Boy Twenty-Two: A Foot Soldier

Near my hospital there are five military camps. They are so called three armies joint operations training base. To those boys unwillingly conscribed here, 恆春 doesn't represent a fun, sunny, scenic town. Instead, their traces left here are enormous sweats under the cruel sun, blood loss from snake and insect bites and vehicles crushing, and tears of missing family and girlfriends.

And one day, a foot soldier was admitted to our hospital due to fever and conscious change, which wasn't news at all-- in the burning summer, wearing a whole-body-tight suite, carrying heavy stuff, drinking little water, acquiring little rest, many soldier were sent to our ER or admitted directly, mostly due to the sequelae of heat stroke. I introduced myself to him. Wearing a white coat might add some awesome dignity on me, or he was himself a talkative and friendly person; anyway, he let me know his stories.

The picture above is just what he does every day. He takes charge of the vehicle repair and maintenance. There are frequent supervising and checks from the superiors, so he has to be quite careful and cautious in performing his work. His family background is rather wealthy and renders him carefree. Hence, before he entered the army, he weighted more than 90 kg. But during 37 days of newcomers' training camp, he lost 12 kg. And now, he is 70 kg only. Then we may guess the price he's payed.

In the newcomer's training base, he shed tears every night as each of his comrades did he noted. Too painful and harsh for any individual outside the abnormally unhealthy military ecology. Though getting used to it step by step, ahead of me when seeing me so liberal, he could not but admire me. "How much I want to be like you."

The foot soldier's military life ain't that smooth or, worth memorizing, according to him. He got ill and was sent to the medical unit more frequently than his comrades did, who therefore murmured at him for this sake. They thought he was a lazy excuse-finder. If to find some reason to explain his weak physical condition in spite of his strong body, possibly he lost weight too much too soon beforewards. But I can't justify it shortly, either. He said, he had nothing to do with it.

Though gaining little friendship from peers, he recurs his mental support from his wife-to-be and their baby who will be delivered this October. He told me, his girlfriend accepted his offer of marriage because he became so slim~ unexpected gains from military life! However, he didn't know any public telephone in his camp, for as a foot soldier the activity range was quite restricted and limited. Besides, he wasn't legally allowed to bring his mobile phone to the camp. Therefore, when he missed his lovers, he had to pay a bill for communication borrowing the superior's cellphone. Oops. Then, I availed myself by telling him the location of the three public phones inside the camp. Why do I know? Because I rode my scooter many times circling their camp. Ain't it ironic?
The foot soldier is one year younger than me. However, he has experienced much more than me, I think. Especially in the regard of the mysterious darkness in military culture and humanity ugliness. For all that, after the obligatory service, his life has been well settled down. He has his professional skill, his father offers him an agreeable job, and he has his own small family, everything....all he wishes every day is to finish the damn reluctant service.

Almost forgot to mention his illness and stay in the hospital. Because our hospital isn't a military one, he had to pay for himself. His fever subsided soon two days after admission, while due to the side effects of the antibiotic he took, he suffered from serious diarrhea unfortunately and took no diet for six consecutive days, until we found out the etiology and took away the antibiotic. Besides, when he arrived at the hospital, he lost his consciousness, and no clothes including underwear were taken with him. Bad luck, no clean clothes to change. Whats' worse, because he had an IV site at his wrist and he was alarmed not to dampen it, he had no bath at all during these first six days. He told me, this was his most ever uncomfortable and embarrassing hospitalization experience in life.
I ain't clear myself what kinda emotions I reflected on the foot soldier. A doctor towards a patient? An elder brother to the younger? Or a comrade compassion, nay, anything else? But I did deeply sympathize with him. In his stay in our hospital, I thought of many ways helping him deal with the living trifles. I listened to his complaints in the camp attentively. That's a whole strange world to me. "Do you think this year's military experience worthwhile?" He resolutely replied no. "Is there anything having you reluctant to part with in this obligatory service?" Nil, either.

Oh~ The foot soldier, we all used to be young promsing innocent boys. How come you suffered so much more than I did in this year? In front of him I felt so sorry.