grizzly sight silently awaited the search team looking for 10 Marines who went missing during heavy fighting the previous evening in the town of Tipo-tipo, Basilan. In the early morning hours of July 11, 2007, in the nearby town of Al-Barka, the bodies of the missing Marines were discovered, beheaded and mutilated. According to Maj. Gen. Nelson Allaga, the Marine commandant at the scene, the manner in which the young soldiers were killed was not only cruel and sadistic but cowardly as well.

A group of 14 Marines went to Tipo-tipo in search of abducted Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi; what they found instead was a  large contingent of Abu Sayyaf and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels who engaged them in a grueling firefight that lasted nine hours. In the end, this handful of brave young men were unable to hold off the 300 to 500 MILF and Abu Sayyaf rebels arrayed against them.

In this particular encounter one might rightly conclude that the odds were stacked against our soldiers. But if one takes a step back and looks at the bigger picture, the odds seem to always be stacked against our boys in uniform!

First and foremost, you have the corrupt and incompetent Military leaders who stay as far away from the front lines as possible and thus have no clue as to what is happening on the ground. Or worse yet, you have military brass who sell guns, bullets, and all manner of military hardware to the other side.

Then you have the rebel sympathizers in academe whose lifelong goal is to indoctrinate impressionable young minds into embracing an outdated and discredited communist ideology.

Next you have the communist sympathizers in government, the partylist groups that pretend to work for change within the framework of the constitution yet secretly support the New People's Army (NPA) and the numerous other organizations that clandestinely operate under the communist umbrella.

Last but not least, you have the general public whose regard for its men and women in uniform is noticeably lacking. Sadly, the average Pinoy does not seem to care if a Filipino soldier gives his life to protect and defend his country.

We all must realize that if Philippine society is ever to evolve beyond its current "Neanderthal" stage, it must first learn to recognize and then honor those who put their lives on the line so that you and I won't have to.