Off-Topic My experience in the army

[Spartan Agoge]

I see that in this forum there are many people that serve/have served in the army, so I want to share my experience in my country's army, 10 years ago.

There is a mandatory 12-month-long military conscription for all men here, so you don't really have a choice if you will serve or not. The only choice you have is if you want to serve in one of the special forces departments(paratroopers, marines, amphibious) instead of the regular army.

So, I thought, since I can't avoid the conscription it is better to have the special forces experience. The physical criteria to join the marines were not really hard: 1km running in less than 5 minutes, 20 push ups, 30 sit ups and 4 pull ups.

While I was in the Training Center for Recruits(a military training center that all new recruits have to attend for 4 weeks, in order to be trained on really simple things and turn from a civilian to a soldier), I was greasing the groove on push-ups and pull-ups, but I had no way to do pull-ups, or run.

So, one day in the 3rd week a green beret captain came to the training center and anyone who wanted to try for the special forces went in the gym with him to get tested. We ran the 1km in the field outside the gym, and I ran it in 3'50''. Then I did the push ups and the sit ups REALLY easy(the captain gave me a nod of approval) and I also did the 4 pull ups(not as easy, as i hadn't done pull ups for more than 1 month.

Then, I got transfered to a big marines camp and I saw a totally different world. From an easy and relaxed training center, to a special forces camp of immeasurable stringency and discipline. For some weeks we had to attend a military training called "Advanced Training for Recruits". These weeks were really hard. have in mind that 2-3 months before that I was a college boy and my physical activity was in a fancy smooth gym. And then, some months later I was shooting with real riffles, loaded with real bullets, running many km in military clothes and shoes, sleeping only 2-3 hours per day because of night shifts, get yelled and "bullied" by the army officers even for breathing etc etc etc.

Of course I thought "what the f... am I doing here?"

I still remember clearly one particular day, in the second or third week of the Advance Training for Recruits. At 05:30 the trainers woke us by yelling like maniacs and pushing us out of our beds and on the floor . Then we had to be ready asap(military rigs, riffles,helmets etc) and we started running to a nearby mountain where we erected our tents and then the trainers had us doing push ups and crawling and squat jumps for hours.

After that we run back to the camp(I was carrying an FN Minimi which was much heavier that the M16 that most were carrying) and we got into military vehicles to go to the sea and have a amphibious assault exercise. Before the actual amphibious assault started, our captain tossed us into the sea(it was February), and then he also got in and he told us "now gentlemen, we will stay here until someone has hypothermia"
Well, nobody got hypothermia and after 15 minutes we started the actual training.

Then, we got back to the camp and(have in mind that our army is a mess in terms of organization and the soldiers are actual slaves), after all that, they had us transfer oil barrels which had just arrived(and which were not even ours, as in the camp there was also infantry and artillery, not only marines) onto the fuels station.

I remember that after that our captain apologized. He said, "in training i want to make you bleed and hurt, but what happened today was unacceptable. I apologize. i could not ignore the order".

Then we got back onto the nearby mountain, where we had night training(azimuth, orientation etc). The next morning the captain said to us, "this day was the easiest you will have from now on. If someone had a hard time with this, he doesn't belong here".
Thank God, he was lying. Of course, this was not the easiest day.

I could also mention some really funny stories, but the post will become too big.
People who have served in your countries military, how was this in comparison to your experience? Familiar, or totally different? I am curious.

 

[Dydo]

In my country, which is just north of yours , military service has long since ceased to be compulsory. At the moment we have a professional army, and hopefully we don't have to, but if necessary, we will simply mobilize. But it is interesting how these people who have never been in the military will do. They don't know how to hold a gun. Politicians reassure us that we are members of NATO and do not need to maintain a regular large army. When I was young /during communism/ there was mandatory military training in high school. Almost like in the army - there were combat shootings, etc.
Otherwise, service in the army is a test. I was constantly hungry, tired and sleepy. They fed us well, but with this load, this food was clearly not enough and we always felt hungry. The interesting thing is that despite this, most of the soldiers when it came time to be discharged from the army in only 1-2 years had gained a lot of weight. Which means that the amount of food is correctly estimated despite the fact that you feel hungry and are constantly engaged in physical exertion. Most of all I hated the cases when we were most unexpectedly raised the "alert" in such a customized training. For example, in winter at -10 degrees at 03.00 after midnight, we are suddenly woken up by sirens and cries of "alarm". And the entire military unit goes to training for a few days in the field or the mountains. And as you said, tents are being pitched, stoves are being installed, etc. And there are completely real combat shootings with guns and tanks and all kinds of equipment for specified training purposes. And very often this happened in atrocious weather conditions. It's pouring rain above you, and you're wearing a helmet and shooting. Apparently the goal is to feel what it might be like in a real war. But that time has passed.

 

[Spartan Agoge]

we are suddenly woken up by sirens and cries of "alarm".

Oh, these night "alarms" were a nightmare!
We had to get our riffles and be in a particular combat position a soon as possible! And if we were slower than expected, they made us get push ups all night!
The first time I had an alarm I got out without helmet and in a wrong position! You can understand what happened next

After 3-4 times it was just routine.

I have been in your country, and it is a beautiful place.

 

[Dydo]

Oh, these night "alarms" were a nightmare!
We had to get our riffles and be in a particular combat position a soon as possible! And if we were slower than expected, they made us get push ups all night!
The first time I had an alarm I got out without helmet and in a wrong position! You can understand what happened next

After 3-4 times it was just routine.

I have been in your country, and it is a beautiful place.

There are also beautiful places from nature, there are also ancient things from Roman, Greek, Byzantine times and the old times of our country, but there are also many derelict areas. In some resorts, there is an air of flamboyant wealth and luxury, and in other areas with very small settlements, people have fled and the houses are abandoned.
Otherwise, in the army, the biggest nightmare was for smokers. They don't know that training is coming up outside the populated areas, and when it happens suddenly, they have nowhere to buy cigarettes for many days because they didn't stock up beforehand. They cannot leave the "battlefield", and the settlements are far away. Sometimes we had advance information, but most of the time we didn't know.