FA+
Shop
The first two weeks.
13 years ago
Fuck me did that feel like a month. I'm exhausted, I am sick and I have no idea where to start.
In short, army is not a pleasant experience. As you can imagine, it is strict and hard. You wake up at 6:00 (AM) and you have 15 minutes to get up, dressed, make your bed neatly, do your toilet business and be ready to form a 3 row outside (worst is when you we have morning jog so you have to wake up at 05:30 and you have only 3 minutes to get up and dress, technically 2 minutes since at 1 minute you have to be ready to go). After which you stand there in the freezing Finnish winter (-20 to -30 degrees) for about 5 minutes so everyone is out and then everyone marches in formation to the catering for breakfast. Depending on schedule, you have about 5 to 10 minutes to eat. 15 if lucky. Speaking of eating, we do get a meal 3 (4th is optional) times a day. It is not as bad as I thought it would be. Finland has "free" school food and army food is basically the same, expect less tasty. You just don't have time to eat.
We have about 10 to 12 hours of training each day. It might be theoretical lessons or practical lessons. So far we have mostly had lessons on rules, behavior, army stuff in general and weapons. We got our own assault rifles pretty soon after starting too. Since then, we've learned to maintain and field strip them and also fire with them. This is the weapon we mostly use: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rk_62 though we will also be trained to use other weapons, such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PK_machine_gun , AT weapons, grenades and mines.
Anyway, shooting is probably the only fun bit. Having a combat vest and a backpack filled on your back is a heavy combination and walking/running with them on can really feel like death.
There are 10 of us sleeping in the same room and we've all become friends. We do have a lot of fun during breaks. I have not met a single asshole yet and despite it being strict, the instructors and superiors seem nice.
These first weeks have been though physically and mentally, and it will continue to be so, if not even tougher. Frankly I have no idea how this will develop. I thought I'd only have to spend 6 months there and it would be quite a certain thing. I've learned that even though 6 month training is there, most people end up having to train for 12 months. Due to my situation, having a study place waiting to start after summer, I have a better chance at getting the 6 month training, but it is not guaranteed. This is troubling, since I can only really afford 6 months. I will not give away my study place, so if I do end up with 12 month service, I will call it quits and leave. That means that I have to do 'civilian service' for a year at some point later on. Basically it's an alternate here for military. You do some non profit (you do get paid like 8€ per day, but you do not receive salary) work for the government. Basically this would be nicer, since you do get to live a normal life, instead of military life. I could be drawing porn for example, which I can't while I am in the army.
Anyhow, do I have problems? Yes, I do. I have some physical issues that I hope can make my service slightly easier (or if I get lucky, end up relieved from both army and civilian service). Basically there are 4 sorts of papers you can have. A, B, C and E (there is probably D, but forgot what it was for). A is that you are good to serve in the army. B is sort of easier option. If you got some condition, you will not have to do so much heavy lifting or stuff like that. For example, my posture is not perfect. When I was a kid, I used to play a lot (well, I still do) but I always sat in a bad posture, so I ended up with it. It is nothing extreme, just slight, but it causes back problems when holding heavy stuff in my back, more than it would on a normal posture. So carrying heavy bags makes my back lock up quite easily and make it quite hard. So that will be a problem and I'm hoping I can get at least B papers.
C papers means that you are relieved of duty completely. This means army AND civilian service. This is mostly if you have some worse condition or you have mental issues. I have an issue in the army that I do not face normally (just rarely) in civil life. It's the fact that I can't burp. Yeah, I just can't do it. No one really knows why. The problem is that burping is used to release air from stomach. The fact that we only have about 5 mins to eat a full meal every time means that you have to eat very quickly. This puts a lot of air in your stomach which I can't release. So my condition is that this air will make me feel so full and it starts to feel bad. My mouth starts to create a lot of saliva that I have to keep swallowing (making even more air) and I start getting hick-ups and breathing gets more annoying, since you don't have so much room for it. It will keep feeling worse and worse if I don't get to lie down for an hour. That is the only thing that helps. If I don't get to lie down, eventually it starts to feel like I'd need to puke, but nothing comes up. So basically, a really shitty feeling. Now add 30 kilos of weight strapped on you and you have to walk around with it. Starts to feel like death.
This is a problem that I think will be the biggest issue. I've had that same thing almost every day, but luckily we have not done anything too tough physically yet (except once, that fucking sucked) I'm hoping I can get C papers with this. That would mean that I didn't have to do this bullshit and could just continue living as I did before. I could draw all I want or play guitar all I want. How fucking great would that be.
Anyway, I'll look into it next week. I'm getting hungry now and I need to visit the store to get some food.
In short, army is not a pleasant experience. As you can imagine, it is strict and hard. You wake up at 6:00 (AM) and you have 15 minutes to get up, dressed, make your bed neatly, do your toilet business and be ready to form a 3 row outside (worst is when you we have morning jog so you have to wake up at 05:30 and you have only 3 minutes to get up and dress, technically 2 minutes since at 1 minute you have to be ready to go). After which you stand there in the freezing Finnish winter (-20 to -30 degrees) for about 5 minutes so everyone is out and then everyone marches in formation to the catering for breakfast. Depending on schedule, you have about 5 to 10 minutes to eat. 15 if lucky. Speaking of eating, we do get a meal 3 (4th is optional) times a day. It is not as bad as I thought it would be. Finland has "free" school food and army food is basically the same, expect less tasty. You just don't have time to eat.
We have about 10 to 12 hours of training each day. It might be theoretical lessons or practical lessons. So far we have mostly had lessons on rules, behavior, army stuff in general and weapons. We got our own assault rifles pretty soon after starting too. Since then, we've learned to maintain and field strip them and also fire with them. This is the weapon we mostly use: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rk_62 though we will also be trained to use other weapons, such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PK_machine_gun , AT weapons, grenades and mines.
Anyway, shooting is probably the only fun bit. Having a combat vest and a backpack filled on your back is a heavy combination and walking/running with them on can really feel like death.
There are 10 of us sleeping in the same room and we've all become friends. We do have a lot of fun during breaks. I have not met a single asshole yet and despite it being strict, the instructors and superiors seem nice.
These first weeks have been though physically and mentally, and it will continue to be so, if not even tougher. Frankly I have no idea how this will develop. I thought I'd only have to spend 6 months there and it would be quite a certain thing. I've learned that even though 6 month training is there, most people end up having to train for 12 months. Due to my situation, having a study place waiting to start after summer, I have a better chance at getting the 6 month training, but it is not guaranteed. This is troubling, since I can only really afford 6 months. I will not give away my study place, so if I do end up with 12 month service, I will call it quits and leave. That means that I have to do 'civilian service' for a year at some point later on. Basically it's an alternate here for military. You do some non profit (you do get paid like 8€ per day, but you do not receive salary) work for the government. Basically this would be nicer, since you do get to live a normal life, instead of military life. I could be drawing porn for example, which I can't while I am in the army.
Anyhow, do I have problems? Yes, I do. I have some physical issues that I hope can make my service slightly easier (or if I get lucky, end up relieved from both army and civilian service). Basically there are 4 sorts of papers you can have. A, B, C and E (there is probably D, but forgot what it was for). A is that you are good to serve in the army. B is sort of easier option. If you got some condition, you will not have to do so much heavy lifting or stuff like that. For example, my posture is not perfect. When I was a kid, I used to play a lot (well, I still do) but I always sat in a bad posture, so I ended up with it. It is nothing extreme, just slight, but it causes back problems when holding heavy stuff in my back, more than it would on a normal posture. So carrying heavy bags makes my back lock up quite easily and make it quite hard. So that will be a problem and I'm hoping I can get at least B papers.
C papers means that you are relieved of duty completely. This means army AND civilian service. This is mostly if you have some worse condition or you have mental issues. I have an issue in the army that I do not face normally (just rarely) in civil life. It's the fact that I can't burp. Yeah, I just can't do it. No one really knows why. The problem is that burping is used to release air from stomach. The fact that we only have about 5 mins to eat a full meal every time means that you have to eat very quickly. This puts a lot of air in your stomach which I can't release. So my condition is that this air will make me feel so full and it starts to feel bad. My mouth starts to create a lot of saliva that I have to keep swallowing (making even more air) and I start getting hick-ups and breathing gets more annoying, since you don't have so much room for it. It will keep feeling worse and worse if I don't get to lie down for an hour. That is the only thing that helps. If I don't get to lie down, eventually it starts to feel like I'd need to puke, but nothing comes up. So basically, a really shitty feeling. Now add 30 kilos of weight strapped on you and you have to walk around with it. Starts to feel like death.
This is a problem that I think will be the biggest issue. I've had that same thing almost every day, but luckily we have not done anything too tough physically yet (except once, that fucking sucked) I'm hoping I can get C papers with this. That would mean that I didn't have to do this bullshit and could just continue living as I did before. I could draw all I want or play guitar all I want. How fucking great would that be.
Anyway, I'll look into it next week. I'm getting hungry now and I need to visit the store to get some food.
...later on the system changed and the draft just became 'voluntary', thus becoming another profession
....lucky you could ask for an exception due stidues, and thus delay the army entrance a year or more... as i was studying, i just ahd to ask for teh delay papers one year, the next was when it became voluntary, and i got free of it...
Hope you can get out of it & live a real life again.
Can't burp? That's a funky-ass issue! Even eagles can burp lol
And I feel so guilty of not being able to post art and not even feeling like drawing anything right now.
Oh well, I'll see how this turns out...
It's good you're making friends with your fellow trainees, though- that should help time pass faster or at least make it more enjoyable....
The only reason I rather do the army now than anything else later, is that the 6 month service fits to my life so well. It ends before my studies start. Though the ultimate price would be the C papers. Man would that make me happy. But I am skeptical about everything and usually things go down the drain if you start thinking too positively, so I'll just have to wait and see.
How ever it will go, I'll be spending the next 6 weeks there, but at least I do get every weekend of.
Well anyhow, thanks for commenting, I hope all the best to you as well.