-{SpoonmaN}-

Right I've been off-forum for a while because I was swamped with my final exams at high school, so this is my frist post in a while, I'm sure everyone, especially my adversaries on the women in combat threads, really missed me.
Anyway I'm planning on joining the Australian Army Reserve in june and I was hoping to get as much first hand knoweledge on Army life and culture as I can. I know to expect long periods of boredom punctuated by physical distress, but I was wondering exactly how much I should be prepared for any bullying or harassment (I'm a white male so I guess gender and race wont be too much of an issue with predjudiced soldiers). I'd also like to know how much of a hard time I'm likely to get from my instructors (I'm not worried about this so much, but you never really hear about the psychological conditioning they do these days, especially in those stupid ads). I'm going to be working on my physical fitness pretty hard for the next 6 months, so I shouldn't have any trouble passing those tests (I'm not planning on going into SF) and I understand there's room for more recruits in the 5/6th Victorians (My local reserve infantry unit), so I have somewhere to go. I'd also like to know if its possible to volunteer for missions that aren't involving your reserve unit (Say operation Catalyst), or do you have to be in the regular Army to do that?
Any help would be much obliged. I've noticed all you Military people really do enjoy giving people the cold hard facts on a soldier's life so I figured this forum was a good bet.

Bluesman

I really think (and hope, because I don't have first-hand knowledge of Aussie Army life) that you're buying into a 'movie' version of military life. There will be tough guys all up in your grille during training, but there probably isn't going to be any sadism in it. Bullying and harassment as depicted in pop culture views of army life really isn't there on anything but an individual basis, and is not usually condoned. Actually, it's punished in most cases.

But the finer distinctions may be lost on you as you're being trained VERY hard by some motivated and pretty scary tough guys. But keep this in mind: they're not trying to make you fail (which is what a bully would be doing). They're trying to help you succeed. One of the things that will be insisted on you learning is TEAMWORK. If you and your mates cannot demonstrate that you can work as a team, whoever is the cause of the failure will be removed. So, ALWAYS think in those terms when you're training.

Military life IS hard, and sometimes the thought will occur to you that you are meeting the very best and the very worst people you've ever known, all at the same time and in the same place. Also, put away the concept of FAIR. The 'F-word' no longer applies; it's now all about the welfare and success of the group.

I congratulate you on your choice, and wish you all the best in the pursuit. Start toughening up RIGHT NOW. Long runs, better diet, calesthenics. And my personal secret for getting through basic training with minimal heartache: LISTEN to the instructors, and get everything on the first pass. I did something as simple as changing the side on which I was walking across the parade field with my instructor (juniors walk to the left of superior rank), and he noticed and commented on it. It's the guys that need constant reinforcement and correction that have unwanted attention from the instructors.

And finally, my own personal favorite advice to ANY new military person: DON'T LIE. Your integrity and honor are your most important assets, so keep 'em cleaner than your rifle. Guard them jealously, and take it personally if anybody questions either. Never give anybody a reason to question them. Insist that your integrity and honor be respected.

Good luck, mate.

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"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it, and if one finds the prospect of a long war intolerable, it is natural to disbelieve in the possibility of victory."
- George Orwell

dave angel

enjoy it, enjoy the process of learning and don't worry too much about the shouting and screaming or the getting you out of bed at 3am to clean the block. its only for effect and if you can't handle being shouted at, then central Iraq probably isn't for you.

remember, at days end - or 4am - skin is waterproof and they can't kill you or make you pregnant.

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before criticizing someone, walk a mile in their shoes.................... then when you do criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

lemontree

Bluesman,
That was a very good and motivating pep talk for the youngster. But I wonder why do we still follow this old custom of walking on the left of senior officers and ladies even when we have stopped wearing the sword.

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Cheers!...on the rocks!!

Bluesman

Because the military mind tends toward the conservative, and we are VERY jealous of our perogatives and priveleges - even when they cease to have practical meaning.

'Hidebound', is the phrase, I believe.