Sacrifices

I was going through Facebook when I came across a reel on a military honour for another fallen soldier. It suddenly brought me to a movie I caught on HBO a few years ago. The movie was Taking Chance, wonderfully helmed by Kevin Bacon. It's a military movie and yet it's not a military movie. It's the story of Marine Lt. Col Michael Strobl accompanying the body of Marine PFC Chance Phelps to be returned to his family and interred.

It's a lot of drama yet it wasn't boring. There was no action, yet I was at the edge of my seat. There was no over the top scenes yet tears were flowing.

To me the single most beautiful scene I have ever seen.

I have told the story before that my father served as an army officer in the Royal Malay Regiment. His last rank was as Lieutenant Colonel. The Royal Malay Regiment is an infantry regiment. He joined during the end of the Emergency and was in the thick of things during the Second Emergency. He never deployed overseas as his battles were fought locally in the jungles of Malaysia, against the Communist Insurgency.

He lost a lot of friends and soldiers that he never talks about. After all these years he still skips telling those tales about the fallen soldiers. Even if he does, it's just in passing preferring instead to tell anecdotes of life in the army. Their nicknames and their antics. After all these years while it no longer haunts him, he cannot bear to be reminded of the terrible memories.

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The impact of the insurgency? At the end of the Emergency (1948-1960). the security forces lost 1,865 people with 2,560 wounded, while the police lost 1,346 personnel with 1,601 wounded. In what is known as the Second Emergency (1968-1989), security forces lost a further 155 personnel with 854 wounded. This was quite a price to pay for peace and freedom, yet we in Malaysia don't seem to accord the same respect and honour to our veterans. In fact, their pensions (for those that retired before 2013) can barely cover expenses putting many of them below poverty level. And we are talking about the officers and men that suffered through and witnessed the loss of their friends and colleagues.

Here in Malaysia, we don't seem to accord veterans with similar honour. Myhonour.My friend's father who was in the Royal Engineers recently passed away and he had to ask around if there are any form of military funeral for veterans organised. There were none. The nearest they had was a military organised funeral if they report to the nearest army camp. https://www.jhev.gov.my/en/assistance-for-veterans/when-you-pass-away.html

The citizens too don't seem to accord a similar respect to our veterans. Probably, we don't educate our children and citizens appropriately. Although we do have a few good movies.

These movies do educate a little. It's not perfect but it's adequate.

I have asked my father before what it is like to be a soldier. He said quoting Napoleon Bonaparte, ours is not to ask the reason why, ours is to do or die. It wasn't easy being a soldier as I witnessed first-hand. I was a young boy when my father was in the army, yet I can still feel it in my veins, even at this age, what more of my father and his fellow veterans. When my father left the army, he went through a six months programme to acclimatise him to the civilian world. The final session was a photo of him in his uniform with all rank and insignia removed.

It's a worthy sacrifice, yet my father didn't want me to have anything to do with it. I could have been in RMC (Royal Military College) or I could have obtained a defence scholarship, but when told I needed to serve for at least 10 years, my father advised me against it. But my heart still yearns to serve, for that in my 30 years career only 4 years have I been in a private company. The rest of the years I was in either Government Linked Companies or Statutory Bodies, like the one I am in now. I do not wear a military uniform but every uniform I have been wearing since I wear it with pride, serving the people and the nation even if they will never know what I have done.