High School Soldier
Romanticism

Indonesian Post special correspondent, Sonia, told one of her colleagues about the news about a rumor about one of the TRIP soldiers sent to the New World which was dubbed by the community as ‘The Successor of the Commander-in-Chief’.

In particular, the sisters' colleagues thought that the girl had something about the soldier's whereabouts, given that she and her family were once neighbors of the soldier and his master's people. Although it is not news that can generate a lot of viewers and income, but the public at large wants the real figure of ‘Penerus the terpayah’ Commander.

Unfortunately, to this day, hundreds of people have been interviewed about the soldier and his parents refused to comment, even the people who live in the Karanganyar suburb, the army's hometown.

They felt that people refused to confirm that they did know the soldier's family, but they chose not to talk about it at all because the suburban community knew that they would get nothing. The Karanganyar suburban community only considers the soldier and his family as good people. And it is proven that despite being an officer, the soldier did not forget the suburban community who had helped him.

It was indeed quite upsetting and Sonia's colleagues chose to write whatever they received from the Karanganyar suburban community interviews. In fact, Sonia herself who refused to talk about the topic could not do anything, for the sake of a promise from someone who had to be kept. There were many people who held similar promises, so the information that the reporters obtained was very little.

“Is the nickname ‘Si Commander-in-Chief’ something that makes the TNI ashamed?”

The question came from one of Sonia's colleagues who was interviewing a retired final-ranking Lieutenant Colonel. The virtual meeting was attended by Sonia and a female colleague, and a retired person who was the source.

However, the man hit the table very hard, and made Sonia and her partner surprised.

The retired Lieutenant Colonel put on an outwardly angry face, and made it seem like he could explode at any moment if the man could not hold back his anger.

“Tolol! What did you ask him?!” Sonia whispered to her colleague over the question. The anger of the retired Lieutenant Colonel seemed terrible. Because this virtual interview will be stored and will be broadcast on one of the news events, it is inevitable that the editing division team will work very hard.

“People like you can't understand anything! Luckily the Commander-in-Chief prevented us from going to war with the FPDA. I don't know what happened to this country if the conflict really happened.” the man said in a loud tone that showed his anger, ' he said, standing up from his chair as if the question that Sonia's colleague asked was very offensive.

Along with the anger of the retired Lieutenant Colonel, all the retired and active officers who received this virtual interview invitation also stood together, and seemed to feel the same way as the man.

The active and retired officers were silent, ostensibly agreeing in silence the retired Lieutenant Colonel said. So that makes the atmosphere a bit awkward.

“Mbak Sonia, haven't you ever been saved by a squad led by her son?” an active Lieutenant General asked Sonia a question that made the girl seem to feel something, as she bent her face with a sad expression mixed with anger.

“True, almost I was harassed by enemy soldiers, dragged forcibly onto the stage. But, unexpectedly, he turned out to be with a large army. So, there are dozens of Indonesian citizens who are held captive by the enemy saved by them and the enemy who wants to fight can be defeated without a long time. Then, I heard the news if he beat the enemy commander to almost death.”

“Everyone knows if he's ever beaten an enemy commander. But why has this news been kept secret for so long? If he really was his son, then he really looked like him. Starting from the face to his nature when leading his subordinates. As a former Expeditionary Force survivor, he truly has the potential to surpass his father,” says one of the Major who fought the Alliance's first major assault on the Expeditionary Force more than a year ago.

No one doubted the words of the Major who decided to retire after his return from another world battlefield (New World). Some of the active and retired officers were seen nodding as if agreeing to his words, but some were still dubious or did not want to comment.

“So, this does have the potential to be big news.”

But, if they only relied on what they had seen and heard themselves to speak about the truth of the news, they would not get anything new. That's why Sonia's colleagues wanted to discuss the information and data that Sonia got while still in the New World with the status of a citizen who was saved.

But, when the Expeditionary Force obtained permission to launch a counterattack on the enemy's headquarters, all civilians in the Holy Land were repatriated to avoid any potential danger.

So, the last time Sonia saw ‘Son the Commander-in-Chief’ was when the supply and preparation of troops before being sent to the enemy country. It was also the beginning of Sonia losing her sister. The girl hopes that if she can find and save Indah from the enemy prison if it hits her.

People always talk about rumors and something exaggerated as long as it makes a party's good name improve. The disbanded Expeditionary Force has documentation to prove it, including the last photo taken before the enemy's major offensive against the TNI that cost the country thousands of soldiers. The documentation has become a state archive, so it may be disseminated to the people to show the truth about this war. As well as proving that sending military forces to the New World is not only to avenge the actions of the enemy against Indonesia in the previous war, but also build relationships and ally with other world countries to end the war faster.

“What happens when the enemy is at war with the TNI then?”

Many journalists and the public have raised such questions.

Apparently, several other regional and international organizations have decided to work together on a plan to work together to manage the new Perfect Gate that opens in Indonesia. Even though the Perfect Gate was no longer in the country, it was the Link that would be the opening point of the Gate from another world to this world, but it was their target. When Indonesia is busy clashing with the enemy and internal and external issues that potentially endanger the security of the country, several countries agreed to form alliances to obtain the right to administer the Gate and Liaison even in a non-subtle manner. This forced the government through the Ministry of Defense to undertake information gathering actions to better understand the future of the war against the Alliance and the goals of the powerful nations regarding the Gateway and the New World.

In response to the wishes of several regional and international organizations on the right to manage the Gateway, the Indonesian Army of Students has been designated as a security agency under the command of the TNI, which is, and it has its own chief of staff and special units like Kopassus or Paskhas.

Some Soldiers of the Student Army are 17-year-old High School students and students with a maximum age limit of 29 years who do not continue their education and have no choice but to enlist as soldiers, so other countries cannot accuse Indonesia of using young people who are not trained militarily as the main defense forces or reserves. Some of them may have previously been volunteer troops when the war against other world nations was still ongoing, but they still had a purpose even though the war did not take place in this world, especially Indonesia.

Currently, as some military observers of the world know, there are hundreds of TRIP soldiers who passed the selection and were assigned to the New World. Strong countries cannot ban their desire to keep Indonesia by fighting through the New World. Thus, perhaps showing the military movement is a step of the developed countries to pressure Indonesia to stop their movement in the other world, and give up the problem of Gate, Liaison, and, and the New World to the international world instead of using the excuse to retaliate and ask for compensation for damage caused by the enemy during the war against Indonesia by sending thousands of military forces there.

By the time the TRIP was raised from its long slumber, other countries only considered them to be voluntary forces containing juveniles who were still in the labile phase. Indonesia is a neutral country, but still receives support and assistance from a strong country while still making considerations. The lack of soldiers is not the only reason for the recruitment of young people aged 17 to 29 years to fight, there are many supporting reasons that led the government and people to agree to the re-establishment of TRIP.

Broadly speaking, almost all countries in this world who want to seek compensation for enemies from other worlds. That is why they denounced the actions of the Russian Federation and North Korea over the dispatch of military forces to the New World under their own version of Peace Forces cooperation. Some countries have their own plans to seek redress to an enemy that caused almost the same damage during World War 2, even if it used unhealthy means.

After Liaison was created in Indonesia, some countries asked the diplomats Arevelk and Yekirnovo to also establish Liaison in their countries. Of course the answer is obvious, but some countries put forward some ‘hadiah’ which looks very tempting if Yekirnovo and Arevelk build Liaison in their country. Still, what the diplomats of ‘the other world’ said remains the same, and rejection is an upsetting thing.

News almost daily informs about political squabbles. And it turns out that the most in question is the rumor that Russia, Indonesia, and North Korea are testing their weapons in another world. After burying more than 2,000 of their fallen soldiers in the field of another world, such accusations continue to be leveled by several countries.

The people of Indonesia, especially those who have lived one time with ‘Si Panglima Terpayah’ and saw the results of the work of the person began to expect the emergence of ‘Si Panglima Terpayah 2’, because the threat of strong countries is very real, because the threat of strong countries is very real, and potentially disrupt the alliance that Indonesia and its allies are fighting with Yekirnovo and Arevelk.

So, people started to wonder: “Is there something that makes that person nicknamed ‘Si Commander Terpayah’?” then “Is that person really the son of ‘Si Commander-in-Chief?”

Most people's views are too simple, so they only see what they see or hear. With such a nickname does not mean the person who bears it really sucks in many ways. It was a modern way of covering up the great achievements of the person who bore the nickname, or there would be a lot of chaos and rumors that were caused if what the person had done was widespread, he said, other countries will use it. It does make the TNI embarrassed, then it could be the family will sue the person who has made such a nickname.

Unfortunately, the Commander-in-Chief was dead about ten years ago. However, it is not known who the family of the person is, so people will make various conclusions, from reasonable to crazy conclusions that deviate far from the main topic. After all, there were many situations for some parties to keep big things a secret, so it would be very dangerous if the secret was exposed.

“In short, have you ever met the Commander-in-Chief, Ms Sonia?” ask one of the active officers of the rank of First Marshal.

“Honestly, I can't say. It could have been that my memory was wrong, and I could have never met the person who had the nickname. And from what I see, there are many people who do not know that person.”

“No, she is very famous. The problem of shifting Indonesia's border stakes with Malaysia and the lack of willingness for Singapore's unmanned surface vessels to pass through the waters of the Riau Islands could trigger a major conflict, but that person could prevent it for a long time. And from what I remember, he used trivial means to solve that problem before Singapore and Malaysia got help from their allies at FPDA.”

Military victory brings a country into a phase called ‘ glory days’ instead of golden days. Therefore, when a country is hit by a victory drunk, they only think to get more wins. The relationship between government and the military is a romanticism that has a bad impact in the form of the potential injury of one party.

That's why no soldier likes to be called pragmatic. But they are lucky not to be called with ‘coward’, or maybe some soldiers prefer to be called cowards rather than pragmatists but cannot prove that they are the right side and have a narrow and practical thinking. Thus, the Commander-in-Chief only did what he thought would prevent the occurrence of minimal losses that were indispensable even though it earned him an embarrassing nickname.

Neither side won at that time, but both Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore both claim that they are the winners of the final results of solving the problem.

**

Funfact#19: Since the novel has not yet reached a major conflict, it does not even feature other secrets, it is likely to end after more than 300 episodes.

Funfact#20: If the reader tells me to write less than 2,000 words per chapter, it might be impossible. It does not yet cover the entire conflict in each chapter.

And I really enjoyed the process of making one chapter at a time from this novel despite not getting much attention...!

Greetings from writers and military fans. Have a nice day...