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I just remembered one of the weirdest things.. I was in the service and it was one of those times when you were beyond tired, not thinking clear anymore but it was still awesome (afterwards). At this point, I was in the leader training part, because all leaders go through this long course they complete and after that they train their own guys from their first day - the war time troops, for themselves. But this was during the course, and one of the final combat camps, the ones that really put you on a test, mostly mentally. The idea was to test your skills and if you learned the necessary stuff. Basically the idea was to break you mentally with the elements; weather, lack of food/nutrition and lack of sleep. The usual.
We were on maybe our 3rd or 4th day of the camp and it was one of them combat camps, meaning you are simulating an enemy at all times, no break. It is 'as if' 24/7 so you act accordingly, mostly meaning crap because you'd eat in a bush that is in a ditch that stank like ass, but maybe it was you stinking because the last time you took a shower was over a week ago.
So we were completing some objective, maybe establishing communication lines or something, it was a cold summer morning, maybe 3AM, super tired, carrying all this stuff, trying to move fast and all that stuff, when we just decided to take a cigarette break. At this point it was OK because we were all peers, and took turns leading by the day, so no one would give any **** for it. Once you sat down, it was difficult to get up, and you couldn't take your boots off because if you did that, you wouldn't put them back on.
So, we just smoked some and it was all quiet. It was so beautiful, in the middle of nowhere, in these woods, it was a bit foggy and cold, and it occured to me that I had lost track where we were on the map. I was just walking and showing the way and 'navigating' like an ass as in 'I'll check the map every 30 minutes or so'. I just didn't care, as long as we were going to the main direction and avoiding fields and open places like that, and that the cable was going OK.
So we sat there, no one said anything, until someone started smiling. I thought great, that guy is going insane. Then he said 'It's a new morning and a great way to start the new day!'. He was like happy and stuff. IT seemed unreal, a new day, you mean we slept like normal people in between?
What you need to understand that doing drills the whole combat camp thing in the woods, ... it's physically pretty demanding, because you get tired outside. All the activities pretty much suck up energy in heaps, and when you go 24/7 style, you're going to be out of it in the beginning of the third, even if you got few hours sleep in between, epecially if you're hauling ass half the time and lacking food. It's something you realize when you're doing it, so you can't know if you haven't done it. It's beyond tired, and beyond that beyond.
So the dude threw a nice joke to begin the morning. I was worried that some of the guys who were protesting earlier would go and kick his ass for the stupid joke but instead, everyone just started laughing. We were going to the firm direction of mild and temporary insanity. Then I said 'I think we're lost'. That was even funnier. We laughed our asses off. 'I think I can find us pretty soon, we're in this general area so give me half an hour and I'll find our precise location'. And I did. After I did, I said 'I'm estimating another 3 or 4 hours if we are fast, so that would be 4 to 5 hours in our pace'. Everyone thought it was the funniest and laughed. People were dropping to the ground laughing.
'So.. that means we're going to miss the breakfast. I mean the breakfast that WOULD be there if the enemy we IMAGINE wouldn't have cut off the support we also imagine being there'. Comedy gold.
It occured to us that we are seriously depleted and someone could be injured easily by an accident, but the actual situation of it also was funny, so we just tried our best to be OK and that was also hilarious.
When we finally got to our destination, after hours of weirdness, an officer there said we need to go back to our own camp, and fast, and that they thought we were lost and had searched the nearby area earlier that morning and were about to launch a bigger search operation. He was pretty pissed off, and said why we didn't answer the radio, but we ran out of the battery a long long time ago so we laughed at him and ordered us to sleep.
Doesn't sound funny but it was one of the great memories (afterwards).
There are of course tons more interesting, like the time I barged into a tent to find out where I was, only to find out I didn't know any of the guys and they had yellow ribbons, meaning they were the enemy. They were pretty much like wtf because I woke them up so I just casually let them knwo they are now prisoners. They obeyed. What a bunch of tools, I accidentally wandered into their positions and took a whole group as prisoners, they could have just told no, **** you, you are our prisoner, idiot. That's what I used to do, I said **** you, I'm not your prisoner, make me come with you and I'll **** you up. So I never was a prisoner.
We were on maybe our 3rd or 4th day of the camp and it was one of them combat camps, meaning you are simulating an enemy at all times, no break. It is 'as if' 24/7 so you act accordingly, mostly meaning crap because you'd eat in a bush that is in a ditch that stank like ass, but maybe it was you stinking because the last time you took a shower was over a week ago.
So we were completing some objective, maybe establishing communication lines or something, it was a cold summer morning, maybe 3AM, super tired, carrying all this stuff, trying to move fast and all that stuff, when we just decided to take a cigarette break. At this point it was OK because we were all peers, and took turns leading by the day, so no one would give any **** for it. Once you sat down, it was difficult to get up, and you couldn't take your boots off because if you did that, you wouldn't put them back on.
So, we just smoked some and it was all quiet. It was so beautiful, in the middle of nowhere, in these woods, it was a bit foggy and cold, and it occured to me that I had lost track where we were on the map. I was just walking and showing the way and 'navigating' like an ass as in 'I'll check the map every 30 minutes or so'. I just didn't care, as long as we were going to the main direction and avoiding fields and open places like that, and that the cable was going OK.
So we sat there, no one said anything, until someone started smiling. I thought great, that guy is going insane. Then he said 'It's a new morning and a great way to start the new day!'. He was like happy and stuff. IT seemed unreal, a new day, you mean we slept like normal people in between?
What you need to understand that doing drills the whole combat camp thing in the woods, ... it's physically pretty demanding, because you get tired outside. All the activities pretty much suck up energy in heaps, and when you go 24/7 style, you're going to be out of it in the beginning of the third, even if you got few hours sleep in between, epecially if you're hauling ass half the time and lacking food. It's something you realize when you're doing it, so you can't know if you haven't done it. It's beyond tired, and beyond that beyond.
So the dude threw a nice joke to begin the morning. I was worried that some of the guys who were protesting earlier would go and kick his ass for the stupid joke but instead, everyone just started laughing. We were going to the firm direction of mild and temporary insanity. Then I said 'I think we're lost'. That was even funnier. We laughed our asses off. 'I think I can find us pretty soon, we're in this general area so give me half an hour and I'll find our precise location'. And I did. After I did, I said 'I'm estimating another 3 or 4 hours if we are fast, so that would be 4 to 5 hours in our pace'. Everyone thought it was the funniest and laughed. People were dropping to the ground laughing.
'So.. that means we're going to miss the breakfast. I mean the breakfast that WOULD be there if the enemy we IMAGINE wouldn't have cut off the support we also imagine being there'. Comedy gold.
It occured to us that we are seriously depleted and someone could be injured easily by an accident, but the actual situation of it also was funny, so we just tried our best to be OK and that was also hilarious.
When we finally got to our destination, after hours of weirdness, an officer there said we need to go back to our own camp, and fast, and that they thought we were lost and had searched the nearby area earlier that morning and were about to launch a bigger search operation. He was pretty pissed off, and said why we didn't answer the radio, but we ran out of the battery a long long time ago so we laughed at him and ordered us to sleep.
Doesn't sound funny but it was one of the great memories (afterwards).
There are of course tons more interesting, like the time I barged into a tent to find out where I was, only to find out I didn't know any of the guys and they had yellow ribbons, meaning they were the enemy. They were pretty much like wtf because I woke them up so I just casually let them knwo they are now prisoners. They obeyed. What a bunch of tools, I accidentally wandered into their positions and took a whole group as prisoners, they could have just told no, **** you, you are our prisoner, idiot. That's what I used to do, I said **** you, I'm not your prisoner, make me come with you and I'll **** you up. So I never was a prisoner.
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