Taste of the Army

I remember the day I went to Girifushi for Basic Army Training. There were four guys with an ‘A’ level qualification and I, being one of them, was put in charge of one of the platoons – Mike Platoon to be exact. I remember thinking I was in over my head as I listened to the guys and girls in my platoon bitching and whining about not being fit enough to handle the training. The problem was that there was nobody to whom I could whine and bitch to. I did not know any of these guys with whom I would be spending the next few months in very extreme conditions. My friends with whom I had been recruited had already finished their training. I had lost out because I had gone to serve on an island.

I did know some people. There was one guy who had served on that island with me. There was another who had been drafted with me and there was one who had been a classmate. Of course they all were in different platoons and I was stuck with strangers. Before heading off to Girifushi I had been on my knuckles a few times. I was not looking to score any points with the platoon leaders on training officers. I just wanted to get there, do my thing and come home. That was my attitude to everything undesirable, I suppose. When I was drafted, I remember thinking I had to serve four years which was my bond and then I could get out.

So off I went to four weeks of extremes that I would rather not get into. Even if I wanted to I don’t really remember much except that I was more tired and exhausted than I had ever been in my life.

There are some things that do stand out. Like being taught how to eat (to army standards!!) there was a particular way of holding the knife and fork and spoon. Also all the food had to be consumed no matter what it was and no matter how much they put on the plate. And it had to happen in a set time of about ten minutes or sometimes even shorter period of time.

The first thing I did when I finished that training was revert back to how I was before. I stopped holding my cutlery in army standard and just used them in any way else I could. I took my time eating, savouring every single taste that could come out of the food and delicacies that I had to consume.

I am still trying to make up for that time when I missed putting my sense of taste to its fullest use. I take my time and often am not even halfway through my meal when my wife finishes and puts her fork down.