Apologies...

...for posting only things about my life in the army, but as the sentence says, this is my life now, so bear with me. I will try to post more thoughts and news as they come...

Family photo of November 25th

Army_family
Originally uploaded by dimitris_maz.

This is the 25th of November, with my exit outfit, after the oath ceremony. In the photo there's my family - my uncle and parents.

Getting sworn in and what next

Finally the day where we get worn in was here. The time to go back home and experience everything we missed for almost 3 weeks was here.
The ceremony was simple and accurate in synchronization, when taking the vow or parading etc. The practice of the previous days was fruitful. And the strange feeling when speaking out loud the oath was also there. But after that the gates were open for everyone. And everyone was watching, parents, friends and close ones.

How I spent my three days:
Day 1: Sleeping.
Day 2 and 3 (Friday and Saturday) enjoying time with friends in Athens and generally chilling and clubbing (last night I went home in Athens at 7am from clubbing).
Miraculously in the morning I woke up to take the train back to Lamia, and now I am preparing my luggage to go to the camp again.
Other news are the fact that I should be leaving for the border where I will serve for approx 5 months, and that should start on December 17th more or less. More infor in the next few days! Hope you are all having as much fun as I am :)

Photo of first week!

Father_army
Originally uploaded by dimitris_maz.

This is the photo from the first weekend, when our relatives were allowed to visit us for 3 hours. It's me next to my father :)

Day 2 and beyond

On day 2 at 6 in the morning, half an hour before the official wake up, the room was bustling with activity. 29 people are running like crazy to be able to do all they have to do before 6:45 when we all have to be lined up outside for breakfast. Unpacking, making the bed, dressing up, washing up, shaving, all in a little more than half hour, and for the first time. There’s an excitement in the atmosphere of what the days are gonna look like.
The next days were boring at large, with only basic training being done, but they were also kind of cool cos we are a lot of jokers in the room, so if we don’t mess up with the rules, all goes well and we have a good few laughs a day (and at night, after lights go off). But these things I just cannot describe here, they would lose the spontaneous touch and originality (plus the funny element).
Mainly we have been preparing for the 25th, the day that we got sworn in, to do everything perfect and at the same time, synchronisation for 250 people is not easily achievable (well, in AIESEC it was, but in the army things are different(.
One day we got our basic training on our weapon, which is going to continue once I go back in the camp, starting tomorrow most probably. Wasn’t a very fascinating experience for me, although my father was telling me that it probably is going to be something exceptional. Somebody told me, that I should not be afraid of the weapon, but only respect it. That’s my attitude, and all went well with my first shooting session. But I dread the idea of some specific people getting ahold of a weapon in a few days, as immaturity in these cases can be mother to a lot of problems.
Days went by with our first “special missions” like cooking or guarding the room at night when the rest of the people are sleeping etc etc. It’s gonna get more exciting when we get to guard the camp, so I am looking forward to that, although it’s getting pretty cold at night by now.
Other than that, a few first conclusions/thoughts on my mind are:
- They say that where the logic stops, the army begins. I wouldn’t necessarily agree to that statement. I would just say that some things in the army follow different logic than what they would normally in the outside world. One must get used to this, although it’s not always easy to accept things.
- Everything will be fine as long as you do the job you have to do and obey orders. I don’t have any issues with authority and hierarchy, so things are working out up till now.
- You need a positive attitude to survive in the army. Yes, a lot of people have left their jobs and studies to come here for a year, but holding on to that doesn’t improve things or help us to adjust. The army can be an opportunity for meeting a lot of cool people as well and make connections, at least so far it seems so to me. It’s like going to school all over again, as everyone has to go, from celebrity actors (we have one in the next room) to high school graduates, university greaduates or illiterate people. People who are married and have kids etc.
- Discipline can be hard to adjust to, but along with the attitude of what the consequences of any of your actions might be (i.e. endangering others, breaking the hierarchical conduct etc.) can save you off a lot of trouble. I am lucky I adjusted fast!

In general it’s been a good personal experience so far, since I adjusted quite well form the very beginning and I am trying to focus on the good things happening, rather than holding on a few unpleasant situations that have come by…

What am I doing online?

Well, on the 25th (Thursday) we got sworn in after taking some of our basic training for 2 and a half weeks. So we get to have 3 (out of a total of 18) days out of the camp. Essentially, after 3 days of partying and eating homemade food again, I am going in the camp again within the next few hours. But it ain’t all that bad, cause from now on I can get few hours off in the evening almost every day provided that I don’t have any special thing to do in the camp (like being a guard, cooking, etc etc.).
I shall get to the ceremony of being sworn in, in a while, If I have the time…

First day in the army

November 8th is one of the days I am bound to remember for a very long time in my life. It’s the day my military service started.
After hours spent with my uncle (he’s a retired general of the Greek armed forces) and a couple of friends that have recently completed their military service, I packed my stuff up and it was finally the time to get in the camp. Between 8am and 1pm I had to present myself and go through the gate in the camp in my hometown, and so around 9am I decided it was time.
Crossing the gate of the camp is the point that changes your life for a year long period radically. Supposedly you kind of get the creeps realizing gradually that this is gonna be your life for a year long time, but I didn’t. The first day pretty much went by with luggage checking (for forbidden objects etc), getting our measures, getting our clothes, going through a psychologist, medical examinations, vaccination, settling in and tidying up all our stuff in the room (we are 29 people in our room), trying on all the clothes to see if they fit, dressing up, learning some basics about how the room is supposed to look like (esp. your bed), meeting the people as they come. I was the third one to enter our room and so had plenty of time to settle in, get used to the idea that this is my life from now on, and basically meet all the people as they come in.
I realized quickly that there are really no irritating thoughts (or at least not any significant ones) regarding my getting used to the military way of living. The only irritating though is the fact that this whole thing is going to last for 12 months, and that I could be working in the meanwhile. Kind of like wasting my time a little bit. But that’s all.
One more realization is that I really will have no problem in the first month and a half, the reason being that most of the people in the room are 23+ years old, have graduated or worked before, and so the level of maturity and trust among us was high from the very first day. And it still is, 20 days later.
At some point in time I looked at everyone around me, in military gear. And I though to myself “What a weird picture – these people all came in with their casual clothes today, and now they all look the same”. T struck me that I was wearing the same gear, but I hadn’t looked at myself in the mirror yet, after already being in the camp for 5 hours. I went straight to the washroom and looked in the mirror. I cannot describe the picture, but as soon as I manage to work out how to put photos on this (new for me) blog, I will let you see for yourselves. It was an interesting picture nevertheless.
Adjusting to the discipline shouldn’t be a real problem, I said to myself the first day. I have a high amount of self control, and a strange love/hate relationship with discipline in my life, but whenever I really needed to be disciplined, I managed to get myself to do it. And this is going to be one of those time.22:30, day 1. Lights go off. Everyone is in their beds, no one is talking. Day 1 went by without any shocks or unexpected events. The only thing I have to work on is being able to sleep at 22:30 to wake at 6:00 on a daily level. The first day it took me a full hour to fall asleep, but in the end I got to it. Nervousness for making it on time for the morning wake up prevailed :-)