CAT Camping As A Rite of Passage

One of the most significant events in my senior highschool year is our CAT Camping. CAT stands for Citizen Army Training. At first, I’ve always thought why it is necessary for highschool students to learn the “ways of the samurai”. No, it should be “ways of the corrupt military” rather. A lot of parents were complaining why their children had to put up with this bull of crock eventhough no one’s planning to be in the army. We have to study all the terminologies referring to ranks, squad positions and some random military commands. I’ve always thought our CAT subject is useless. I can recall skipping 20 out of 52 meetings of CAT the entire school year. When I don’t feel like it, I would cut class and be marked absent. To summarize it all up, I’ve always hated my CAT class.
Our CAT Camping was even worse. We had our CAT Camping at Blue Rose Farm, Batangas, where we spent 3 days and 2 nights. I don’t know how wide it is but I think it is double the size of the entire Ateneo campus. However, we stayed on one part and we never had the chance to explore the entire place.
We were expected to be fully obedient, independent and resourceful. Everytime the military commanders would shoot their guns in the air, we were expected to duck on the ground despite what were doing at the moment. We are expected to line up when the alarm rang. That’s when I know there are activities to be undertaken. Anyway, I’ll go on with my rants.
Almost all the activities are pointless. There is this one activity wherein we were blindfolded and were expected to hold the belt-holder of the one in front of us. It started at around 9 pm and ended at around 11. I didn’t understand the rules very well. We were led to elsewhere in the camp. Because we were blindfolded, we are expected to follow the one in front of us. The ones in front of the lines were guided by our coy commanders. I was at the back of the line. I consider this advantageous because no one is holding me at the back, until someone tried to pull me off the line. I thought I did some random violation so I just let my hold on the one in front of me. That’s when I realized they are using random measures to test our physical strengths. After that, our coy commander led me back to the line. I felt so stupid and pointless because the activity was absolutely stupid and pointless. The result was even more annoying. The person I was holding unto suddenly got mad at me. I was like “What the hell did I did to you?” I guess he hated me for not holding back when I was pulled off the line. A pretty superficial way to get mad at someone. We ended up not talking to each other the whole night.
There’s another activity I would never forget. Another source of humiliation, at least this time, everybody of us boys was subject to humiliation in my point of view. The camp is divided into three. At the left lies the boys’ camp. The girls’ camp is on the right, right beside a thicket. On the middle is where the officers are stationed. It was already midnight. We were all sleepy and tired but we are in a military camp anyway, so we have to follow the rules no matter what. All boys were lined up. We went to the thicket right beside the girls’ camp using the other way. The military commanders expected us to duck for two hours on the ground. After approximately two hours, we were told to strip off our pants. Then we have to find our way back to our camp passing through the girls’ camp without our pants. Pretty embarrassing. I was prepared for this before the CAT Camping. Boxing shorts were allowed. I took my swimming shorts instead. I was going to convince the people at the guard point that I was wearing a boxing shorts. But I failed. They told me to strip off my swimming shorts. They were not fooled at all. I ended up exposing my underwear. Passing at the girls’ camp, all the girls shouted with joy and happiness. The sight of their guy classmates with their strong legs and underwear must be a titillating experience. That’s when I learned the my girl schoolmates were not virgins anymore. They had been stripped off of their ladylike innocence and modesty. Some of the guys were proud to expose the shape of their manhood concealed in a piece of cotton. I, on the other hand, again felt so stupid. Another worse event followed through: I lost my wallet somewhere.
The last midnight activity was the worst. I didn’t felt stupid this time. I just thought we wasted a lot of effort covering ourselves with mud. The sole purpose of this was to not ourselves be seen by our “enemies”. The game was divided into two opposing camps, boys versus girls. The rules were we have to “kidnap” from the opposing camp. I couldn’t recall the rest because I wasn’t in the least interested. Before the game would proceed, we are expected to cover ourselves with mud. Until they told us the activity was canceled. Later on, I was informed that the mud was mixed with human and animal feces. That’s too much. Bullshit.
Anyway, CAT Camping isn’t all that bad. At least this one helped us to be prepared and vigilant all the one. It also instilled us discipline and endurance, physical, mental or emotional, no matter what. Our coy commanders had told us before that CAT is a rite of passage from highschool to college. I didn’t buy their idea at first. Our CAT Camping convinced me though. But still, it felt stupid and pointless the whole time.


P.S.: This is the updated version of the school paper I submitted last Second Semester School Year 2008-2009.