Old Soldier
I can't speak for others, but I really think that youngsters' today have it lucky. Not in everything necessarily, nor everywhere, but I know that in the military camp I got to, they are real pampered babies. I'm a military man, not harsh, at least that's what I think since others aren't really affected by me too much. I've only ever frightened the shit out of a recruit once, and that too was when he went to the toilet at night and saw me there. Kid looked like he'd prematurely pissed his pants. But that's not why I'm writing this, it's about today's youngsters.
They haven't had to endure what we oldies went through. Which in part is good, I don't think any father wants their sons and daughters to go through the sufferings they went through. We always want better future for our children. But that doesn't mean we want them to lose their values. One time I shouted at a Private because he hadn't locked an important room. He had the cheek to turn and walk away, while I was shouting at him. I suspected that I was soft-spoken, but jeez...
Shortly after I'd become a Sergeant, I had very good times. Possibly the best I'd experienced since. I'd got married, was expecting a child of my own, and had a wonderful section under my command. Everyone close to me was a wonderful person, one I respected, and still respect, more than anyone else. Work keeps me away from home you see, so having a shitty section is bad for health. We weren't on the frontlines of combat, so we spent most of our time in bunk sleeping or entertaining ourselves. I still see some of the guys now and then. We're no longer together, and I can tell that for them, it's not the same. Those I see all share the same look of... stress? I guess? Like they're constantly burdened. Hell if I know what's up with that.
Back to the youth, and really the point I'm writing this. Last week was an important one for most of the new guys. They would have their first simulated training. It's not as dangerous as it used to be, but if you screw up you can get severely injured. And that's what happened. One of the guys was scaling 3m wall, normally done one at a time so no one else would be injured if someone fell, apart from the guy who fell of course, when some idiot decided it would be a great idea to tail his friend. Maybe he wanted to get it over with quick. Maybe he saw that the sergeant supervising was out of his head and simply standing there like a blur idiot (and of course, he was young). Whatever the case, he grabbed the rope, it pulled taut, and both guys fell.
An important thing to note is that when climbing the wall, you have all your gear on. Your rifle, load bearing vest and everything else. So if you're under someone with all that weight, you'd practically be crushed by around 80 kilos of weight, if the guy is light. And that's what happened. I wasn't close by, but could see it and.... it was not pretty. Luckily a junior I knew (we were in the same bunk), was close and quickly separated them. He rushed through first aid for both of them. Quick thinking on his part. The scrawny sergeant to the side was panicking and honestly, I couldn't blame him. I'd actually gone through a similar incident once, but I dived under the guy who fell to cushion his fall. That saved him from breaking his neck, and I guessed that's what happened.
I saw my junior scolding the 2 guys a few days later. They looked ashamed, but what I didn't expect was to see my junior on the verge of tears. Sure they'd sustained injuries, but they were alive and well...or okay at least. Dude looked like he thought they were dead. He was a weird fellow though. He'd actually been beside me when I dived under a guy who fell from the wall 20 years ago. Back when we still had to do that shit. I guess he was traumatized since then. To be fair I haven't felt the same way since that day. Nor my family for that matter. They seem more...withdrawn. Even my son, though he was just a little boy at the time. Til now, he barely acknowledges my presence, though when he was young he'd wave at and hug me. Ah well.