By Mortz C.
Ortigoza
Congratulation
to my town mate Fely Arzaga Eichenberger and her son Eli, 22, who will
conclude this Sunday his four years tough academic and regimental
trainings at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.
Eli and mom Fely
Arzaga would be in their town M’lang, Cotabato province next month for some
“rest and recreation” and probably sentimental journey where Fely, a daughter
of a carpenter and a housewife (they were our neighbor) migrated in the United
States in 1992 and married Mark - a veteran commissioned air
force officer. (Click here for my lengthy article’s Fil-Am
to Graduate this Weekend at West Point.
United States Military Academy Filipino-American First Class Cadet Eli Arzaga Eichenberger is flanked by family members at USMA, West Point in New York before his graduation recently. |
I hope the local
government units (LGU) of M’lang and the Province of Cotabato can confer their
appreciation just like what the LGU of Pangasinan and its towns gave importance
to graduates and heroes in their sons from the Philippine Military Academy – a
premier military college in Asia copied from USMA – based at Fort del Pilar,
Baguio City my and my siblings’ birthplace.
Here are some
excerpts of the news of my 44 towns 4 cities’ province in Northern Luzon in
bestowing plaudits to its sons and daughters that came from The Long Gray Line.
“Leading the provincial government of Pangasinan in
welcoming the eight out of the sixteen Philippine Military Academy (PMA) 2018
graduates of the ‘Alab Tala’ class who are from Pangasinan, Governor Amado I.
Espino III extols the public servants engaged in military service for their
dedication in winning the peace of the country”.
Here’s my news
article titled “Why
sharpshooters are glamorized,glorified?”
“Can
you still remember that famous and courageous soldier who took off his Kevlar
helmet and bullet vest as quid pro quo to ISIS rebels in Marawi City
so he could save a four years old girl and other Christian hostages from
the ISIS rebels in Marawi City in exchange of containers of water, soft drinks,
and biscuits?
Yap, he is Army Captain Jeffrey Buada, commander
of the 15th Scout Ranger Company.
After he was feted recently by his town Mangaldan in
Pangasinan for his exemplary courage in Marawi, I asked Buada, a graduate
of the Philippine Military Academy, about those incidents while we consumed our
snacks treated by Mangaldan, Pangasinan Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno and the town’s
chief of Police Superintendent Jeff Fanged (Alumnus of the PNPA).
Buada’s wife told me that the spouse is a
sniper, too.
Indeed he was as I saw earlier on his shoulder badge a
sniper’s logo embroidered with a glaring red word “Sniper”.
***
Gee whiz, after I wrote a blog/column last Thursday
about the commencement of West Point Class of 2018 where Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr will be the graduation speaker of
the 950 cadets (from the original batch of 1,223 men and women) that will be
graduating at the former “S” curved garrison of the Continental Army to prevent
and neutralize the British Navy sailing upriver, l saw last Friday
President Donald Trump graced the 1,000 mid ship men graduates of the United
States Naval Academy at Annapolis in Maryland as seen on CNN.
Does Trump favors the academy with a Latin
motto: Ex Scientia Tridens (Through Knowledge, Sea Power) where Filipinos
like Enrique L. Jurado (USNA '34), Carlos Albert (USNA '39), Carlito Cunanan
(USNA '58), Roilo Golez (USNA '70), Joseph Emilio Abaya (USNA '88), Maximo
Mejia (USNA '88), Hanna Lea Alerta (USNA 2004), John Berjuega (USNA 2008),Carl
Catalan (USNA 2008), and, Chinna Louise E. Salio (USNA 2013), than the Army’s
Academy with proud motto's “Duty, Honor, Country where its proud Filipino
alumni are Vicente Podico Lim (USMA '14), Rafael Ileto (USMA '43), Fidel Ramos
(USMA '50), Florencio Magsino (USMA '51), Gregorio Vigilar (USMA '53),
Thelmo Cunanan (USMA '61), Narciso Abaya (USMA '71), Danilo Lim (USMA '78), Jose Rene N. Jarque (USMA '86), Dennis Eclarin (USMA '93), Floren P. Herrera (USMA 2013), and Don Stanley Dalisay (USMA 2017).
Thelmo Cunanan (USMA '61), Narciso Abaya (USMA '71), Danilo Lim (USMA '78), Jose Rene N. Jarque (USMA '86), Dennis Eclarin (USMA '93), Floren P. Herrera (USMA 2013), and Don Stanley Dalisay (USMA 2017).
***
Oh by the way, Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan’s pride Police
Colonel Eric Noble (PMA Class of 1992) who is the present Philippines Police
Attache’ in California asked me when I commented at the Face Book’s board of my
brother Gabriel, former military professor at the PMA and who is at West Point
now) if when I will visit him and my younger sibling at their Area of
Responsibility in the U.S.
ERIC (Former police provincial director of Cebu and
book author): Bay kumusta, kanus-a ka mabisita sa among AOR ni Gabriel Ortigoza (When are you going to visit our AOR
?)?
ME: Antam lay mam Bisaya (Eric knew already how to
speak Visaya) General Eric Noble, an Officer and a Gentleman. Di pa tumawag
iyong fiancee ko na Negra hi hi.
Eric has a cadet
son, Eric Joseph Dionco Noble (Class of 2020), at the United States Coast
Guard Academy in Washington DC. The USCGA has a motto’s Semper Paratus
(Always Ready). After 2020, the only two graduates (Niño Jhanus Aniban (USCGA
2015) and Jayner Cabral (USCGA 2015) of the Academy in Washington DC will have
a third member of its alumni in Eric Joseph.
(You can read my selected columns at
http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can
send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)
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