My CAT(Citizen Advancement Training)experienced

CAT means Citizen Advancement Training which is implemented in 2003 by the Department of Education. All public and private schools are mandated to implement in the fourth year.

I am in the 4rth year of High School, in the year 2005, and I have experienced undergoing CAT training. As we have heard lately from the news, the incoming head of the Department of Education in our Country is Ms. Sarah Duterte the newly elected Vice President of the country, and she plans to implement the ROTC, Reserved Officers Training Corps, which is implemented in Colleges to a developed student in Military rudiments to produced capable Armed Forces of the Philippines Reservists.

I didn't experience ROTC in college because we are not required by that time and ROTC was slowly abolished, and it became optional, but for this generation maybe students are already required.

CAT and ROTC may not be the same but as I have experienced CAT when I was in Highschool, I was thankful to be one of the students who undergo that training.

As a High School Student, I have undergone 1 month of training, the first stage was basic marching, the rest are rigid and the last is survival.

I'm one of the selected officers of the CAT, and here's some part of our training.

What are the basic things that we learned from it?

First Aid

This is one of the lessons that we learned from Citizen Advancement Training, we are taught how to give first aid when there is someone who is drowned by the water, bruises, or fire. They also teach us, what are the do's and don't's the in case of emergency. It helps us also to familiarize things that are used to first aid and demonstrate and we also did a reenactment of the situation.

Patriotism

It helps us to understand what patriotism is and help the country in our simple like being a responsible citizen observing road signs and giving honor to our country and respecting our national government.

Time Management

As we undergo our training, we always observed our time, we should not be late during our sessions and assemble time on the ground or else we will be doing the push-up and others sanctions.

Physical Fitness

We do 2 or 3 rounds of jogging on the ground with the officers of the platoon, and we jog first before we start the training. I've learned the exercise called 'Squatras, jumping jack, and many more which can be applied in real life when we want to be fit, and during the training, it helps me also to lose weight, because are also disciplined with the foods we eat.

Basic Self-Defense

They have demonstrated to us basic self-defense, in case there is a bad person like a snatcher or anyone who will harass us and have a knife or a gun.

We enjoyed it a lot especially when we have to do it in front of our colleagues.

Hair cut

Maybe some students don't like this, because, during our CAT, every boy is required to have a proper haircut, or else, the commandant will give him a zigzag version of the haircut.

I think this isn't bad at all, because it's only for one year of always inspecting haircuts, and for girls, we have to see to it that our hair is properly in place. And we are not allowed to color our hair, and this is another thing that the young generation wouldn't like. It's a sort of sacrifice and training as well when we became a part of the national forces like PNP and ARMY in which they are not allowed to dye their hair.

The hardest part of our training is the survival, since we are chosen as the officers of CAT of the school, we are on strict training. And the rest of the students did not join with this, only those who are being recruited as a special training course for CAT.

Eating by number

We have to eat as long as the commander was counting, in one move and direction, it was very exciting.

Crawling on a mud

This is unforgettable for me because we need to crawl blindfolded with our wooden rifles, with a wire on our head which we need to pass.

Climbing a tree through a rope

It takes me 30 minutes or more before I can climb on the rope because it's a tough one.

Jumping on different obstacles

In this part, we have to jump on big tires in different directions and we need to climb, roll over and climb and crawl again.

Graduation with a Kiss(blind folded)

Each graduation of CAT students, there is always a kiss. They say, it's not the protocol but it was just a part of the officer's joke time for all. Of course, some beautiful ladies are also joining the training, and their crushes, have the time to kiss them.

We don't know who kiss us.

We don't know if the kiss was legit, but someone told us that it was a girl who kiss us, and not the boys. It was the funniest moment of the training, yet a memorable one, a kiss on the cheeks.

For me, if ever there was an ROTC training in this generation, I can say, that it's challenging, maybe it was different from our experienced, but for me, it teaches the students as a whole, not just discipline but as a Filipino, born in this nation.

But before they will implement this, there will be a consultation and proper monitoring of the process.

"We will just hope for the best, and just enjoy the ride of life that will lead us through."

Thank you, my dearest friends, sponsors, and writers.

Good day!