By Ko Seul-ji, Army Officer Candidate of the Department of Military Science, Dongshin University

In 1910, after stripping us of our sovereignty, Japan installed the Japanese Government-General of Korea and suppressed our people.

In the sweltering heat of August 2023, most college students spend their vacations traveling or self-developing, but as a military officer candidate, I spent four weeks completing summer combat leader training. 

Before the training, I honestly wanted to play more and spend more time with my friends and family, but after this summer training, I learned and gained a lot, improved like never before, and was ashamed of myself for wanting to play more. 

This summer training was different from the basic military training I attended last winter. In the typhoon and heat wave, we received intense training on guerilla training, map reading, hand-to-hand combat, marching, and grenades. The most memorable training was the hand-to-hand combat. The goal is to overcome enemy shells and obstacles to capture enemy-held territory, and to develop individual combat skills in order to learn what to do when faced with the enemy in a real wartime situation.
 
However, since we had already been training n for three weeks, I was exhausted and my body felt very heavy. Nevertheless, as I worked together with my squadmates to solve the action tasks one by one, I realized that I wouldn't be afraid of being with my squadmates in a real war situation.

The training also gave me a chance to reaffirm my personal capabilities and realize my shortcomings. My combat uniform was heavy with sweat and mud, but my heart was light with the confidence that I could overcome anything. 

The third week of the training period was the hardest; I was very tired and exhausted. However, we celebrated the Liberation Day on August 15, which gave us a chance to regroup. 

In 1910, the Japanese, who had stripped us of our sovereignty, set up the Japanese Government-General of Korea and suppressed our people. Until the liberation of Korea in 1945, many independence activists, including General Ahn Joong-geun, shouted for independence. Thinking about the difficulties that independence fighters faced back then, I can't even compare the difficulties I'm experiencing now. As a cadet who plans to become an army officer in the future, I felt foolish. 

I was able to keep my head up through the tough times by realizing what a valuable experience and opportunity this training was, what a joy it was to have a country to protect, and how grateful I am to have the freedom to live my life.

Now that I'm 18 months away from commissioning, I'm thinking a lot about how I'm going to spend my time as an officer candidate during this time. What is certain is that I am ready to overcome any pain to protect the land and people I love, and I am ready to give my life for my country.

I will always take the initiative to cultivate strong physical strength and the right soldierly spirit to fulfill the loyalty of the country and its people, and I want to be an officer who will always be useful to my country. I will do my best in my position until we become a strong army that wins the ground war, just like the military song "Victory Shout" that we sang every day between training sessions.