Can say directly, so
My uncle told me officers have to do their reservice till the age of 50, and he said in our age (18) everyone would all be gunning for it but everyone regrets later on when they enter their midlife.
Let us assume, just for arguments sake, that I am eligible for command school, though much qualifications have to be put in place because Im not cut out to be a leader and I detest leading people. The benefits are immediate: higher pay, prestige, better living conditions and so on. The drawbacks: longer reservice term, job stress, perhaps less free time. Comparing tit for tat it's easy to see why we're all attracted to becoming commanders.
Comparing tit for tat though, we also see 1 group of tangibles and another group of intangibles. The benefits appeal to many simply because they are attributes that we can all relate to: $900 per month (and thats alot, considering the fact that much of your expenditure would be taken care of), people saluting and looking up to you, etc. To many of us reared up in an environment in which we have been fundamentally induced to chase after such tangibles, a beeline toward that golden pot of honey would be the only plausible course of action to take.
On the other hand, we may feel less inclined to attatch much significance toward things that are in indiscernible, grey areas. A longer reservice term-- who cares, might as well just gun for it right now and enjoy the moment. Job stress-- arent we all used to it already. Less free time-- yes we are used to that too. Very frequently these are the things--the intagibles-- that we fail to spot in the present and serve to regret in the future.
For me personally, the decision lies on whether a rifleman is a 9 to 5 job. If it is, Im definitely going to opt out of the top echelon. It doesnt matter if my peers would be earning thrice as much as me, and it doesnt matter if theyre going to get a better cv, because I value my free time so much more than anything else.
***
Anyway, such considerations aside--and they would remain merely as useless thoughts because ultimately we dont have the final say--, life has been pretty ok. The previous posts were done against the system itself, but in terms of my unit, my section, I havent got any complaints. In fact I count myself quite lucky because I've landed myself in--I would say-- the best section in the platoon. We've got extremely fit people, we've got extremely lively jokers. The only thing is theyre all english speaking people, and I dont really appreciate their kind of humour. As a matter of fact I find it an abstract heap of rubbish one is forced to keep in a beautiful container.
It strikes me that I havent had a decent break for 2 years already, a decent break meaning a period of time in which one is free to pursue what one desires, to the point of saturation where one desires to return back to a structured life which would be, in this context, school. In the past I could live with it because there was always innocent friends sharing innocent times together. Now we're not that innocent anymore, now we're not ignorant people. Knowledge and thought depresses the individual at the same time they liberate him, and a keener awareness of the universe brings about a dimmer appreciation of the lights beside you.
Let us assume, just for arguments sake, that I am eligible for command school, though much qualifications have to be put in place because Im not cut out to be a leader and I detest leading people. The benefits are immediate: higher pay, prestige, better living conditions and so on. The drawbacks: longer reservice term, job stress, perhaps less free time. Comparing tit for tat it's easy to see why we're all attracted to becoming commanders.
Comparing tit for tat though, we also see 1 group of tangibles and another group of intangibles. The benefits appeal to many simply because they are attributes that we can all relate to: $900 per month (and thats alot, considering the fact that much of your expenditure would be taken care of), people saluting and looking up to you, etc. To many of us reared up in an environment in which we have been fundamentally induced to chase after such tangibles, a beeline toward that golden pot of honey would be the only plausible course of action to take.
On the other hand, we may feel less inclined to attatch much significance toward things that are in indiscernible, grey areas. A longer reservice term-- who cares, might as well just gun for it right now and enjoy the moment. Job stress-- arent we all used to it already. Less free time-- yes we are used to that too. Very frequently these are the things--the intagibles-- that we fail to spot in the present and serve to regret in the future.
For me personally, the decision lies on whether a rifleman is a 9 to 5 job. If it is, Im definitely going to opt out of the top echelon. It doesnt matter if my peers would be earning thrice as much as me, and it doesnt matter if theyre going to get a better cv, because I value my free time so much more than anything else.
***
Anyway, such considerations aside--and they would remain merely as useless thoughts because ultimately we dont have the final say--, life has been pretty ok. The previous posts were done against the system itself, but in terms of my unit, my section, I havent got any complaints. In fact I count myself quite lucky because I've landed myself in--I would say-- the best section in the platoon. We've got extremely fit people, we've got extremely lively jokers. The only thing is theyre all english speaking people, and I dont really appreciate their kind of humour. As a matter of fact I find it an abstract heap of rubbish one is forced to keep in a beautiful container.
It strikes me that I havent had a decent break for 2 years already, a decent break meaning a period of time in which one is free to pursue what one desires, to the point of saturation where one desires to return back to a structured life which would be, in this context, school. In the past I could live with it because there was always innocent friends sharing innocent times together. Now we're not that innocent anymore, now we're not ignorant people. Knowledge and thought depresses the individual at the same time they liberate him, and a keener awareness of the universe brings about a dimmer appreciation of the lights beside you.
1 Comments:
but aren't you english-speaking yourself
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