my experience

my experience

  • Submitted By: wan5214
  • Date Submitted: 08/10/2015 7:22 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1523
  • Page: 7

My experience in the force military

There comes a time in life, when enough time has passed, that you can look back on certain challenging situations with a sense of detachment and humour:  “Someday you´ll be able to look back at this situation and laugh about it.”
The time has come for me to share the jocular but oddly enough ‘true story’ of how I was part of the Canadian military reserves for a brief period of time during my late teenage years while attending the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.  For those who have met me in recent years it may come as a shock for you to hear I was once a part of the military.  It doesn´t really conform well to the image of the independent backpacker type who enjoys culture, food and languages in far off corners of the world.  It´s not something I mention proudly or talk about openly nor have I included it on my resume in the last six to seven years.  I was only part of the Canadian reserves for a very brief period of time (2000 to 2001) but I did collect a rather large database of vivid memories.
Basic training was an absolute exercise in futility.  In hindsight, it´s become rather apparent what the entire purpose of its procedure and psychology was meant to accomplish.  When you can tear back the layers of propaganda and mind control you´re left with a very basic recipe.  The entire point of basic training was to instil within the lowly level soldier the very specific point that you´re nothing more than a stimulus response creature.  Your entire existence within the military chain of command is to obey orders at whatever cost.  To have even the slightest inkling of creativity, objectivity or spontaneity was ENTIRELY frowned upon and in fact punishable by a wide array of various forms of discipline.
The entire existence or essence of basic training is to prepare the soldier for the most unbearable of conditions.  Your partner has been fatally wounded in the heat of battle and your Sergeant is raging on at you...

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