Cilacap – Dawn before the light of the ground. Suddenly, there was a series of shots from a gun, whatever the type. Maybe a combination of AK-47, Brent, Uzi, MP-5, and others, all of which are organic weapons of the Indonesian Army Special Forces Command.
In the early morning of Monday 7 August 2023, the “Tribuana 107 Task Force” marched in. Massive onslaught of barking. After about 30 minutes, the troops had gained control of enemy territory.
That is a simulation of the atmosphere ahead of the 107th Batch of Kopassus for the 2023 Academic Year. Before this sacred tradition was carried out, they carried out a Command Team Attack demonstration. The time is always before sunrise. The location has not changed, it is still on Permisan Beach, Nusakambangan Island, Cilacap, Central Java.
This education is divided into 3 stages, the Base Stage, the Forest Stage and the Marine Swamp Stage. In it is instilled the science of command: high determination which in a state of stress and fatigue is still able to make decisions quickly and accurately.
Including the long march from Bandung to Cilacap with 10 day and night stages of 455 kilometers.
Not just any road. They walked in PDL (field service attire) complete with boots, backpacks and rifles.
At that time, the invitees consisting of parents and students’ families, had arrived at the location. Some of the invitees who had a military background (especially Kopassus), heard gunshots as if they were on the battlefield, seemed calm.
Meanwhile, for those who witnessed and experienced it for the first time, there was an expression of extraordinary anxiety. Especially mothers. There was an expression of fear at hearing the gunshots, and the heartbeat quickened. The eardrum feels like it’s being cut.
The series of carving ceremonies, led directly by Danjen Kopassus Major General TNI Deddy Suryadi, S.I.P., M.Sc. He was accompanied by Dan Pusdiklatpassus, Brigadier General Yudha Airlangga, and the main Kopassus official. Visible among them are Kopassus Assistant Lieutenant Colonel Farid Yudho, Special Operations Special Forces Specialist Lieutenant Colonel Wahyo Yuniartoto, Special Forces Special Forces Specialist Lieutenant Colonel Nur Wahyudi, Special Forces Specialist Lieutenant Colonel Infantry Ginda Muhammad Ginanjar, Special Forces Special Forces Assistant Col. Romel Jangga Wardana, Dansat 81 Kopassus Lt. Col. Charles Aling.
Soldier’s Bopong
After the tradition of shooting, swiftly a number of soldiers immediately approached the Danjen Kopassus. They crouched down, tucked one shoulder between the legs, followed by another soldier on one side, then they lifted him high in the soldiers’ arms.
Their yells of command shouted in unison and enthusiasm. The gemblengan was so loud, it had come to the point of being barred and the installation of the Special Forces Command brevet.
A symbol: a soldier who has been boiled in the education and training arena that is as hot as fire. Soldiers with the Kopassus brevet have the courage, dexterity and skills of commando soldiers in the field of land, sea and air operations.
Danjen Deddy also instilled the spirit of “Tribuana Chandraca Satha Dharma”. That is, soldiers who have mastered the tactics and techniques of special warfare. Proficient and reliable in moving quickly in various fields both on land, sea and air. Highly patriotic in spirit, always ready to carry out basic tasks in every direction and ready to face various threats, disturbances, obstacles and challenges.
“As Danjen Kopassus and on behalf of myself, I congratulate the soldiers who have successfully completed seven months of commando education,” said the two star born in Bandung, September 14, 1973.
Deddy admitted that he was proud to inaugurate the young soldiers, young knights who were brave, confident and optimistic and were always ready to dedicate themselves as uniting the nation.
“Today, the soldiers will embark on a journey of real service and dedication. Prove your ability and loyalty in carrying out your duties, in serving the community, the nation and the country,” emphasized the Best Graduate of Dikreg XLVIII Seskoad (2010).
The Danjen added that the task of the commanding officer was not easy. Especially in the midst of rapid change, technological disruption, dynamic geopolitics, which must be addressed quickly and precisely. In addition, the military world is also changing rapidly. We must not be left behind in dealing with technology.
“Be prepared for every threat. Use technology for threats that also use technology,” Danjen Deddy ordered to the participants in the raid, which consisted of 54 officers, 88 non-commissioned officers and 90 enlisted soldiers.
The Deputy General of Kopassus (2021 – 2022) also asked the soldiers to continue learning and practicing forging skills and expertise.
“Prepare yourself to be an example for a society that maintains integrity, upholds soldiering ethics and values, and stands at the front in helping the community,” said Deddy who is also former Kasdam IV/Diponegoro (2022-2023).
As a commanding officer and elite troopers who are proud of the nation and state, Deddy stressed that prioritizing operational readiness and high preparedness as a form of soldier professionalism that was specially formed above the capabilities of soldiers and other units.
“Kopassus soldiers were formed in a rigorous but measured way. Trained at maximum points of human ability to be prepared to become militant, professional and adaptive soldiers based on morality and loyalty,” said Deddy.
“To the parents who are present here, I am happy as you feel. They are not only the pride of all ladies and gentlemen. They are also the pride of the Indonesian people, the TNI-AD, and the Kopassus unit,” said Deddy.
Not to forget, Danjen Deddy also thanked the Commander of the Pusdiklatpassus Kopassus, coaches and trainers for their dedication in making soldiers mighty and brave and with character.
After the official event, the Commander General of Kopassus asked the soldiers’ representatives to convey their impressions and messages. Starting from enlisted soldiers, non-commissioned officers to officers. They feel very grateful for the hard education that has been given. That way, they are able to survive in the middle of the forest, in cold temperatures, without food.
Also strenuous exercise walking hundreds of kilometers, crossing rivers, swamps and oceans. Every impression and message that inspires enthusiasm, is spontaneously greeted with shouts of “Command” simultaneously and bubbling
They will become soldiers attached to the “command knife” as a feature or identity. In the future, it will be more integrated with the command brevet. Entering the headquarters in Cijantung, you will be greeted by a commanding knife gate. Even on the rocks off Permisan Beach, you can see a giant commando knife sticking out.
Commando knife with a handle length of 10 cm, and a split blade of 18 cm, it is not a knife that functions for slicing, but for stabbing.
Its history is closely related to one of the Kopassus struggles in the field of combat operations in East Timor (now Timor Leste).
The new commando knife was used in the 1970s, when this unit was still called Kopasandha (Sandhi Yudha Troop Command). Of the many traces of their struggle, there is the story of a Kopassus member who became legendary and became history. He is Pratu Suparlan, one of the Kopassus members who sacrificed his life while carrying out a mission to save larger troops.
The heroic story that happened in January 1983 is what always burns in the breasts of every Commando soldier. The name Pratu Suparlan was later enshrined as the Suparlan Airfield Pusdiklatpassus Batujajar, Bandung, West Java, which was inaugurated by Army Chief of Staff General Edi Sudrajat on May 26, 1991.
Haru’s roar races
When it comes to the peak of the commando brevet pinning and pinning ceremony, the committee invites parents to get ready. The committee sorted out soldiers whose parents or family were unable to attend Permisan Beach for one reason or another, were asked to form a separate line.
After everything is ready, parents are welcome to pin the red beret on the head of their proud son. At the same time pinning the pride command brevet on the chest.
For a moment there was an atmosphere of “fog”. It’s understandable that parents are struggling to find their children who are almost all alike because they are covered in black and green camouflage paint. Some parents need quite a long time to be able to find the child.
Meanwhile, the Danjen, the assistants, pinned the berets and brevets on commanding officers who were not attended by their parents or family.
At that time, the atmosphere of emotion raced with the waves of the South Sea. The parents could not hold back the tears. Not a few were very emotional so they couldn’t hold back the bursts of crying and bursting into tears. A number of students seemed to have rushed to their mother’s feet, kneeling and prostrating. Meanwhile, the mother held back her emotions with tears streaming down her face.
The soldiers were dissolved in emotion. In a body full of sweat, a face full of camouflage paint, their two eyeballs seemed to become clear with twinkling tears.
The same scene also occurred in the ranks of other soldiers. The audience could not hold back the emotion. For some parents who are also retired commandos, they also remember the events that happened before. In the same place. In the same time. On the same beach. In a sacred, touching atmosphere.
Even though the sky was bright, the rain crying on Permisan Beach did not seem to let up.
The soldiers, who were already wearing red berets and commanding certificates, sat in a row facing each other. Each of them was given a box of rice.
It could be, that’s the “best” food they get since attending education and training in Batujajar, West Bandung. Being “the best” because it is distributed at the time of the battle. Moments of culmination of exhaustion and joy.
Now, in front of him lay a box of rice complete with delicious side dishes. What power, dirty body, dirty hands, dirty clothes, sitting on the sand too.
The committee invites parents to join the lesehan beside their respective children. The mothers quickly opened the boxed rice, then fed white rice and side dishes into their sons’ mouths. The tears couldn’t be stopped. Recalling the times when the mother fed her baby when she was a toddler.
Now that her child has become a Kopassus soldier, God allows her to repeat the happiest moments in life and in the life of a mother: Feeding her beloved child.
The crashing of the waves of the South Sea, witnessed the moment when all the blessings of the mother spilled out for the son, in order to protect the nation and the country. Komandooo… Egy Massadiah/Bembo
