In the Army Then (3)

One week after I joined the army, we were ordered to move to the training camp. It was in a remote arid area in the desert where we could smell the iodine scented breeze coming from the east as the sea was less than 10 km far. A chain of high rocky mountains stood on the western horizon. North and south were open. It was January, so weather was quite cold in early mornings and late nights, but a bit chilly the rest of the day. The camp was composed of few scattered one floor buildings of dusty yellowish colour, and three or four lean trees made the only visible green. There was nothing else except discipline, new faces, shaved heads and hours of hard training.

Besides positive and negative sides of the military life, being alone in many afternoons when I could go to a reclusive spot in the camp and sit down in complete silence looking at the endless sand and mountains was a tremendous joy. I once found a white tiny wild flower standing alone and was amazed how it could come up off the direness and survive the soldiers’ smashing boots. A lame poem was composed back then and echoed these thoughts.

No real friendships were developed in that stage, contrary to the later-on stages of my military service. Maybe the hardships of the beginning did not allow us to seek real communication. Even fights were rare in the beginning. Everyone seemed busy with himself and with coping with the new life. Only the camaraderie ruled through funny times and somber moments. We almost belonged to different everything; education, regions and social background.

After the dinner by 8 pm, a long walk from the mess to our dorm, which was located in a far point in the camp, was the sign of the end of a hard long day.

Two persons are still in my memory from these days. B with his sharp features, big eyes and hot temper. He would never let anyone’s bad manners pass without a reaction or at least a comment. And little N whom I knew before very casually but one day, for no reason that I knew, became very mean to me in public. The following day he came and apologized to me in public too. I never understood why the meanness was in the first place. I remember both of them sometimes and wonder where life might have taken them.

In 2010

I witnessed Karma working in all its glory. It was the first time to see, with my own eyes, an evil person got punished for what he did. That restored, somehow, my lost feeling of the fairness in the world.

Two compatriots met on a foreign soil. It led to a mutual feeling that would have never existed if they were back home, but home sickness and lonliness made the impossible happen.

Wonderlful job, high pay and beautiful house did not prevent Y from being miserable. Very miserable. He would not trade off, though, what he had for what he had not.