Games We Played When We Were Children (Part Three): Combat

Long long before Hollywood superstar Mel Gibson became a household name because of his strings of beautiful and moving movies, We Were already Soldiers and Patriots. When there was no other "uso" (fad), we organized ourselves as soldiers engaged in battle or kings and princes with their legions armed with sabers and spears at odds against another kingdom to while our free times. 

We Were Soldiers - very popular then were war movies like "The Longest Day", "The Bridge of the River Kwai", the t.v. success, "Combat" starring by Vic Morrow (Sgt. Chip Saunders) and Rick Jason (Lt. Gil Hanley), and even the former President Ferdinand Marcos epic biographical presidential campaign story, "Iginuhit ng Tadhana". Some of these movies even landed on our "teks" (playing cards - see Games We Played.....Part II). They inspired us so much that we will divide ourselves into two groups (Americans vs. Germans or Filipinos vs. Japanese). We usually use an open field near our neighborhood or our own neighborhood itself as our battlefield. We tried to be authentic by improvising costumes and our artilleries. We designated our commanding general, company commander, lieutenants, sergeants, spies, medical personnel etc. We established our camps on opposite end of the battlefield. We set a time for D Day. In between, each army was allowed to do guerrilla attacks to capture enemy soldiers or to steal logistics. Guards were staked outside our sensitive perimeter areas to ensure safety and security from sudden guerrilla attacks. We also constructed maps on a used cartolina or on the ground in order to plan our attacks. In short, we tried to live up the soldiery things we saw in television programs.

We learned how to act as a group. We learned how to follow commands and obey our superiors. We learned how to be creative and were challenged to produce and make things we will need for our contingent. We were forced to think hard and muster all our God-given gifts and skills in order to outdo the enemy who were also doing the same against us. In the end, whether we won or not, we went home very satisfied that we had done our part and had given our individual best. Of course, there were times when we would bicker and fault a member. In this game, you can not help but be exposed to your weakness. Something that was magnified because of the presence of others who would not tolerate irresponsibilities and laziness within the group. Everyone knew that the weakness of one was the weakness of all. We were playing, but we were serious in winning and giving out everything that we have. But what was very important for us then was that We Were Soldiers and we all won in the game of life. When we all went home, we have thoughts and plans for another battle both in our daily lives and in the games we played. (to be continued...)