The military’s role is to win wars against the enemy, not to support civilians and government agencies.
So claimed an article in the latest issue of “The Air Force Way
2012,” the official magazine of the Philippine Air Force (PAF), that
came out in time for its 65th anniversary last week.
The article, which did not carry a byline, argued that the country’s
military has lost sight of its primary mission “to fight and win wars”
due to its expanded role in supporting civilian government agencies.
Filipino soldiers have lost their critical combat capabilities since
their time has been diverted to civic functions supporting civilians and
not soldiers, the article pointed out.
“Such diversion of missions and capabilities had given rise to a
situation wherein people in the military no longer consider themselves
as warriors but as policemen, relief workers, educators, builders,
health care providers, politicians, everything but warfighters,” read
the article titled “Militum Phasellus” (no translation found).
The article criticized the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP)
focus on civic projects that was cemented in its new Bayanihan
counter-insurgency campaign under the Aquino administration.
The PAF article argued that a professional soldier’s “expertise is on
warfighting (and) his responsibility is as an expert military adviser
and a soldier to his society…his corporate character is that of a
warrior.”
Instead, the writer said, soldiers are made to do nonsecurity related
tasks like medical missions, school construction and community clean-up
“partly because of the inability of many civilian agencies to perform
their mandate.”
While support to civilian agencies should only be secondary to the
military’s core function of warfighting, the article said that “in
reality much of the time and activities that should have been devoted to
combat training and preparation are being used to fulfill (civilian)
tasks.”
The PAF article also assailed the lack of interest in the study of
military theory and history as “another sign that military
professionalism is eroding.”
It added that (military theory and history) are hardly taught as
subjects in military educational institutions, not even in the courses
taught to the AFP officer corps as part of their continuing studies.
“Ironically, foreign armed forces have seen more value in Philippine
military history by thoroughly studying it than… their Filipino
counterparts,” the PAF article said.
The article said the AFP officer corps needed to show “high levels of
proficiency in performing its core mission” in the face of serious
external and internal defense and military challenges.
“Does it have… morale courage to advise political leaders that there
are limits to what the armed forces can do, and that expanding their
roles runs the danger of diverting them from their primary mission and
focus?” the article asked.
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Dona Z. Pazzibugan | Philippine Daily Inquirer | July 10, 2012 | Article Link
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