After graduation from high school, I enrolled in typing and stenography lessons outside of the university. Soon after I finished the course, and became quite a fast typist, I was transferred to become the Clerk/Secretary of the Dean of Commerce, and later at the Office of the Executive Secretary. .My monthly allowance again was increased.

Because I already enjoyed free schooling privileges, I took a course leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Commerce, major in Banking and Finance. However, due to the limited class time , I could not take full subject load per semester. But becoming known to the teachers and instructors, sometimes helped. I skipped classes, especially the subjects which I found boring. Foremost, was ROTC, although I diligently attended lectures and Sunday drills during the first year. Then I made arrangements to entirely skip the second year basic ROTC with the help of some of my co-working students.

Before that school year ended, there was an announcement at the bulletin board of the Office of Military Science & Tactics, where the ROTC commandant and his enlisted staff held office, that several cadets who completed the entire basic course (1st and 2nd years) will be chosen to undergo Summer Camp training in Fort William McKinley (later named Fort Bonifacio). Lots were drawn by the Third Military Area Command to choose the cadets for that training. I did not bother to check with the ROTC office because I know I will not be selected since I did not anyway attend the whole 2nd year basic course. I was surprised to be summoned to the office of the Commandant and advised to prepare for the Summer Training Camp as my name was luckily or (unluckily) drawn. I got caught unaware! I was told to bring two sets of uniforms but I did not even had one because during the first year, I also had a borrowed uniform. Eventually, I was able to borrow two sets of uniforms, one quite tight and another one quite loose with the shirt sleeves too long while the trousers have to be rolled up to fit. I also borrowed a pair military boots.We were told to have our hair cut to the prescribed military regulation haircut before we got shipped out..

One week after, we boarded an LST for Manila. It was hot and cramped inside the hold of the ship and we endured a 36 hour voyage.The food was bad. We were a mixed lot in that LST – ROTC cadets from all over the Visayas. The cadets from the other provinces were brought to Cebu on local ships and we all boarded together in Cebu. Upon arrival at Fort Wm McKinley, the parched and cracked earth of the parade and drill grounds greeted us, compounded by the hollering and shouting of drill sergeants and junior officers,.as we dismounted from Philippine army trucks.

As we were assembled on the parade grounds, we were told to withdraw our Army-issue uniforms, clothing like underwear, floppy hats, steel helmets with liners, etc and also our sleeping and bathing accessories .The boots we were issued were about 2 sizes larger, that one of the smaller cadets remarked that even if he executes “About Face”, his shoes were still pointing at the opposite end. Except for the really big-bodied cadets, everyone looked like scarecrows in our oversized fatigue uniforms, most of all me, since I was that skinny. We were also issued our Garand rifles. Everything was running, running, I could hardly keep up.

Late the in the afternoon, all the cadets were sorted and assigned to the different training companies – from A to M. Almost the entire Fort Wm McKinley was teeming with ROTC cadets. Huge Army tents were already springing up all around. Luckily, my name was picked to be assigned to “M” (Mike) Company. Our entire Company was assigned to the recently vacated, but newly-built concrete & wood barracks, of the 14th Battalion Combat Team (PEFTOK) as they already left for Korea to relieve the 19th BCT which had been fighting in the Korean.War. Most of the other cadets were assigned to the canvass tents,-- one tent per squad of ten.We had clean toilets and bathing facilities while the other cadets in the other companies had to make do with their own holes in the ground latrines (toilets) and outdoor bathing facilities. I was the only cadet from UV who got assigned to “M” company. “M” Company was again a hodgepodge of Ilocanos, Bicolanos, Warays, Kapampangans, and other Cebuano-speaking cadets from the Visayas and Mindanao.In other words, we were the excess cadets who were not assigned to Companies “A” to “L.”Most of the other companies were grouped by schools. The other UV cadets were assigned to “L” (Love) Company. L company’s bivouac area was about half a kilometer from our M company barracks

.My favorite co-cadet in “L” company was a certain Wulfran Pestano, of UV who later became a high school teacher in UV. He was also a working student and because of this he was made Company Clerk of “L” company. One Sunday, being a rest day, I pulled a practical joke by calling him on the telephone. We were trained to answer the telephone, saying:“L” company (or whatever unit name) Cadet So and So speaking, Sir!” So when he merely answered:“Hello”,I immediately asked: “Who is this?” And he replied “Cadet Pestano sir”.Then, I shouted on the telephone, sounding like an officer: “Goddamit! Cadet Pestano, don’t you know how to answer the telephone properly?” And he stammered: “Yes sir,Yes sir!” Again, I shouted:“Goddamit Pestano, stand at attention when you are speaking to an officer!” By this time, I was told later, that the other cadets in the tent were already rollicking with laughter because they had sneaking suspicion that someone pulled a practical joke on him, especially because he was already saluting to no one while still holding on to the telephone. He never knew it was me who called him because he complained that some officer bawled him out that morning. When were back on the ship on the way home, I told him. He first got mad, but later said” Buanga nimo oy”

When we got settled in our barracks, I was surprised to find out that our junior tactical officer and one of the platoon leaders was a Lt. Ruiz (forgot his first name now; he was from Zamboanga) who finished his advanced ROTC inUV; while a student, he once asked me to do some typing for him. He had already been an Army officer for about two years before he got assigned to that summer camp.The first time he came into the barracks, he looked for me as he probably found my name in the roster. I did not show any sign of recognition as he was an officer and I was a lowly cadet.. However, he asked me to report to the Company office inside the barracks. When I got there, he told me that he remembered me and asked if I would like to work as Company clerk, where duties will be light and easy. Of course, I grabbed that opportunity immediately. As Company clerk, I was given my own sleeping quarters inside the Company office so I did not have to sleep with the other cadets in the barracks room. The only sleeping inconvenience I had was that the Company commander, who usually sleeps in the Company office snored loudly.

Our Company commander, forgot his name now, was a captain and a reserved officer who was called to active duty training for the summer camp. Lt Ruiz introduced me to him and when told that I once worked as a clerk in the school where I came from,
ordered me to do all the clerical work, including some, which company commanders normally should do.Our First Sergeant, who was a regular enlisted man helped me initially, but later made me do also his work, including the preparation of morning reports, etc. At first, I usually join the ranks during drills and exercises, but when the heat was getting to me and night lectures were getting more frequent, I decided to just stay in the Company office. I just went over the training schedules, and joined the rest of the Company in night lectures on subjects which interested me but pretended to keep myself busy during the scheduled hours devoted mostly of repetitious night lectures. I also found ways to avoid KP (kitchen police) duty where one has to work scrubbing and washing the large pans and cooking utensils in the Company mess. Because of my work as Company Clerk, I was able to avoid guard duty..

The food was almost always awful! Our mess sergeant was an Ilocano and so were the cooks assigned there. One day, as we lined up for lunch, we noticed that flies were buzzing all over the cooked viand, but since we were so hungry, we did not mind it. The Ilocano cadets who were at the head of chow line were delighted as the cadets on KP ladled out heaps of the cooked viand while the flies continued to buzz around. When we, Visayan and some Tagalog cadets reached the food-dispensing kitchen crew, we noticed that goat entrails, with the stomach and intestine contents, were mixed in as they cooked the food! Many of the non-Ilocano cadets retched and threw up, some running away from the chow line, their hands covering their noses to avoid the foul-smell of what we were later told was “papait”, an Ilocano delicacy.

It was immediately hushed up by the officers but many of us, including myself, did not have lunch that day! Only the Ilocanos had their stomachs full. Better food, however, was served for supper, and we had an early chow time too, and no night lectures and exercises. However, some reporters got wind of that incident, probably because a few of the Manila cadets had reporter-friends from the major newspapers (the term “media” was not yet conceived then). So the following day, a Saturday, newspaper reporters were seen interviewing some of the officers and cadets. That was a blessing!

Our main course for lunch the next day, Sunday, was lechon with Coca-Cola and beer to boot! Only very, very few cadets asked to go on Sunday pass that Sunday morning as word spread that lechon will be served for lunch. We had newspaper reporters joining us for lunch also! That was the best food I ever had for the 9 week summer camp.

Then we reached the culmination of summer camp training. We had our live fire exercises, which included target shooting, live firing of several types of weapons, like mortar firing and ranging, machine gun and small arms practice, and even live grenade throwing. In these exercises, I mostly joined, but what I found most difficult was firing the Garand rifle.at target practice. The rifle’s recoil or “kick” was so forceful, I was once thrown down from the elevated parapet.of the firing range as I pressed the trigger.My right shoulder was sore. I never got to hit the target. What I enjoyed most was firing the Thompson sub-machine gun as I blasted away in full run and at close range, the set up targets. Our mortar team of four cadets and one regular enlisted man, was adjudged one of the best mortar teams of the entire summer camp, but it was heavy, hard work --dismantling the mortar, carrying the heavy tube and base,and lugging the live mortar projectiles packed inside a metal ammunition canister, composed of smoke projectiles for ranging and the live mortar rounds; then running to a new location as we reposition the mortar for a new firing sequence. These mortars were the small bore 4.3 inch weapon..

With that already out of the way, all the cadets were now to be assigned to different units of the trained reserves. Each cadet was already given his enlisted reserve rank and branch of service and military specialty, so that when that particular reserve unit is called for active duty, he knows where to report. Our Company was assigned (don’t laugh now!) to the Graves Registration Service! Lt Ruiz and our new Company Commander (the former one was transferred to another unit) could hardly believed that.They told me to see if there is any other reserved military specialty available other than Graves Registration Service. As I checked the special orders, I was dismayed to discover that all cadets of “M” company were to be assigned to that particular military specialty.(I thought that the Army also did a practical joke on us because we had the best accommodation during the entire summer camp)..Therefore, each cadet in “M” company will be handling graves registration work of the particular reserve unit he will be assigned.. Lt Ruiz jokingly told me that if there is going to be another war and we will be called up, I should already know what to do, meaning tally up the dead and record where they are buried. I have a suspicion that it was a U.S. Army military specialty and not of the Philippine Army. Nevertheless, in order to make the most of my position as Company Clerk before we were to be returned to our places of origin, I chose the highest-enlisted rank available – Master Sergeant! But, still a master sergeant in the Graves Registration Service..

That was the last unified Summer Training Camp for the ROTC cadets. The following year, and subsequent years thereafter, Summer Camp Training was held in the respective Military Area commands until the practice was finally stopped or suspended probably due to lack of funds. I also think that the U.S. government funded that Summer Camp Training, perhaps to prepare the Philippine Army reserves for eventual Korea duty had it not been for the armistice which was declared later to end the Korean War.

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Footnotes: During the 1953 Presidential elections, the ROTC cadets were called to safeguard the polling places. This election pitted the incumbent President Elpidio Quirino against his former Defense Secretary Ramon Magsaysay. It was done to make sure there will be no repeat of election terrorism perpetrated by the “bearded ones” or “bungotons” who terrorized the 1949 Presidential elections. I got called up as one among thousands of ex-ROTC reserve enlisted men, to report for what was nominally termed “AADT” or Annual Active Duty Training. We trained for about two weeks in Camp Lapulapu and then our unit was shipped out and assigned to guard the polling places in Tanjay and Bais, in Negros Oriental. We were issued our Garand rifles with live ammunition. Our unit commander was Lt. Greg Ayo, who used to be a radio announcer. I think it was the cleanest and most honest presidential elections. Magsaysay won overwhelmingly over the incumbent Quirino. Immediately after the counting of ballots was finished, we returned to Camp Lapulapu and our unit, as well as all the other reserve ROTC units,all over the Philippines was disbanded.

The following year, summer of 1954, I finished my college degree.without any fanfare as I did not attend the graduation ceremonies.