The Dotted Line

I signed on the dotted line. Not just to enlist but also giving up all my rights, ensuring that i am not mistreated. For example, 6 hours sleep each night and 3 meals a day among other things. This week it became clear to me what it means to be a lochem "warrior". What situations and conditions we are expected to deal with and why they make you sign upfront on the dotted line, giving up your basic rights.

I spent Tuesday through Thursday in a survival excersize that was supposed to simulate a situation in which you were left behind or crashed behind enemy lines and were forced to escape the enemy and survive on your own. Now let me preface this by saying that the weather was less than stellar this week. A temperature near 5 degrees Celsius at night and raining/sleeting 24/7. Now because it is a survival excersize it is not something that you are given adequate gear to use to cope with. You just have your regular uniform,vest and weapon. For the most part it included walking about 50km in two nights, through probably the most difficult field comditions you can possibly imaginable. Imagine a rocky mountainside inhabited by only 5-10 foot thorn bushes. The shrubery is so intense that it could take you 40 min to progress 200 m. Not only can you not see anything because it is in the middle of the night, but it is painful and humbling to crawl soaking wet through thorn bushes and over boulders in the middle of the night . Moreover imagine trying to progress with a human being on a stretcher thrusting them through thorn bushes and falling with them off boulders and hillsides. At day break you enter into hiding. spending the daylight hours in a bush hideout. now being in the rain all night you entire body is wet and you have no way to escape it. even with regular rain protection gear you get soaked after an hour or so. So you sit, your clothes, your hair, your boots soaking with water on the freezing ground, static for hours. You can feel your core body temperature drop as you begin to shake violently in the bush. No way to escape the wind, rain or anything else. Your extremities go numb as the blood travels to the center of your body; protecting your vital organs. So even when you get up to pee you fall over becasue you have no feeling in your legs.

This went on for 2 days. Only to be interrupted by a four hour break and then a 15 km march down the beach with stretchers along a storming sea. At some points trudging though water that was above waist level. Safe to say it was not a simple week.

At the end of the week we had the commander of our unit come and talk to us. He said that all the training excercises were concelled (except for ours of course) because the weather conditions were deemed too cold/dangerous to train in. He explained that in order to be good warriors we need to survive in any situation and that was why it was decided that we would stay out.

In the begining i was confused. I thought, how could that be?? how could he just decie that? if the conditions were too extreme than how were we allowed to be out?? and then i remembered "i signed on the dotted line." No matter how cold, how wet, how dirty they own me and can choose whatever fate they deem necessary for me.

Thats the message i take from this week, that and the fact that at this point i think i have a forever permamanent scar from the rain. One things for sure however, i definitely got tougher this week. for better or for worse i guess.

hope everyone is doing well this weekend.

Andrew