In the army we're all brothers!
Well I guess it's time to talk a little bit about my time in the army, I joined up as a connection soldier/driver at Skaraborgs Regemente (P4) in Skövde the 28 of January last year. It was supposed to be for 11 months but got cut down to 10 months. Well to start at the beginning, I was so unsure of what to think of it when we sat on the bus 8am that freezing morning, what is my platoon/company going to be like? Are the officers going to scream at us 24/7? How will it be to go up at 6 in the morning every day, put on a green uniform and go out learning how to act in war? The questions we're many and the closer we got to Skövde the more anxious I became. When we finally arrived we had to have our papers in order to show the security guards that we weren't civilians just wanting to sneak in, then we followed a colour trail towards the barrack where we were supposed to live most of the time for 10 months. We went up in the barrack and had to show 3 other officers our papers again so we could get our nametag and our military ID (used instead of the papers when going through security) and then told wich room we we're supposed to live in. When I came in there we're allready some people there and they told me that we we're supposed to read some documents regarding clothing rules and other rules that we had to know. After a while an officer came into the room and told us it was time to go grab our equipment from the storage, there was so many people there and it took us almost the whole day just getting everything! I tell you there was so much stuff and I was so afraid to lose something I was almost shaking when we had to do the inventory the same evening with the officers from our platoon.
The days afterwards we're tough, some left the first evening to other regiments where they we're short of people, some joined other companies and some felt that this wasn't the thing for them so they did everything to get home again. As the officers told us one night that we weren't going to remember how it was in the beginning, it's true, I can only remember bits and pieces from our first weeks like learning basic command words, walk correctly, wear the uniform correctly and of course the thing we hated the most, sew all the markings on the uniform. I can still remember sitting outside in the corridor at 2am with some of my fellow comrades sewing tha marks correctly and just so you know I was terrible at it especially the collars. I think it was the fourth or the fifth week when we went out for our first week in the field, by now we had learned how to use most of our equipment and the AK5. The week really tested our teamwork and of course when the pressure came on, our temper. The officers were jackasses from our point of view and as I actually admitted to my platoonchiefs when we had finished our time in the army, at that time I felt a hatred bigger than I had felt my entire life towards people. The weeks went on after that and we soon came to the most important week so far, the beret examination. I think everyone we're a little scared of how it was going to be, how much food are we going to get? How long are we going to walk? How strict is the examination going to be? The week before the examination I started to feel sick and on tuesday I was sent home with a fever and didn't return until the day before the examination was about to start. With a terrible cough and not really feeling to well I was on my way to tell my platoonchief that I wasn't fit enough to go through with the test but when we were told that we had to wait until the summer to take the test again I decided to give it my best shot anyway. I can tell you know when it's done that it was one of the most terrible weeks in my life. We we're searched two times for stuff that we weren't allowed to carry with us such as tobaco, anything eatable, cellphones, mp3s and some other stuff, the starting of the test was to run a distance of 10 kilometres with some equipment that we we're going to have during the examination. The run was quite a success despite having 3 sick people in our group, two of wich had fever, afterwards we hit the showers the last time for 4 days to come.
After the shower we suited up in our combat gear, filled the backpack after close instructions what we were allowed to bring and the extra equipment we had been given earlier. We gatherd outside the barracks, got our first destination, the time we were supposed to be there, a map, ONE meal to share in the group (6 people) and of course the all forsaken radio. I''m not going to get into details about the week but I can tell you there was a lot of walking, hunger, chafed feet and at some moments of hallucination (not so bad as it sounds) but we did get more time to sleep than I thought. The best moment was when the whole company got the order to run all together into the regiment area. All of us were exhausted but somehow most of us managed to squeze of the last drops of energy we had left to run the last 2 kilometres towards showers, beds, toilets and of course FOOOOD! The feeling when we were standing outside our barrack cannot be explained in words, we were so happy and the adrenaline rush took was so big I forgot I was even tired. The same evening we had our beret cermony, I can't describe the feeling when we were standing there and our companychief spoke about how proud he was and congratulated us of a examination well done! It was almost as graduating from college despite the knowledge that this was only the beginning, but for the first time we were now accepted as soldiers! The next week we started our idividual training for the duties we were going to have in the company wich for me was education in connection systems for four weeks and vehicle training for 4 weeks. The vehicle training was really fun except that I had to re-take the driverlicence tests. We were trained to drive with shielded lights, no lights and infrared goggles wich was quite hard but really fun. The connection "class" was really boring and I didn't really feel I got so much out of that except some standard rules in communication and the authority to handle the "top secret" papers with the codes for the radio.
After theese 8 weeks we had u summer break and when we returned it was time for combat training followed by shooting week and the worst week in my life, surviving week. The surviving week was not as hard as the beret examination but just sitting day in and day out barely doing anything and not have much food to eat was so boring and horrible. The weeks after contained companyexercise and functionalexercise wich was preparation for the big final batallionexercise wich mostly for me consisted of sitting in a warm tent listening to the other companies "battles" on the field. After the last exercise it was time for the most boring time of the army service, cleaning, washing and dusting EVERYTHING! It was the most boring time i've ever been through, just sitting down cleaning cables, engines, tents, tent boxes with material etc etc etc.... When it was finally time for the last and final week, wednesday was batallionparty wich I didn't go to since there was going to be so much people in the bars and clubs. Thursday however we had companyparty wich was so great! We rented a part of a nightclub in town and ate tacos, drank a lot and played some wierd games to end the night with more drinking and dancing. Friday we had to go up at 5 to hand over the last of our things like like bedclothes and locks. We got our grades from the officers on our platoon and then the company gathered to say a last goodbye to the officers and for some to recive special awards for different things they had done well during our service. Then the countdown started, we had lunch and afterwards went to the barracks for the last time and waited for the time to pass. When the time came for us to finally begin our last march out of the regiment area tears started to come from various directions, screams of joy, happy songs and of course company songs. The march starts, the adrenaline starts pumping, the chest feels like it's going to explode because of the heartbeat and finally the run starts, people screaming, one guy falls but noone cares, all they can see is the world outside the gates, the civilian darkness has come over us at last....
The days afterwards we're tough, some left the first evening to other regiments where they we're short of people, some joined other companies and some felt that this wasn't the thing for them so they did everything to get home again. As the officers told us one night that we weren't going to remember how it was in the beginning, it's true, I can only remember bits and pieces from our first weeks like learning basic command words, walk correctly, wear the uniform correctly and of course the thing we hated the most, sew all the markings on the uniform. I can still remember sitting outside in the corridor at 2am with some of my fellow comrades sewing tha marks correctly and just so you know I was terrible at it especially the collars. I think it was the fourth or the fifth week when we went out for our first week in the field, by now we had learned how to use most of our equipment and the AK5. The week really tested our teamwork and of course when the pressure came on, our temper. The officers were jackasses from our point of view and as I actually admitted to my platoonchiefs when we had finished our time in the army, at that time I felt a hatred bigger than I had felt my entire life towards people. The weeks went on after that and we soon came to the most important week so far, the beret examination. I think everyone we're a little scared of how it was going to be, how much food are we going to get? How long are we going to walk? How strict is the examination going to be? The week before the examination I started to feel sick and on tuesday I was sent home with a fever and didn't return until the day before the examination was about to start. With a terrible cough and not really feeling to well I was on my way to tell my platoonchief that I wasn't fit enough to go through with the test but when we were told that we had to wait until the summer to take the test again I decided to give it my best shot anyway. I can tell you know when it's done that it was one of the most terrible weeks in my life. We we're searched two times for stuff that we weren't allowed to carry with us such as tobaco, anything eatable, cellphones, mp3s and some other stuff, the starting of the test was to run a distance of 10 kilometres with some equipment that we we're going to have during the examination. The run was quite a success despite having 3 sick people in our group, two of wich had fever, afterwards we hit the showers the last time for 4 days to come.
After the shower we suited up in our combat gear, filled the backpack after close instructions what we were allowed to bring and the extra equipment we had been given earlier. We gatherd outside the barracks, got our first destination, the time we were supposed to be there, a map, ONE meal to share in the group (6 people) and of course the all forsaken radio. I''m not going to get into details about the week but I can tell you there was a lot of walking, hunger, chafed feet and at some moments of hallucination (not so bad as it sounds) but we did get more time to sleep than I thought. The best moment was when the whole company got the order to run all together into the regiment area. All of us were exhausted but somehow most of us managed to squeze of the last drops of energy we had left to run the last 2 kilometres towards showers, beds, toilets and of course FOOOOD! The feeling when we were standing outside our barrack cannot be explained in words, we were so happy and the adrenaline rush took was so big I forgot I was even tired. The same evening we had our beret cermony, I can't describe the feeling when we were standing there and our companychief spoke about how proud he was and congratulated us of a examination well done! It was almost as graduating from college despite the knowledge that this was only the beginning, but for the first time we were now accepted as soldiers! The next week we started our idividual training for the duties we were going to have in the company wich for me was education in connection systems for four weeks and vehicle training for 4 weeks. The vehicle training was really fun except that I had to re-take the driverlicence tests. We were trained to drive with shielded lights, no lights and infrared goggles wich was quite hard but really fun. The connection "class" was really boring and I didn't really feel I got so much out of that except some standard rules in communication and the authority to handle the "top secret" papers with the codes for the radio.
After theese 8 weeks we had u summer break and when we returned it was time for combat training followed by shooting week and the worst week in my life, surviving week. The surviving week was not as hard as the beret examination but just sitting day in and day out barely doing anything and not have much food to eat was so boring and horrible. The weeks after contained companyexercise and functionalexercise wich was preparation for the big final batallionexercise wich mostly for me consisted of sitting in a warm tent listening to the other companies "battles" on the field. After the last exercise it was time for the most boring time of the army service, cleaning, washing and dusting EVERYTHING! It was the most boring time i've ever been through, just sitting down cleaning cables, engines, tents, tent boxes with material etc etc etc.... When it was finally time for the last and final week, wednesday was batallionparty wich I didn't go to since there was going to be so much people in the bars and clubs. Thursday however we had companyparty wich was so great! We rented a part of a nightclub in town and ate tacos, drank a lot and played some wierd games to end the night with more drinking and dancing. Friday we had to go up at 5 to hand over the last of our things like like bedclothes and locks. We got our grades from the officers on our platoon and then the company gathered to say a last goodbye to the officers and for some to recive special awards for different things they had done well during our service. Then the countdown started, we had lunch and afterwards went to the barracks for the last time and waited for the time to pass. When the time came for us to finally begin our last march out of the regiment area tears started to come from various directions, screams of joy, happy songs and of course company songs. The march starts, the adrenaline starts pumping, the chest feels like it's going to explode because of the heartbeat and finally the run starts, people screaming, one guy falls but noone cares, all they can see is the world outside the gates, the civilian darkness has come over us at last....
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