Secluded from the age of modern civilization, a new dawn of war was looming as the sun began to set. Generals began to strategize. Liutenants began to gather the troops. Captains began to prepare their war speeches. It was no ordinary war, it was a war of survival. Staying alive was the main priority but in order to do so, one cannot simply sit back and defend the base. But our hands are our only weapons so many have to rethink on how to stay alive safe from enemy's clutches. I knew my choice. I have to advance, keep moving forward, even if I might fall later at least I will be remembered as a war hero. Of course, I would never think of moving forward recklessly. My tactic was called espionage also known as spy-infiltration.
So I started out with about 10 people in my squad. We set off at the siren's shrill hail in the middle of the night. Armed with torchlight, we paved our way to the grasslands. Enemy's fast approach made me seperate from the main squad. I decided to look for another way, advancing stealthily on nearby hill, undetected by the main opposition batalion. My other squad members will hold them out while we proceed to rescue our hostage. Alongside me, a female private and a sharpshooter. Our objective is to get our shooter to rescue the hostage but as we went deeper into enemy's territory we were caught. With our identities exposed, we had little chance to escape. In the end, my squad perished. Somehow, I survived the ambush and escaped notice fro mthe enemy's rear guard. I was close to the place where the hostage was being held. So, here comes my espionage mission. Act normally, turn off the torchlight and walk past the off limits. Once the enemy's rear guard is down, I pushed myself into the area where the hostage was held captive. At last, I was able to rescue our hostage, Elmo from the Sesame Street.
Alright, time to set things straight. I was in this mission called Operation Dodo Bird, a war game held for CCA leaders of ACJC. We were divided into 2 teams trying to outlast one another while completing several missions. They are rescuing our respective hostages Elmo and Spongebob Squarepants dolls, gathering 'Weapon of Mass Destruction' aka yellow lightsticks, planting the bomb aka alarm clock and many more, not forgetting annihilating oppositions' generals, captains and lieutenants. I was in the search and rescue team by the way. Anyway, let's get back to the war scenario.
Once Elmo was rescued, I was relieved that I had successfully completed the mission. It was time to help the others. Our common battleground was the open field. The frontmen of the 2 teams faced each other. My comrades shouted, "Hold your lines, hold your lines !! ". That was really, war-like atmosphere. War taunts included, "Broken Arrow", "Shogun" and "Cover the right flank". Actually Broken Arrow meant nothing, seriously. It was just blurted out to scare opposition to think that we have additional reinforcements.
It was not long before I was KIA, "Killed In Action", after holding my line on the right flank. My loop of masking tape on my back was torn apart by some guy. His brute force had me pinned down as I was trying to escape. Well, I 'died' and had to make my way to the cemetery. This cemetery is just a space where all the 'wandering ghosts' who died in battle had a common gathering. You bet, we asked how each of us 'died'. One 'died' after tumbling and rolling down, tearing his lifeline accidentally. One 'died' after his lifeline was snapped by a girl. By the way, this guy is my school's rugby captain who was 'killed' by the president of art society who is a girl. Last year, I heard, the rubgy captain was also 'killed' by a girl from choir. Bad luck being rugby captain I guess. Others 'died' due to what we called friendly fire, for those who play Counter Strike (...which I don't...), the term 'friendly fire' would sound very familiar. So, we, the ghosts had to kill time by discussing this things until the time ran out.
When the war ended, my Redforce Team, lost. We had our Elmo captured back and our enemy had our Spongebob. To make things worse, I heard my other search and rescue team defending the base where Spongebob was held captive was 'massacred'. One of our captain stationed there was 'killed' as well despite her well fought frantic escape. On the bright side we lost a lot less soldiers.
Then, there was this funny incident. Remember about 'holding the line area', well the right flank was weakened after I 'died' to the enemy kept pushing on the right while my comrades kept pushing on the left flank. So now, we have rotated 180 degrees, my comrades found themselves on enemy's territories and kind of panicked. The enemy decided to conquer our base after breaking the line. Our general and his body guards had to run for their lives. It was a real scramble. So, my comrades too decided to capture the enemy's general and rushed to break their base's defence line. No more holding the line, no more Broken Arrow, there was only mass scramble and mess. Despite all these running and fighting, we had fun.
Now, I knew the thrill of being part of the war itself. There was this adrenaline rush when your live was at stake. Your mind was always filled with fear of being 'killed' yet your instinct told you to survive at all cost. There was this sense of camaradiere and being brother-in-arms. It was simply exhilirating for me. I could relate this to the picture above.
It was like the Normandy Landing where the allied troops carried out an all out amphibious landing on French shoreline to fight the Germans who had occupied France. It was the greatest invasion in mankind history during World War 2. Many fell to Germans' big guns and artillery but the allied soldiers kept coming. Eventually, Germans used up their limited ammunition and gave up their position as their first line of defence from Great Britain (The English Channel), crumbled. It was a massive loss to the Germans, one of the key reason why Germans lost the war. This incident allowed the allies to attack Germany not only from the East (from Russia), South (from North Africa) but also from the West (from France) . The Germans were cornered with nowhere to escape.
Come to think of it the Normandy Landing looked like our position where we held our lines. Perhaps, our loss was coincidental with historical records.
If there was one thing I really loved about this leadership camp at Jalan Bahtera, it is definitely going to be the Operation Dodo Bird. No doubt it has cleared my doubts on why some people love being a part of a war. It was the thrill when you fired your weapons, the fear of dying, the thought of never being able to see your loved ones again, the sense of accomplishment when you conquer something and the fact that you would be remembered as a war hero if you fell protecting your home. It is so much clearer now. Perhaps war has a purpose compared to the boredom of peace. I am not saying I support war and prefer it than peace. I just feel that despite the gore and painful memories of war, Man may find the reason for their existence in a war. It gives them a goal to set on, to accomplish something great but at a huge cost by altering the peace.
War was never a destiny, it was a choice we make. But sometimes, we should ask ourselves, why we fight and go to war. Perhaps it is our nature to fight. We, humans, fight for our survival everyday. We work to earn more money than the rest because of our nature to survive. And to be frank, fortunately or unfortuntely, money can solve most things on Earth. So I hope, this post has given you some insights on war...
