Troops’ Christmas feast: Spaghetti, bread

MANILA, Philippines - Not even threats from the Abu Sayyaf could stop the troops from celebrating Christmas with an early noche buena while pursuing the bandit group in the dense jungles of Sulu.

With their firearms at hand, troops from the Army’s 1st Scout Ranger Company regrouped in the jungles of Patikul on Wednesday and posed for a souvenir Christmas photo after partaking of a Christmas meal of loaf bread and spaghetti set on banana leaves.

The unit lost five if of its men in heavy fighting against some 300 Abu Sayyaf gunmen in nearby Talipao town last month.

Twenty other soldiers were wounded in the fighting, including Sgt. Castro Kitang and Cpl. Joey de Guzman.

De Guzman and Kitang had to be evacuated to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) hospital in V. Luna, Quezon City from the Zamboanga-based military hospital where the critically wounded soldiers were initially evacuated for severe bullet and grenade blast injuries.

At the hospital, De Guzman said he could only wish to be with his colleagues back in Sulu this Christmas, a wish next to impossible as he lost his left arm in the fighting in Talipao last November that left more than a dozen Abu Sayyaf dead and wounded.

And just like the rest of his colleagues in Sulu, the 26-year-old De Guzman celebrated Christmas in his hospital bed, away from his 26-year-old wife who was back in their hometown of Carlos City, Pangasinan with their two children.

“I only wish that I could go back to Sulu to rejoin my colleagues. But with my present physical state, I think it’s no longer feasible. Maybe my superiors will now just confine me to do office work after my discharge,” he said.

Asked about his wife, De Guzman said  like the rest of the families of his colleagues back in Sulu, she fully understands the nature of his job, where the unexpected could happen anytime.

“We already accepted the risks that goes with the job of being a soldier,” De Guzman said, adding that his wife is a teacher.

De Guzman was among the Scout Rangers’ forward unit that was engaged in close quarter combat against Abu Sayyaf gunmen at Bud Bungao in Talipao last November.

An M14 bullet ripped through his left upper arm and he also sustained shrapnel injuries in various parts of his body from a grenade thrown near his location.

With his consent, military doctors at V. Luna had to amputate his left arm to avoid complications.

“Always pray and stay safe,” was De Guzman’s Christmas message to his comrades in Sulu.