What I learnt from military service: not only patriotism, but also strong brotherhood with my batch mates.
A. Unquestioning obedience to the commander
- Be prepared, resilient and prompt — leading to better work ethic
- Act carefully before understand all the new environment rules — bringing me resourcefulness
- Explore the reasoning behind every task and learn the working style of task-giver
B. Communication between cohorts
- Be responsible for myself
- Cultivate the ability to maintain good relationships with everyone
- Learn to cope with pressure and separate the mental account
Although the duration of military service in Taiwan lasts only for 112 days, it’s annoying that somebody told me that “It’s only for 112 days, nothing to complain about.” especially from those who did not take the service……
The following story is kept in chronological order
Term 1: Adapt to the uncomfortable environment with uncertainty
All of the new private trainees must fully obey the command, and getting used to a very uncomfortable environment is the first lesson we have to learn. Seventy people were accommodated in a single room and were always roused by noise from others who opened the steel cupboard and drawer loudly at 4:30, though the wake-up call should be 5:30. Furthermore, to accelerate, squad leaders cracked the whip in the first week. They made lots of rules; if we break the rules, we will get in trouble. For example, detention or confinement, doing the labor service while others are on the weekly leaves.
People always say doing military service is a waste of time, and I can’t agree more with job-seeking and relevant hard-skill. They want the trainees to become standardized robots. We all wear the same uniform, doing the same thing; all we need to do is absolutely obey the orders without critical thinking. To fulfill the tasks promptly and accurately, we are asked to be prepared and resilient. That means getting to the position 10 mins earlier and checking our equipment regularly if we want to go home on time. Looking back from now, it really benefits my working attitude. Another advantage is that we will think twice before doing everything; whether it is allowed or we got yelling.
Although it’s unbearable for most trainees to tolerate these nonsense rules, such as marching to the restaurant back and forth, halt, or pay attention for an hour, we must give up all the principles and values we had before. Lots of my cohorts felt sick and got constipated often because of stress and uncertainty. Under these strict circumstances, I developed the skill to explore, evaluate everything carefully to make my military life more interesting. Even with the dull tasks, I can still learn something from my peers. I realized the importance of exploring the game and always being curious.
Term 2: Before army physical fitness evaluation
One of the unique features of military service is that everyone is unique, with an extremely different education or cultural background. Some of them are hoodlums or gangsters, and others are scholars with the PhD. title. Because of this situation, some of the trainees were hostile to others because of unfamiliarity and self-value maintenance, provoking each other regularly. Although I didn’t get into the fights, my master’s degree interview pressure made me more stressed. However, I clearly understood that losing my temper to others has nothing helpful to ease my master application anxiety. I can separate my mental account.
Especially, term one is the most strict and intensive because all the commanders are also under pressure. Their stress is correlated to the pass rate of trainees’ army physical fitness evaluation. It brings out the common sense of the military journey: pressure is from top to down. If we can satisfy the squad leaders and satisfy platoon leaders, the commander will blame no one, and we can have better lives.
To make the tasks more efficient, I always observe commanders’ standards and the working style of every commander. Some leaders are more active; the trainee should prepare more to satisfy. On the other hand, others are more passive; we need to watch out not to cross his bottom line. Understand the reasoning behind every task and learn the social style of the task-giver.
Most of the orders are nothing helpful to my life. These orders include sweeping the leaves, cleaning the rifle for the whole day, or transporting the equipment back and forth; also, the class, like the bayonet drill, is just a waste of time. What’s worse, we can’t read books or memorize the vocabulary during “the class.” As a result, I always did them without focus and tried to minimize the energy I spent on these tedious tasks. However, when we are under physical training, I always do my best because I am responsible. For example, I will try to do more than the commander requests when doing the push-up and sit-up. When we are free, I will run laps to push myself to the limit because I clearly know I must be responsible for my fitness and can’t cheat. In the end, I got PR 96 of the battalion.
Term 3: After army physical fitness evaluation
After the physical fitness evaluation, I grabbed the chance to be the clerk assistant, helping the company commander’s office work. I benefited as a clerk assistant, such as reading my TOEFL test or novel or buying drinks from the supermarket. Also, because I worked for the company commander, I got the chance to leverage and make friends with other leaders and maintain good relationships with most squad leaders. In addition, when I finished the company commander’s work, I would also solve the problems of the leaders and observe their behaviors to know more about their personalities and social style. From then on, I took advantage of this privilege and saved a lot of time to read and learn instead of wasting my time.
Term 4: Solid friendship and leadership: Risk and Taking Back Control
In the last term, I made some trouble and pissed one of the squad leaders off. He always breaks his promise and deprives us of our free time. To fight for my rights, I argued and reasoned with him on stage. Even though I made him angry and almost got detained because I confronted him, I made this issue heated, and the company commander made the concession. Although I lost most of my privilege, I got some admiration from my peers. Interestingly, it’s also a demonstration that people are all linked together. When I help my peers, they will return me favor; when I help them get back control of our free time, they show me their respect. This relationship is the real brotherhood; when I am in trouble, they will lend me a hand; when the enemy attracts, we defend our land. We made this group became a team
This brotherhood is an unexpected return. At first, I thought I didn’t want to talk too much with my peers because I know it’s hard to communicate and persuade when we have significantly different cultural backgrounds. However, that is the reason why they are willing to make friends with me. I always listen to them and give them unbiased advice without judgment, and that’s the reason why they trust me, even though we are so different. I saw all walks of life from the same battalion, and I firmly believe every one has its merits that deserve us to appreciate and learn.
Summary
This military service experience gave me many precious opportunities; to adapt to the new strange environment and learn patriotism, to teamwork with different people, learn how to communicate and persuade my cohorts. After suffering from these challenges and difficulties, I got educated and bonded with my batch mates. Just as the saying goes, “The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.” This Military working experience is worthwhile.
In the end, let’s enjoy the Taiwan Nationalist Military song: 《I have a rifle》 Recall the memory of being a proud soldier!
