[Wormsie]

Originally Posted by Swordmaster

I "did my time" at Vekaranjärvi. Military is a surreal place. :eek:

They suggested that place to me as well. I asked them: "Can't you give me any other choice than Kotka?" and they replied "Well we can send you to Vekaranjärvi!" to which I replied "No thank you".

But I'm not going to go to Kotka, because those military officials were manipulative and I can't stand manipulation. I'll have to think of something.

Anyway, if someone orders me to "forward marcha" or anything I'll either laugh and walk away - or cry. The first time I'll probably laugh and the second I'll probably cry, and then they finally believe I'm mentally unstable.

What I dislike the most is the macho-he-man-attitude most men in the military have. I just hate it, and the thought of having to spend six months there is sickening.

[Wormsie]

Originally Posted by DomStLeger

I don't understand - why does Finland still demand military service?

Because we are a small country and nobody will defend us in times of trouble.

[Kolzig]

Krhm, when I was serving, there where lots of guys who tried and tried to be mentally instable, but no one ever got away from army duty.

Except the ones who selected civil service maybe...

But anyway there was this one guy who came from really northern Finland, he had served there couple of years ago for a month or to, he had trashed room there where his group lived. I mean, wrecked the whole place totally.

So, the bright idea of the high ranking officers was to bring him to the same place where I was...

He was one scary guy, looked like a typical "nerd", but he was a psycho, he was never given a gun, because they knew he could hurt or kill someone else with it.

When people were going to training camps, he like destroyed a metallic heavy locker in his room.

Next he threatened to really hurt someone, and only then the officers finally put him away from army for good.

That guy really was a wacko, that was no acting.

(well, as an extra bizarro thing, he's second name was something like Gilgamesh, so I really don't know what his parents were thinking, and I know that name was he's real name name because one time I happened to "accidentally" see his identification papers.)

Now this may sound like a made up story, but trust me, it's real.

[Erwin_Br]

Well, a guy lives in my street who's an officer in the army as well (I don't know his rank, though). Anyway, the scary part is that he's a schizo. He has NEVER painted his house (which is 20 years old now, and all the woodwork is rotting), never worked in his garden (you can't walk to his front door anymore because of the vegitation) and never answers the door. His curtains are always closed and he rarely walks outside, except very early in the morning and late in the evening when going and returning from his military job.

What if this guy snaps one day? He probably has access to weapons because he's not a 'regular soldier'. And why does he work in the army as an officer?

--Erwin

[Curt]

I was called up for the South African army way back when (it was before the end of apartheid, I'll say that much). They wanted to conscript me to Walvis Bay in the Namib desert for two years. :eek:

Let's just say I scarpered quicker than you could say Boerewors. I got out of the country less than a week before I was supposed to "ship" (I was shitting myself at the airport, thought they'd have me on record and would stop me from leaving - I was 18, What did I know) and haven't looked back since.

There are occasional days when I wish I'd done it, just out of curiosity and the feeling that it may have done me good - then I wake up.

My Dad did 12 months service in Australia, close to Alice Springs (no mans land) and all he has to show for it is a military court marshall for drinking alcohol outside a "walkabout creek" while in uniform.



Slightly off topic - the thought of that Castlemaine XXXX ad where the one guy said "I can see the pub from here" still cracks me up. Anyone remeber it? Carling ads were good too (although the beer's crap!)

[Tamara]

Kolzig and swordie, you got me curious ...

Ok, it’s a common unfortunate fallacy that bats are blind. In fact no bat is blind, every bat has eyes, and some bats, fruit bats see even better than humans do. So that’s not true at all.

from http://www.5050.co.za/inserts.asp?ID=4889

deadworm: we're a small country too and probably no-one would defend us in times of trouble but we don't have conscription. And let's face it .. realistically no country except the real big ones would have much chance against real trouble .. conscription or no conscription

[myhrik]

Originally Posted by deadworm222

Anyway, if someone orders me to "forward marcha" or anything I'll either laugh and walk away - or cry. The first time I'll probably laugh and the second I'll probably cry, and then they finally believe I'm mentally unstable.

What I dislike the most is the macho-he-man-attitude most men in the military have. I just hate it, and the thought of having to spend six months there is sickening.

I hate it too. Everything about it. Luckily I'm never going there, of medical reasons, actually. Some weird mutation in my blood (no, I'm not kidding).

Deadie, why not take civil service? I guess we have discussed that before, but really - since you seem to hate the military as much as me, why not?

[Wormsie]

Originally Posted by Tamara

Kolzig and swordie, you got me curious ...


from http://www.5050.co.za/inserts.asp?ID=4889

deadworm: we're a small country too and probably no-one would defend us in times of trouble but we don't have conscription. And let's face it .. realistically no country except the real big ones would have much chance against real trouble .. conscription or no conscription

Maybe I should have used a smiley to make people notice the sarcasm.

Kolzig: I'm not trying to be a weirdo. I really am a rather... hmmm... "delicate".

Eirik: I'm still seriously considering it. It's just that it isn't presented as an option, for example, nobody tells us anything about it, you have to find out about it yourself. It lasts for twelve months, as opposed to the six months in the military. In practice you have to apply for a job yourself in Finland, so I could actually get a GOOD job somewhere, if I'm lucky - and if I have decided to study to an engineer or whatever before starting the civil service, I actually might get to work in an interesting place. It's just that where I would live during that period that's troubling me... The rights of those that choose civil service are not as good as the rights of those who choose the military.

[Mattsius]

I'm actually in the same situation as Deadworm at this moment. I was at the "whatever-it's-called-in-english" about a month ago and because I'm a Finnish Swede I couldn't choose where to go. All Finns who has Swedish as their mother tongue have to go to Dragsvik.

Although I have specs I wouldn't exactly call myself blind, but I have a bloody pollen allergy, which means that I get a very "pleasant" hey-fever every spring and fall. I had hoped that this would work in my advantage and I would get B papers, but evidently that wasn't enough of a reason!!!

At first it looked like I would do my military service beginning January 2004, but I'm going to try to change that to July 2003 so that I don't have to wait so long, and also I have this weird feeling that it would be nicer to begin your service in the summer and not in the freaking cold Finnish winter .

I still have one little ace up my sleeve though. It seems like I might have diabetes, which would mean that I wouldn't have to do my service at all!!!
They're going to run some tests on me next spring which will reveal if I have diabetes or only run a risk of getting it.

One could of course debate if it's better to have diabetes and avoid the military service, or not have diabetes and do the service.

[Kolzig]

Originally Posted by Mattsius

I'm actually in the same situation as Deadworm at this moment. I was at the "whatever-it's-called-in-english" about a month ago and because I'm a Finnish Swede I couldn't choose where to go. All Finns who has Swedish as their mother tongue have to go to Dragsvik.

Although I have specs I wouldn't exactly call myself blind, but I have a bloody pollen allergy, which means that I get a very "pleasant" hey-fever every spring and fall. I had hoped that this would work in my advantage and I would get B papers, but evidently that wasn't enough of a reason!!!

Well, you'll get the B-papers when you are at Dragsvik, if they have as good doctors as Kajaani had.

In the first medical thing you just had, they never listen even if you have a serious medical condition.

At first it looked like I would do my military service beginning January 2004, but I'm going to try to change that to July 2003 so that I don't have to wait so long, and also I have this weird feeling that it would be nicer to begin your service in the summer and not in the freaking cold Finnish winter .

You must mean July 2004?

[Henke]

I didn't have to do any time in the military due to that I was born a diabetic. But since I was involved in a shootingclub when I was around ten years old and I had the schoolrecord in coordination they still wanted me to come and sign in. But I got some pappers from my doctor so I didn't had to do it. I think all countries should close down the military. No military, no war.

[Carlius]

Hmm I had to do it anyway...ohh well I'm forced to but I haven't done it yet. At the testing I had some good scores so they were persistant. I told them I wanted to be a chef or something.

I don't have any use of killing people but cooking would be great so they gave me a post as chefcommander over a plutoon in the army but I wanted to be in the navy so I refused. So I became a chef in the first Swedish submarine flotilla which is situated in "Hårsfjärden" outside of Stockholm.

I'm going there in August, for 12 months.... Hmmm we'll just have to see.

[Mattsius]

Originally Posted by Kolzig

Well, you'll get the B-papers when you are at Dragsvik, if they have as good doctors as Kajaani had.

Let's hope so.

You must mean July 2004?

Yeah, actually both dates were wrong, the first one should be January 2005 and the second one should be, as you correctly pointed out Kolzig, July 2004.