My Military experience.

An Australian friend asked me on my opinions on military training. Is it good or bad?

After my 5 years experience working in a conscript army, mixing with full time soldiers and enlisted conscripts, I would have to say it is subjective. It will be a good experience if you accepted the training positively and terrible experience if you think you are being forced into it.

Thinking back, I would say I took away with me positive skills which do help me later in life. I had the opportunity to go through the rigorous officer training; I had to manage the conscript platoon that was assigned to me and also spent time with reservists whom are professionals on their daily lives.

The following are what I feel I benefit from the whole experience:

1.Leadership training – There are many aspects to leadership to discuss on. I personally like the facet which I picked up through observation – the ability to convince others to follow in times of uncertainty. I have no control over the war, I cannot decide who will die, and I do not know what will happen, so how do you convince them to follow you?

2.Working in teams – We do not choose who we like to work with and we get punished as a group. This helps develop basic social skills and ability to work in teams. We are forced to think as a team and choose courses of action that will benefit the group rather than individual.

3.Self discipline – Doing laundry, personal hygiene, fitness and all the little chores that mommy used to do for you. There’s also the aspect of time management involved.

4.Working with different people – It’s an opportunity to realize there are many kinds of people out there. They have their problems, cultures and perspectives. On a personal level, I get to see the ugly side of people and learnt what not to do from a social point of view.

5.Fitness – I had never been fitter when I was in the army.

6.Appreciation – Appreciation for the little things I took for granted in life. Spending time crawling through mud and staying up late nights out in the mosquito infested forests – I learned to make better use of my free time with loved ones.

7.Teaching – I had never been good at public speaking but I had to teach troops lessons. Most of my audiences were older than me which make things even more difficult. However, I picked up from the senior specialists on how to give engaging lectures and conduct myself professionally.

8.Listening – I had to look after the welfare of my troops and hold personal meeting to listen to their concerns and problems. The first thing is to learn to build rapport – or the sessions will be over in 5 minutes; they will not tell you anything personal of they are not comfortable with you.

9.Earning respect – I still remember when I first stepped into my first assigned battalion; my troops saw me but never saluted. My platoon sergeant punished them for that. My platoon sergeant himself also never saluted me. Then I start to understand that true respect has to be earned. I had to walk my talk and join them in their training and prove to them that I’m capable for my officer role. Took me almost a month to get salutes that come naturally. Well, the easier way was buy salutes through punishment.

10.Integrity – On a personal level I believe integrity is - Doing what is right and question what is wrong. Never lie during war.

Did I enjoy myself in army? I find it stressful during my recruit and cadet days when you are trained by people who are sadists but I also learned a lot from experienced soldiers. For the time I spent in the army, I feel the benefits I had gotten are worth it.