From maggots to Marines: The journey of a soldier

In the movies, being a Marine is about fast-cut action sequences, dramatic battle cries, and one-liners about honor. It’s a striking picture, but the real-life journey to become a Marine may just match up to any drama on the big screen.

Last year, the Philippine Marine Corps invited GMA 7’s flagship documentary program “I-Witness” and host Jay Taruc to document their grueling training — a first on Philippine TV. The resulting documentary, over a year in the making, tells the story of five recruits and their journey to become one of “The Few, The Proud.”

A new life

To even think of joining the Marines, one must have had higher education: Freman de Mesa, 22 years old, was an IT graduate from Batangas; Madelene Lee and Mary Jane Melburn were both from Zamboanga. Melburn, who was drawn to the discipline shown by the Marines, had been majoring in Special Education; Mark Sotelo of Taguig was a Mechanical Engineering student, and Karlamae Simon of Isabela was taking up Nursing.

Majority of the recruits, called “candidate soldiers,” are men. In the batch of 300 that we met, only 29 were women.

Life is no less easy for female recruits; the recruitment officers share that sanitary napkins are almost unnecessary as their monthly periods will not arrive during the stressful training period. In addition, all recruits must shave their head before training — even the women. Aside from practical reasons, the haircut is a symbol of their new life.

Jay accompanied Karlamae as she got her new hairdo, trying to make her laugh by picking up pieces of her hair. Karlamae broke into a smile: “Okay lang, pangarap ko talaga ‘to.”

‘Maggots’
Candidate soldiers’ first day of training begins with a run — they are expected to carry their backpacks by biting down on the straps like a dog. After this, drill instructors push them through two hours of exercises that have them crawling on the ground. Waitlisted applicants wait on the bleachers; if a candidate soldier doesn’t pass this first round, someone else will take his or her place.

Panting for breath, their once-white shirts caked with mud, the candidate soldiers must face the taunts of the instructors: “Pwede ka nang umayaw! Maraming papalit sa iyo!”

“Gusto mo bang umuwi?”
“No, ma’am!”
“Hindi kita marinig!”
“NO, MA’AM!”

Those that make it past this round are given a duffel bag with their personal supplies. “Before they become Marines, they are maggots,” says a commanding officer.
As the elite force of the Philippine Navy, the Marines’ core competencies are swift deployment and amphibious operations. The interviews of “I-Witness” with the officers offer insight into why drill instructors seem, to an outsider, almost abusive: “Sinasanay po sila para hindi ma-rattle tuwing nakakarinig ng sigaw,” says one.

“We need to break them in order to rebuild them into what we want them to be,” adds another, saying “civilian behavior” must be replaced by that of a true Marine.

In time, they will be transferred to the Basic School in Ternate, Cavite, where six months of intensive training takes place. On their first day there, all candidate soldiers are told to run into the sea and take a “bath” for thirty seconds as a group.

Life after Cavite
The candidate soldiers emerge, experts in handling various weapons — even the itak, a common weapon of jungle fighters. The men have undergone more weight training, as they are expected to carry 81 mortars into battle. However, as Jay observes, the women are almost indistinguishable from the men at this point.

The would-be soldiers appear uniform in their stances, but each will have his or her own path once deployed in the field. For now, though, they graduate after a total of eight months in training. Officially bearing the rank of Private, their reactions are similar, this time not because of training but because of a shared experience and shared survival: joy.

“Masayang-masaya po,” was each one’s answer. Private De Mesa would later be deployed to Cotabato, Privates Melburn and Lee in Jolo, Sulu; Private Simon in Patikul, Sulu and Private Sotelo in Palawan —Cristina Tantengco/CM, GMA News

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As of writing, Privates De Mesa, Melburn, Lee and Simon are all active in the service of the Philippine Marine Corps. Private Sotelo is AWOL and is said to have returned to Taguig.