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Retaining special skills

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Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. recently revealed that the Philippine Army will be conducting programs to ensure that their “skilled” personnel would not be of use to criminal elements even after they leave the service.

The Army currently keeps track of only its bomb disposal experts, who could be tapped by terrorists to become bomb makers.

However, after the spate of killings in the country that have been related to ex-military, the monitoring of post-military service activities of all Army personnel with “special skills” was discussed at the sidelines of a meeting in Malacañang on Monday.

“I am ordering our units to also generate a list of our snipers, assaulters, special forces and LRR (Light Reaction Regiment – the Army’s premier counterterrorist unit under the Armed Forces of the Philippines Special Operations Command), so that when they’re discharged, we already have intel on them,” Brawner said.

Additionally, the Army would also intensify its “values formation” to discourage their personnel, regardless of whether in active service, retired, or discharged, not to use their military skills to harm innocent civilians.

“We will also pair everybody with a second career, to help them gain employment should they go out of service,” Brawner said of Army personnel, both honorably and dishonorably discharged from service.

The Army would also strengthen its counterintelligence forces to monitor especially its personal who have been dishonorably discharged.

Members of the armed forces, especially those with special skills that could be used for evil, will certainly need constant monitoring and attractive incentives to make sure they cannot be turned by criminal elements, especially during these tough economic times when anyone can be vulnerable to tempting offers.

This initiative by the Army may come across as a bit late and reactionary, after the brazen attack that killed Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, which was carried out by a team of mostly ex-military hitmen, but it is better late than never.*

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