Soldiers eager to take fight to kidnappers

Inside the dimly-lit confines of the air force C-130, soldiers of the army light reaction company (LRC) conduct a last minute check on their equipment moments before landing on Sulu's main island of Jolo.

"I can't afford to have my rifle getting jammed in the middle of a firefight," said a squad sergeant who introduced himself only as "Allen" as it is customary for members of this unit not to reveal their full name.

Speaking calmly, he added: "Getting wounded is not an option for us, we either conquer or die. That is our motto."

Sgt. Allen is among the 70 members of the LRC that arrived in Jolo on Saturday as part of the reaction force in the latest of many emergencies on the island – the hostage taking of six members of the Protestant missionary group, Jehovah's Witnesses.

Two of the captives have already been beheaded by what the military described as an armed band of "drug addicts".

For the 35-year-old native of northern Kalinga province, the prospect of a battle with the kidnappers is something to look forward to.

"I've been in four major firefights during the last 10 years in the army, all of them with communist rebels. This will be the first time I will be battling bandits."

Sgt. Allen had been a member of the Scout Rangers for the latter half of his 10-year career with the army, like most of the members of the LRC.

The others who comprise the team are seasoned veterans of the equally-vaunted special forces.

"We are the elite of the elite, the most experienced and most capable of the specialised army units," according to their company commander, a fair-skinned lanky major who refused to give his name.

Adjacent to Allen was another sergeant who wanted to be called just "Phil". "Six major firefights and eight years in the army special forces,' he replied to questions with a face showing slight traces of nervousness, apparently due to the uncertainty that awaits them in Sulu.

Phil is one of the 10 marksmen attached to the unit – each equipped with U.S.-supplied M70 sniper rifles.

According to Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, the military chief, each LRC sniper is "capable of putting a bullet between the target's eyes at 400 metres".

Like all the members of the group, with the exception of the squad machine-gunner, Phil also lugs an M4A1, a rifle once used exclusively by American elite units.

Equipped with laser sights, the firearm is far better than the standard M-16 that Phil and Allen used to carry under their former units.

The men of the LRC had been training in Basilan under the tutelage of American Green Berets as part of an arrangement between Washington and Manila to help improve the local army's fighting capability specifically against extremist groups such as Abu Sayyaf and other so-called "terrorists".

"Our training at LRC is different from what we learned under the Rangers. The Americans taught us new tactics, specially in using modern weapons they had supplied to us like night-vision goggles and laser-sighted rifles," Allen explained.

Lt. Gen. Cimatu told the men: "You are the sharp end of the stick in fighting the extremists and bandits." This was during a short pep talk to the troops in Basilan moments before the LRC boarded the flight to Sulu.

The emergency in Sulu will be another chance for the LRC to prove its effectiveness in fighting armed groups that conventional army forces and Marines have found difficult to confront.

Last June, the group figured prominently in newspapers after a hostage rescue operation in Zamboanga del Norte that resulted in the recovery of American captive, Gracia Burnham, but also led to the death of her husband, Martin, and Filipina nurse, Ediborah Yap.

During the last eight years, groups such as the Abu Sayyaf and other bandit groups based in the south had used their knowledge of terrain, support from the local populace and relatively superior arms and guerrilla tactics to outwit and outmanoeuvre government forces sent after them.

Maj. Gen. Glen Rabonza, chief of the army intelligence, noted: "The LRC is a relatively new concept in fighting groups using guerrilla tactics. They are light enough to be inserted into isolated areas but very well-trained to carry out hostage-rescue and other similar missions.

"The idea is to isolate the kidnappers by using other army units such as the Rangers. Once the target has been fixed in a small location where their movement is restricted, the LRC is then called in for the final punch," he explained.

"Unlike other military units, the LRC does not look for fights by conducting patrols. They are called in to start a fight," Maj. Gen. Rabonza said.

Apart from setting a record for the LRC as a group, its success in this operation will be crucial for future long-term training arrangements between the Philippines and the U.S.