This happened somewhere in the Kayin frontline. I was the personal assistant of the Column 2 Commander at the Thit Tapin Kone base. There was no village or market to buy food and supplies. We had to wait for the gourds to grow and ripen.
There were supplies for us at the camp but due to our dysfunctional army, we had to get our food from another camp. We had to walk half of the day to the Point 2667 tactical camp hill for food.
The food we got wasn’t worth the effort though. Half of the bug-ridden rice and chickpea we got was gone once we washed it. We got no nutrition from that. We were practically starving. But we needed those to survive at least.
Besides, those who stayed there before us didn’t care about the base at all. We got to prepare the defences from scratch. The other force could have planted mines just in front of the base because they didn’t go out. Our commander pressured us daily about that. The battalion commander also ordered us to telegraph the progress of base defences daily.
We spent most of our days doing that. The preparation never ends. I have heard that the preparation of base defences is finished only when enemies attack. We have to cut bamboo and logs to replace and fix the fence. We got three layers of fence and it takes a lot of time to fix all of them. We also had to put up cans as alarms around the fence. We dug new holes and put up new spikes in our punji stick traps. We also dug holes behind the fences. The 100-meter range area around the camp was cleared to get a better view when shooting. It was tiring just by preparing the camp for better defence. There were a lot of mines around the base and we got to take extra caution when going for cutting wood.
Regarding the abundance of mines, one night, we heard an explosion just a little bit far from our base. Our commander immediately ordered us to take positions. There was no follow-up till the morning so he dismissed us and send us to clear the explosion site. We thought the mine was set off because a branch fall onto that.
As we cleared it, we assumed someone stepped on it. So, we clear it with more caution and we found the perpetrator. I was a dead wild boar without a front leg. We were very happy because we were starving as it was hard to find food without the danger of mines.
To solve the starvation problem, in the morning, the soldiers were mustered and assigned duties.
Then, I took off to find food. I cut the bamboo shoots, picked up nuts, plucked fiddleheads and picked mushrooms. Getting mushrooms was like getting treasure. But it was dangerous. The army didn’t give insurance or pension if someone died from mushroom poisoning. They strictly ordered the front line to not eat mushrooms with the telegraph. So, we had to be extra careful. But I took anything edible for the whole base by myself.
I have my reasons. Kayin state has lots of mines. Most of the casualties were from mines and fewer from battles. My soldiers have families. Their families are wishing every day to get back their father in one piece. Moreover, I respect the words of their wives, “Please take care of your junior major. I put his fate in your hands.” So, I didn’t want any harm to my subordinates. I didn’t have my parents at that point. I have no bounds. I accepted that no one will grieve over my death. So, I decided only I will take the risks.
I am a willful fellow. One day, when I was out there, I found a route used by one of the forces there. I wanted to find out who used that route and where did that route go but there were plenty of mines so I didn’t risk it. I couldn’t hold back myself from doing something though. The next time when I passed through there, I dropped a paper with radio frequencies and hinting to contact. I wanted them to find it and contact me. When I got back, I open the radio on the frequency I wrote. They did contact me.
It was around evening. I heard on the radio, “Swallow, can you hear? Swallow.” I recognised it immediately. “That’s the code I wrote. They did contact.” “Swallow, loud and clear,” I replied. I got close to them by communicating through the radio. They were fond of me. They opened songs for me through the radio. They even called me bro. We always talk. They asked me if they could borrow the bulldozer in front of the base to build roads in their village. They told me they would fix it if needed along with their own fuel. I felt bad for them. I understood they wanted their region to develop too.
One day, I asked them to meet outside. I risked it because we were very friendly and I wanted to see them. They accepted willingly but set out some ground rules. They didn’t want me to take guns or at least one as protection and not more than five people. Like that, we met. It was just me and five people with a pistol. I wanted to give them something as a gift but I only have bug-infested rice. So, I just took some of it and five bottles of condensed milk cream. I was surprised to see them. They were like 20 people with guns and long-range radios and such. I believed that if I didn’t die there, I won’t die later. But it was for the better. They realized I was trustworthy and they felt sorry they didn’t follow the rules. “My brother-in-law, let me introduce you,” he said. Then he said something to his friend in Kayin. That fellow shot his gun into the air three times. Minutes later, twenty more people arrived there. He introduced me to what looked like their leader.
“My bro, this is our company commander. I am second in charge. They are on the other side and I am on this side.” He also invited me to visit their place and assured me nothing would happen. When we were about to come back, I give him the rice and milk cream. He gave me back his mountain rice, pork, Beetle nut, Beetle leaves and cigarettes. We became family. It was lucky to be their friend. If we wanted something, we didn’t order from the backline anymore. We ordered from them as they gave us more quickly and put in extras sometimes.
I could only give him our poor man’s rice. At last, he told me, “My bro. Don’t give me your rice anymore. We can’t eat them anyway.”
After becoming friends with them, we didn’t have any more mine casualties as they removed their mines in our route. At night, we have hourly alarms during guard duty. I think they couldn’t sleep due to the alarm as their camp was near. “Bro, when your guys are on guard, don’t make them sound the alarm. We can’t sleep. I will tell you when we are ordered for battle,” he told me.
He really told me when they were ordered to attack our camp. “Bro, we got orders. I will fire to the right. I will fire left,” he said. And after our fake battle, he reported to his leaders, “We carried out the order. There were no casualties,” and such. I also reported to my uppers, “ We had a battle. We fired back. There were no casualties.” We could show our work. How easy, huh?
When I was released from that position and had to head back home, they came to say goodbye.
They were unhappy as we were like families. If I was going back tomorrow, he told me, “My brother-in-law, I will come to give you pork to eat on the road. You walk from the last. I will come onto the route.” He couldn’t arrive on time the next day. I only have my short-range radio so I could only hear and couldn’t talk back. I still can’t forget his words, “I was late, my bro. I was cooking. I am sorry. When will you be coming back? If you did come back, call me by the codename. I will be waiting.” I can see him holding his curry with a sad face.
Their belief is to protect their people. And my belief is to bring back my troops safely. I have my duties to protect my people as well as they have theirs. We don’t have any grudges against each other. Why would we be enemies if we can be friends?
My point is that the ability of a leader affects his subordinates in many ways. It is crucial for the commanders to decide. The lives of their subordinates and many families are in their hands. They must choose not only for themselves but also for their troops. As I am writing this, I reminisced about my “brother-in-law”.
Yours truly,
Htet Myat