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EWRT1A

Hung Le

Essay #1

German Army or Community Service?

Growing up in Germany had its difficulties and challenges. Especially as an Asian, I sometimes

wasnt able to fit in, I felt left out, or I was treated like an outcast. However, while growing up

Ive overcome most of these challenges and Ive come to have a childhood, which makes me

able to say that I dont regret a lot during these years. Sure there are times that one wishes that

things would have gone differently or one would wish to rewind and remake a decision that

seems not so favorable after all. Well, looking at the big picture, my childhood could have been

better, but it could have been way worse than it was. At the age of 19, I was once again faced

with a major decision that would have a great impact on my life. Being 18 years old, male

citizens have to fulfill a social obligation to their country in Germany. Either I could write a

letter and explain why Im not able to pick up a weapon and defend my country or I joined the

German army for nine months and fulfill my mandatory obligations towards my country. Of

course, I didnt want to regret my decision once I made it and so this was something that

required me to do a lot of thinking. After a lot of thinking I decided to join the army, because I

wanted to experience something new and exciting. Knowing my own reasons, Ive always

wondered why others would choose the army over community services; is it for the fun and the

action they hope for, maybe its because they hope to engage in a career in the army and

support their family or maybe its just because they feel obligated to give something back to the

country that has given us so much.

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Looking back at my time in the army, I must say that it was an experience that was

enjoyable enough to get adolescents to join just to experience what I did. Of course it was hard

in the beginning to get used to the schedule that was forced on us during boot camp. Every

morning we had to undergo the same routine. We would wake up at 4.30 AM to get ready and

then head over to the cafeteria at 5.30 AM to have breakfast. At 6.30 AM we had to clean the

dorms until 7.30 AM and after that we would start our lectures on strategies, weapons, first-

aid, behavior during bio-hazardous attacks, etc. In the afternoon, we had practical training

outside, which for example would mean assemble and disassemble our weapons repetitively

until we could do it blindfolded under extreme conditions. Of course training and lecture would

always be different, but we would have leisure time after dinner which was at 5 PM. At 9.45 PM

we had to gather again to once again clean the dorms until 10.45 PM and we were able to go to

sleep, just to wake up at 4.30 AM again and engage on another day. I never knew that a day

could be that long and that one could be that tired at the end of the day until I lived this way for

three months. However, after two weeks everyone got used to this schedule and we enjoyed

ourselves doing our routines. We would look up what was scheduled for the next day and

actually we would look forward to training. For instance, one evening we looked at the plan for

the next day and we realized that we were going to practice shooting with the heavy machine

gun MG3, which was used during WWII. After reading our schedule everyone was excited and if

we hadnt been so tired from the day before we probably couldnt have slept that night

because of our excitement to shoot a gun that could literally break your shoulder just with its

recoil.

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Even though I and most of the friends that Ive made during boot camp enjoyed our

time there, not all of the soldiers joined for fun and action. The pay wasnt that good as a

soldier, who just fulfilled his mandatory obligation. However, if you signed a contract to serve

for several years or even to become a soldier until retirement age, the wage was high enough

to support a family and live a little bit above average. I myself debated whether I should have

stayed and pursue a career in the military; however my urge to come California was stronger

than my motivation to become an officer in the German army. While I was thinking about

becoming an officer, I realized that this was another reason for others to join or stay in the

army. All the benefits that one would have were astonishing. For example, the tuitions for

whichever major one wanted to study were being taken care of and apart from that every

soldier had the possibility to be funded up to 5000 Euro to broaden his horizon. This would that

if you wanted to learn how to fly a plane or a helicopter, or if you wanted to learn new

languages, or even if you wanted to acquire computer skills or other skills, the army would pay

up to 5000 Euro. Another benefit was that the half of the rent was being taken care of and the

army would pay for food, clothing and even commute. I heard a lot of stories of soldiers

quitting the army after 23 months and having saved up to 20,000 Euro. This is a lot for a 21 year

old, especially one who lives in Germany where the economical situation is not that great right

now.

One more reason that I came up with why one would join the army was to pay back

ones dues to this great country that has givenso much. I use the phrase came up because in

the beginning I just felt that joining the army was just some sort of rite of passage. However

during the first week in boot camp, my officer in charge of the barracks gave a speech which

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was very inspiring to me. He mentioned countries where education wasnt something that you

could just expect, but a luxury, where health care was something unknown to the natives,

where three meals a day was not something everyone could afford. Hearing all this made me

realize how fortunate I was being born into a society that has the luxury to care about

education, health care and many other things. I realized that this country has given me so much

since I grew up that I had to give something back and Im pretty sure that a lot of my comrades

felt the same way I did that day.

All in all, there are many reasons why one could choose the army over community

services in Germany. Mine were that I wanted to challenge myself and see where my limits lie, I

wanted to experience something new, and I wanted to give something back to Germany. I know

that I could have showed my gratefulness by doing community service, but the mandatory

community service has deteriorated to a state, where one would just sit around lazy watching

TV or play foosball with their coworkers. So, Ive never regret my decision and I feel proud that I

was able to give something back to the country that has given me education and therefore the

chance to do anything I want with my life.