Military Correspondence

Perhaps one of the lessons that a cadet officer and a cadet would really use is Military Correspondence (or milcor). In the Army, I believe this lesson discusses the various formats of military letters. In ROTC, however, it is just one format. The Memo-like format of TO-FROM-SUBJECT.

It was not that difficult, it seems. We started with the what, the why (or in what instances you need to write the milcor) and whos. When we went to the details of the format, and the impression that we need to type perfect letters if we want our requests to even be considered, we have to consider everything.

And I mean everything.

The letterhead is the HQ address. Followed by an originating office or unit, across the date line. The date is one tab or approximately five spaces from the center of the page, which uses one-inch margin on each of the paper's sides. And the paper has to be short bond paper... not A4. Short. As in 8.5" by 11".

We were introduced to the bureaucratic language that would haunt every Filipino when that person attempts to write a letter to a higher authority in a formal organization: Third-person messages. The undersigned would like to request....

If an officer has to make an incident report (which usually is critical), instead of typing "I," the CO has to type "the undersigned."

We have to make everything justified as well.

If there is anything that I have learned that I should do (although I have not learned why then but now I know) within the letter, it is the basic communication practice: introduce what you will say, say it, reiterate what you have just said.