Before you are an officer, you are first a soldier.

Simple, yet powerful. These words struck a chord with me the moment they left the lips of the great man that spoke them, a man both a warrior and leader. It can be quite ironic that in the hectic midst of our journey towards officership, the propensity to be overtly inclined towards ideas of values, character and leadership may overshadow and undermine the roots of our being in the armed forces. At the baseline of every officer's pride and duty, there is a sturdy foundation earned with surviving hardship and excelling in grueling times.

It is easy to forget that officers are nonetheless soldiers themselves when the tendency to focus on the rank and its associated privileges is an inevitability. In fact, it can be almost offsetting to note that we bear the expectations of being better soldiers than our subordinates themselves. How else can you command respect and demand action from others when you fail to exhibit and exude a higher level, or at the very least equivocal standards of competency? We were made into officers not just by inculcating airy-fairy values and ideals; we were shaped into this leadership through immense pain and suffering, insofar that training can be almost considered unfit for mere 19-year-olds. They broke us, so that no one else could ever do so now, and still, so no one can break you now.

I stand here, after 8 months of hardship I will never forget, fearless and more dangerous than you can ever fathom. The hint of fear you are detecting is coming from you, and that is no wonder. When you look at me, don't confuse me with one of those sheltered officers banking the life of his men and country on a single black strip on his chest, that can just be easily ripped off as it was installed. Look not at my chest, but face me in the eyes, and see if you dare come at the soldier you see. I wasn't born for war, but I am certainly now made for it. Officer or not, just like the rest, I am here to give you insurmountable resistance so you shall never lay hands on our loved ones.

Run.