[Bugscratch]

Well today I got examined whether I'm physically able to do the mandatory military service for the German Army. The whole thing went for like 2 hours and they examined just about any part of my body. I'm not quite sure in what way the look and feel of my genitals influences my usefulness to the military.
Anyways the whole thing was pretty unnecessary since I won't do military service anyways. But every German male has to go through this examination at my age if he doesn't fall into some strange exception law (like having two older brothers that already did their military service. WTF ?)
After having been examined you have to do 10 months of military service, or you can request to be exempted and do some kind of social service instead, which is what I will do. If you want to do that, you have to write a several-page-essay detailing why you can't possibly ever use a weapon because of your ethical beliefs and add a curriculum vitae and submit a file from the police whether you commited any crimes. Talk about bureaucracy.
Well whatever, I just compensated for that crap by doing a relaxed multi-hour drawing session.

-bugscratch

[Ian]

Sheesh. It seems like the U.S. is the only country where you don't have to serve out of wartime drafts. (I guess we have no shortage of red knecks with their brains in their sack perfectly willing to "shoot one 'a' them full-ey-auto-matik-weeapons!!"

he he

in singapore you gotta join up when you graduate high school, (but i'm an ex-pat so it doesn't count fer me...)

peace, out.
ian



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One man's hill is another man's mountain.

MyHill

[faustgfx]

i didn't get examined or anything.

in fact the whole process went smooth and fast.

result, in 2 years from now, the military will put me through psychological evaluation and procedures.

i do not qualify to even clean their toilettes.



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sky high with a heartache of stone you never see me 'cos i'm always alone

[email protected] /
icq#35983387

[krefelder]

My host dad(I am living in Germany for right now on a foreign exchange) explained what they do for "military examinations". Sounds kind of brutal. I was also at the doctor today, and all I had to say when I came out to my host dad was "Dass tut weh. Nie wieder Michael, nie wieder." Worst experience of my life at a doctor. lol. Anyways, I guess I can kind of relate(except for getting the whole genital thing checked) about how bad doctor visits can be.

[edit]I can not spell german words =)[/edit]

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krefelder - [email protected]

[This message has been edited by krefelder (edited December 04, 2000).]

[A.Buttle]

That's ok, krefelder, I can't read German words.

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So...which part of "get out of town freak" weren't you clear on, John?

Joe Dillingham

[email protected]
Three Times A Day

[Bugscratch]

No matter whether anyone can read them or not, they were spelled correctly

Actually it was not that bad (well except for that genital thing). They kinda rushed me through. And they were actually quite friendly. I was done after two hours. My visit at the post office today was worse actually, since the employee was so dumb.

krefelder, what kind of doctor were you at, and where in Germany are you currently ? I never had any really bad experiences with German doctors yet. My father and my grandma told me that was different once, though

-bugscratch

[Enayla]

Eww... it's on days like these that I'm glad to be a girl, not a guy.

I honestly think that the military service of a good many countries is pretty screwed up. Sweden is just one of those countries.

I also find it... slightly unfair and cruel that men should be submitted to such... treatment (though THAT sounded pretty harsh! *laugh*) when women are let off the hook. Not that I'd want to do something like that myself, but still... It's not exactly equal treatment.

Anyway. I'm ranting. I'm tired. Sorry for taking up space

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���No, don't let them take me down there���

[Bugscratch]

Well is it equal treatment that women get pregnant have children and thus loose several years in which they could have studied / worked ? I think not, but you can't change it. Well at least that's the explanation you always get to hear in discussions about that subject. I haven't yet fully made my mind up about this. Actually I don't really care, because this gives me another year to work on my drawing skills so I can do a better portfolio for applying at the university. And I get to earn some money - well okay the amount is laughable (10 $ a day) but it's more than I have now .

-bugscratch

[cybergod]

!

[Bugscratch]

cybergod, you never stop to surprise me....

[Nex]

Had to go through the same procedure as you did Bugscratch.

The only error I made was that I missed the two months time you have to write those guys that you'd rather go to do social work. Actually they did not tell us that its only two months.

Well fact was one beautiful day the postman was standing at my door with the order to go to the army. No preparation, nothing. He just came there at 9:00 am, the letter said "..have to be there at 8:00am" so I was pretty pissed off. Then as I arrived there they drove me and others of my platoon to the worst swamp-corner of my country to undergo basic training -hooray.

The funny thing is I wrote in my papers that if I had to I would like to go to the technical divison (because I have a degree as engeneer) and they brought me to the national honor guard.
The only part of the army where they control if your shoes shine like new after a day of combat training and where you have to do twice the shit that everyone else has to because you are supposed to be a role model for all other companies.

What did I learn there: its possible to have superiors that are way dumber than I am.

socks stink after 50 kilometers of marchiong in heavy terrain.

its cold in a tent even when the iron oven inside is glowing red.

Corporals are dumber than sheep.

you don't get air with the gas mask on your face, especially when you have to run long distances with it.

an anti tank weapon makes hell of a noise, especially when you have your ears pressed on it.

Hand grenades do NOT blow buildings up like in movies

I can eat my lunch in 5 minutes

don't think, we think for you.

shooting is easier than thinking

the army sucks, the army sucks the army FUCKING SUCKS!!!

When I see one of those bastards I always have to laugh. They are so dumb that its funny already... if it were not more sad than funny. Those people will take over in a life-threatening situation .. feel so secure now that I know them :/

[This message has been edited by Nex (edited December 04, 2000).]

[krefelder]

Bugscratch: Right now I am living in Krefeld, it's right by Dusseldorf and K�ln. I went to a throat/chest specialist. I have never had an ultrasound(yes, an ultrasound) before, but I just had one on my face cheeks done today. Was rather quite interesting, but the rest was kind of painful. My host father said he wasn't the gentilest(i can't spell english words anymore) doctor in the world, but that he is good.

He's just not for me ever again =P I was in the Eifel(In Adenau), and I had to go to a doctor there because i ripped up half oy my leg, and needed to see if I did any other damage(i.e. fracture etc..). The doctor there was good, but not the nurse. But I guess you can't be happy everywhere.

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krefelder - [email protected]

[Enayla]

Naw, true... maybe it's not fair that women have to carry children, either.

On the other hand, we /choose/ to carry children. And as most women will ascertain, this is NOT an entirely bad thing. Many women live their entire lives in an eternal longing for children (I do NOT count myself one of them).

And the fact that it's us women who get to carry the children often makes sure that if there's a fight after a divorce about who gets custody... women often come out as winners. It also encertains a lot of other stuff. And if we're going into genetic stuff... heh... Isn't it kinda unfair that men get bald?

Nah, what I mean to say is that getting children is a genetic thing. Nothing decided by the state or anything like that, but a thing that is genetic. Being /forced/ to join the army, however... that is something that hasn't got to do with genetics, but with laws.

I'm rambling now. Sorry. I'll shut up

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���No, don't let them take me down there���

[[Shizo]]

haahhaa HA AHAAA HAAAA!!!! *laffs at everyone*

"kind of brutal" Bah you! The most brutal and harsh army is in the Soviet Union!! Harsh enough for my dad to move to US illegaly living here for 8 years ONLY to get a right to call my brother over, and after 3 more years call me over.. not legally either HAR HAR HAR!!
Anyways i'l be legal in a year or two, What i mean is, you DONT want to go to a russian army.

(well ok you can survive on a rare occasion.. my older cousin went for 3 years but he was a sports/yoga/swimmer kind of guy)

It did change him completely though

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Nothing really matters to me

[Spitfire]

It still makes me wonder if women joining up also get a ful cavity search.

[Ian]

by "certified officials" of course.

not dumb ass corporals.

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One man's hill is another man's mountain.
Stumble upon my Web Page...

[Enayla]

Heh... I would /never/ join up. I mean, seriously... *shakes head* Ick, ick... I'm just saying I think it is cruel that men has to.

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���No, don't let them take me down there���

[Bugscratch]

Nex, we had a similar case here, a guy forgot to send the army the confirmation that he was still going to school so one day while he was lying at the beach with some friends he got a call on his mobile phone that he has to get to his base ASAP

Enayla, right, but you could say that only men have to go to the army to compensate for the genetic differences that gives them the passive role in carrying the children (well not that passive but whatever ). But as I said I haven't made my mind up about that yet.
But I have a tendency against forcing men into the army. But that is not really our politicians fault, it's actually a relic from World War II. As far as I know in surrendering we got permission to have an army that is a few hundred thousand people max. By having every man in the army for 10 months, we have a lot more men trained to be soldiers than those that are actually employed as full-time soldiers. So in case of a war you just have to give them a weapon and they can fight. So our army is actually bigger than it seems.
I think having that big a reserve is unnecessary though. We live in a pretty peaceful time so I think we could just as well switch to an army model where we have a few permanent soldiers.

-bugscratch