"But as long as you are part of the institution,
Do not condemn it."
Do not condemn it."
-Loyalty, COCC Plebe Knowledge
It's been 26 months since I joined the Cadet Officer Candidacy Course, or COCC for short. 26 months of trials, tortures, and tribulations. This is my story.
Chapter 4: 2ndclassman
Training resumed immediately after Holy Week. The coming of the holidays made me restless.
Sir Thomas was abusive with his power. Little by little, all of us special flights dissed him as an officer, and eventually, we lost many of the special flight cadets on account of their shared perspectives about him. Even Diego, the one who had persuaded me to join COCC in the first place, quit under these circumstances. The NCOCC was down to seven, the Honor Guards were down to seven, the Medics, once a flight of twenty four, were down to five, and the Air Police were down to 5 as well.
These were desperate times for Sir Rendor. He had to do something before everybody quit; thus, their promotion was moved early. All they had to do was survive Combat PT. Yeah, same as what we did, only they instantly became officers afterwards.
By the way, Mio and I were there to supervise and help out with the Combat PT. The Communication Arts Cluster Night was held on the same date, so we decided to go for kicks. It was the first time for us to talk to Sir Rendor eye-to-eye. Very unusual. Since there were about twenty or so cadets in the CAT Shack, we decided to divide them. Mio and I handled the Medics. I was personally in charge of Poblete, a large man with fluent English skills, and Sy, who was in the same Organization as Sir Rendor: InDAK, a dance performance group.
All I had to do to them was make them go through what I did in my Combat PT: torture.
An hour passed and Sir dismissed us so that we could return to our Night.
The next week, the special flights attended the raising of the flag. Unusual, since it was only the COCC and the officers who were supposed to attend. After the flag ceremony ended, Sir Rendor introduced to us the newly promoted officers: the Honor Guards, Medics, and Air Police were now Technical Sergeants, while the NCOCC were Master Sergeants. We had to obey them now. Fine with me, I thought.
Initially, training under them was fun. the Honor Guards taught us new rifle tricks (We had recently been told that we're worthy of rifles), while the NCOCC handled PT. All was going well for me until one CAT session, which were held every Friday. Sir Rendor put me to the test, making me do tasks and PT. It seemed that I failed to live up to his expectations and stripped me of the title of Flight Sergeant. Things went downhill from there.
Sir Rendor came to a training session one day and told us whoever can hold one hand knuckle pyramids the longest will be deemed Flight Sarge. Samonte was taken out first, as he had stupidly switched hands. Deriq, Mio, then Jason followed. It was down to me and Brillantes. I looked at him, and saw him praying. I figured he wanted this more than I do, so I dropped out anyway. It didn't matter, because I knew Sir Rendor's strategy already: make a cadet feel good about himself, then bring him down when he's at his peak confidence level. It's devastating when morale so high crashes so low. That's what happened to Samonte and I when we were still Flight Sarge. I realized this the day after I was, well, devastated.
More misfortunes. The newly ordained officers became cocky and abusive. I know it's all part of training, but sometimes they tell us to do things they can't do, like recite certain codes in plebe knowledge, or do PT that would be difficult for us, but impossible for them. At least Sir Rendor can manage everything he told us to do. That's why I respect him. My hatred towards certain officers grew.
These were desperate times for Sir Rendor. He had to do something before everybody quit; thus, their promotion was moved early. All they had to do was survive Combat PT. Yeah, same as what we did, only they instantly became officers afterwards.
By the way, Mio and I were there to supervise and help out with the Combat PT. The Communication Arts Cluster Night was held on the same date, so we decided to go for kicks. It was the first time for us to talk to Sir Rendor eye-to-eye. Very unusual. Since there were about twenty or so cadets in the CAT Shack, we decided to divide them. Mio and I handled the Medics. I was personally in charge of Poblete, a large man with fluent English skills, and Sy, who was in the same Organization as Sir Rendor: InDAK, a dance performance group.
All I had to do to them was make them go through what I did in my Combat PT: torture.
An hour passed and Sir dismissed us so that we could return to our Night.
The next week, the special flights attended the raising of the flag. Unusual, since it was only the COCC and the officers who were supposed to attend. After the flag ceremony ended, Sir Rendor introduced to us the newly promoted officers: the Honor Guards, Medics, and Air Police were now Technical Sergeants, while the NCOCC were Master Sergeants. We had to obey them now. Fine with me, I thought.
Initially, training under them was fun. the Honor Guards taught us new rifle tricks (We had recently been told that we're worthy of rifles), while the NCOCC handled PT. All was going well for me until one CAT session, which were held every Friday. Sir Rendor put me to the test, making me do tasks and PT. It seemed that I failed to live up to his expectations and stripped me of the title of Flight Sergeant. Things went downhill from there.
Sir Rendor came to a training session one day and told us whoever can hold one hand knuckle pyramids the longest will be deemed Flight Sarge. Samonte was taken out first, as he had stupidly switched hands. Deriq, Mio, then Jason followed. It was down to me and Brillantes. I looked at him, and saw him praying. I figured he wanted this more than I do, so I dropped out anyway. It didn't matter, because I knew Sir Rendor's strategy already: make a cadet feel good about himself, then bring him down when he's at his peak confidence level. It's devastating when morale so high crashes so low. That's what happened to Samonte and I when we were still Flight Sarge. I realized this the day after I was, well, devastated.
More misfortunes. The newly ordained officers became cocky and abusive. I know it's all part of training, but sometimes they tell us to do things they can't do, like recite certain codes in plebe knowledge, or do PT that would be difficult for us, but impossible for them. At least Sir Rendor can manage everything he told us to do. That's why I respect him. My hatred towards certain officers grew.
Soon, it was time for the COCC to get promoted, at least to 1st class.
What did we have to do? What did we have to accomplish? My mind raced as we prepared for the challenge, expecting something as grueling as Combat PT.
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