ON December 22, nearly nine decades since its birth in 1935, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has filled its many pages with colorful stories of gallantry and heroism of its soldiers. While modestly armed and poorly equipped, its forebears comprising the Philippine expeditionary forces to Korea in 1950, the Philippine civic action group in Vietnam in 1964, and many other United Nations peacekeeping missions around the globe earned for the Filipino soldiers their lofty place in the world's military history. American general Douglas MacArthur, moved by the incredible resilience and indomitable courage of this brand of soldiers said, 'Give me ten thousand Filipinos and I will conquer the world.'

The battles that the AFP's soldiers fought knew no distinction. From the Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon to the Bagong Hukbong Bayan, the secessionist Moro National Liberation Front to the autonomy-seeking Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the extremist Abu Sayyaf Group to the Daesh-inspired Dawlah Islamia, the troops' unfaltering devotion as torchbearers of peace never reneged on fighting any war to attain the peace. Be it in some distant and lonely posts in the South Philippine Sea, in the boondocks or the concrete jungles of our country, the AFP's contribution to world peace, national security and stability is just phenomenal.