The death of her father in an artillery strike during the second round of Cambodia-Thailand border fighting in December 2025 left San Sopheak devastated, struggling to comprehend the sudden loss of the man who had sacrificed his life while defending his country.
The grief was so overwhelming that she felt as though her entire world had plunged into darkness.
Despite knowing the dangers that claimed his life, Sopheak has chosen to follow in her father’s footsteps, putting on a soldier’s uniform and preparing to serve the nation.
Speaking to The Post at Ta Keung Baitong, a resettlement village for families displaced by the border conflict in Preah Vihear province, Sopheak recalled the moment she learned that her father had lost his life on the frontlines.
Her father was killed by artillery fire, she said. According to what she was told, he did not hear incoming shelling and was unable to take cover in time.
The family first learned of his death through one of his close friends, before his body was returned to the province.
A painful reality
Initially, they refused to believe the news, clinging to the hope that he might still be alive. It was only when they saw his body that the painful reality became undeniable.
“I was completely shocked. I lost all sense of myself and just froze. I couldn’t accept it because everything happened so suddenly. I simply couldn’t come to terms with it,” Sopheak recalled.
“Everything seemed as dark as night, like the moonless nights the elderly often describe. It was completely dark because of the loss,” she said.
Despite her overwhelming grief, she eventually realised that she had to find the strength to confront the reality of her father’s death.
“At that moment, I was completely numb, but I knew I couldn’t afford to remain weak. He was already gone, and I had to accept the truth. I had to find the courage to face it,” she said.
Her father’s body was initially brought to Kok Beng pagoda before being transported to Prasat Sambor district in Kampong Thom province, his hometown, where he was laid to rest.
Sopheak’s father was among the Cambodian soldiers killed during the second round of border fighting, which erupted on December 7, 2025, following an earlier ceasefire agreement, reached in late July.
During the renewed hostilities, Cambodia reported that Thai forces launched multiple attacks on Cambodian territory using fighter jets, heavy artillery and other weapons.
Thailand, meanwhile, maintained that its military operations were responses to Cambodian actions.
The human cost of war
The fighting left an unknown number of military personnel and civilians dead or injured and forcing hundreds of thousands of Cambodians to flee their homes, until a new ceasefire took effect on December 27.
For Sopheak’s family, the conflict brought more than the loss of a loved one. It also disrupted the agricultural livelihood on which they had long depended.
Before joining the military, Sopheak lived in Dach O’Svay village, where she worked alongside her parents cultivating rice and other crops.
She left school after completing Grade 9, not because she lacked ambition, but because she could not bear to see her parents struggling to support the family.
She said she had loved the idea of becoming a soldier since childhood, although her family’s financial circumstances had led her to put that ambition aside and concentrate on farming.
“I have loved the military profession since I was young, ever since I was a little girl. But I saw how hard my parents were working, and I didn’t want them to suffer. So I stopped studying and went to work in the rice fields and on the farm with them in O’Svay,” she explained.
Her father’s death was a turning point.
Following his loss, Sopheak was offered an opportunity to join the armed forces under a government policy allowing children of fallen soldiers to continue their parents’ military service.
She accepted, seeing it as both an opportunity to pursue a childhood ambition and a way of carrying forward her father’s commitment to national defence.
A tradition of service
“After my father was killed, the government offered me the opportunity to succeed him in military service. I decided to take his place and continue what he had started,” she said.
Now undergoing military training, Sopheak is preparing for a career in the armed forces.
Asked whether she would accept an assignment to a military base or a frontline position after completing her training, Sopheak said she would follow her commanders’ orders without hesitation.
“Yes, I would go. Once we put on this uniform, we cannot hesitate. We must move forward, not backward. Being a soldier means being courageous, having a strong and determined spirit, and obeying our commanders’ orders,” she declared.
Her family has accepted her decision, she added, respecting her choice to enter a profession that carries both responsibility and risk.
“My family has no objection. They respect my decision, and we respect one another. They have not tried to stop me,” she said.
While joining the military has given Sopheak a new direction in life, financial difficulties remain a challenge for her family.
New lives, far from home
She explained that the loss of access to their farmland and the disruption of agricultural activities had deprived the household of its main source of income.
Before the conflict, the family depended almost entirely on rice cultivation and other farming activities to make ends meet.
“When we lost those things, we had no income. We depended entirely on our rice fields and farmland. Once we lost them, life became very difficult. We had no income and very little to rely on,” she said.
Sopheak noted that the family has received government assistance to help ease some of the financial hardship caused by the loss of their father and their displacement.
She now lives in Ta Keung Baitong village in Preah Vihear province, a settlement accommodating displaced civilians who are attempting to rebuild their lives after being uprooted from their former communities, agricultural land and familiar surroundings.
For Sopheak, wearing a military uniform represents more than the beginning of a new profession. It is also a personal commitment to continue the path of a father whose life ended while serving his country.
Although she knows firsthand the devastating consequences of armed conflict, when asked whether she feared following the same path that had cost her father his life, she replied without hesitation.
“Not at all. I’m not afraid.”