I thought I've escaped but they found me, and so my ten years begin. It's not too bad, I'll say of all the places I could have gone, this is probably the best. So that much I'm thankful.
The two weeks were a nice throwback to the old times. Better still, the privileges are even better than the old times so it's truly reliving only the best moments and not the bad ones heh.
Many things have not changed, but at the same time many things have. In particular, I appreciated the shift in attitudes towards things like safety and welfare.
I have always felt that terror was not the way to go about enforcing discipline. There are times standards may need to be set and discipline needs to be meted out, but it should be measured and reasonable. That said, a good leader would know how to inspire others to give of their best. It was what I did in the past, and I don't think I did any lesser of a job in training soldiers than the trainers who often went overboard.
I don't know if it was just the coy I was at, or certain individuals who had a strong influence on the culture, but I've seen more of this now compared to the past. And that's a good thing.
People like to say, 'back in my days things were worse...', sure. I probably went through much greater hell than any of these current cadets ever will. My predecessors would have faced worse than I did. The fact that cadets 'have it easy' nowadays is a good thing. Why should enlisting, the two years of forcibly having your 'freedom' robbed from you be made even worse? We should not glorify making people's lives miserable. This change is progress.
I think it's not a great environment when the thing every single person looked forward to every week was to get out. Getting out earlier was a reward, and staying in longer is a punishment. I remember times when I felt terrible every Sunday because of book in. But there were also times I didn't feel that way, because it life inside wasn't all that bad. And I hope the cadets get this experience. It still won't feel amazing because you still are forced to be there, doing things you don't even want to do. But it won't feel horrible.
Similar things I've observed about safety. It used to be a bit of a joke. Now it's taken more seriously, and the current practices also seem to make more sense than the old ones. It's good progress.
All in all, this was a good experience. A nice throwback, I might even say I enjoyed it if not for the fact that unfortunately things outside don't stop while I'm in camp - playing catch up is not fun hah.
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