Phil. Army or AFP personnel = the very definition of real life heroes. I'm a little biased here because I grew up inside a military camp (Ft. Bonifacio before the govt sold it to for development on what is now Boni. Global City) plus my father is a retired Army officer.

I can still vividly remember during my growing up years (this was mid 70's up to early 80's) the number of dead soldiers coming in and out of the St Michael's chapel, malapit lang kasi house namin dito eh. It was so many, everyday meron patay na sundalong dumadating sa Chapel (this was the time when the Muslim seccessionist movement and NPA/communist insurgency is at its worst). Almost lahat ng neigbors namin has lost a son or father because of these insurgencies. Its a good thing my father was already retired when these insurgencies flared up.

Bata pa ako noon kaya di ko naisip, pero when I think about it now, it pains me very much and almost makes me cry.
So many wasted lives, so many windowed wives, so many orphaned children, so many mothers losing their sons. For what? For depending our people, the constitution and the government. And the irony of it, kapwa pilipino ang kalaban nila.

Anyway, kahit ex-army officer tatay ko, my favorite among afp's branch of service is still the Philippine Marines. The Marines are the epitome of toughness and discipline.