By Aaron Recuenco They are known to be tough, fierce and reliable in combat operations but when all the smoke in the battleground are cleared, the Philippine Army’s elite Scout Rangers are also ordinary people who need to be taken care of. Brig. Gen. William Gonzales, commander of the First Scout Ranger Regiment (FSRR), said that over the years, he himself has seen how his men have suffered but would just keep to themselves their grievances – from lack of decent barracks to decent homes for their families. “They would always say that we are an elite force so every Scout Ranger must not complain because anyway, this is what they are trained for, this is who they are,” said Gonzales. As a result, Gonzales said that Scout Rangers are sometimes not treated the way soldiers should be despite their sacrifices – starting from the hellish combat training programs up to the Scout Rangers’ “normal” life during deployment that include lack of proper sleep, food, and proper hygiene. “This has to stop. Like any other organization, every Scout Ranger also wants to embrace changes, to transform into a better organization,” said Gonzales. This is the reason, according to Gonzales, why he initiated the creation of the FSRR’s Multi-Sectoral Advisory Board (MSAB) which is tasked to help the Philippine Army’s elite unit in its transformation programs. Gonzales said the creation of the MSAB is in line with the Philippine Army’s Transformation Roadmap (ATR) which is aimed at transforming the largest unit of the Philippine military into a more credible, efficient, reliant, responsive organization. In creating an MSAB for the Scout Rangers, Gonzales said he hopes to further professionalize the unit by coming up with systematic policies and guidelines that would improve the operational capability and organizational structures of the Army’s elite unit. “We want to introduce good changes to our unit, we want to come up with institutionalized reform policies not only for our operational capability but also for the betterment of each and every single Scout Ranger,” said Gonzales. The Scout Ranger’s MSAB is chaired by La Union Governor Francisco Emmanuel Ortega III and co-chaired by Gonzales. The MSAB has 12 members who are considered experts in their respective fields in the private sector, including from business, academe and media. The members include actor Matteo Guidicelli, a reservist officer of the FSSR. Among the roles and responsibilities of the FSRR-MSAB is to recommend relevant policies and provide strategic assessment aimed at improving the capability of the Scout Rangers, help generate support for all the programs and projects of the FSRR from various sectors and stakeholders, and help the FSRR complete its Performance Governance System or PGS. PGS is a holistic and collaborative framework for designing and executing roadmaps to long-term reforms. It is an adaptation of the Harvard’s Balanced Scorecard framework into the local circumstances of the Philippines. Gonzales said that their dialogue and partnership with various sectors of the society through the MSAB would also help them come up with programs and projects that would benefit the people they serve, especially in the areas where Scout Rangers are assigned. Internally, he said he is confident that the MSAB would also recommend programs and projects for his men which would help boost the morale of every officers and personnel of the Scout Ranger. Currently, Gonzales said that he had initiated various projects at the FSRR’s headquarters at Camp Tecson in San Miguel, Bulacan that includes construction of barracks and other facilities like gyms and sports-related infrastructure projects, and decent housing units for his men.