Life during wartime
I’ve always been fascinated by the military. Well, not always. In fact, when I was younger I was bored senseless by it. I couldn’t stand war films, war comics, or anything war related. The only exception was war in space. I loved laser guns and watching aliens die.
And then, at some point, my attitude changed. After all, nobody can deny that war is a phenomenon worth pondering, given that humans like killing each other so much.
Suddenly too I found that I admired military people. I was jealous of their ability to rise early, keep their hair short, and submit to external authority. Bohemianism is overrated: disciplined habits can help a man progress in life.
In Russia I often encountered soldiers. In the 1990s I’d see young conscripts on the street, begging for roubles. I thought they did this because their wages were so low they were starving to death. Later I realized they’d been sent out to get cash by their dedushkas- second year conscripts- on pain of brutal hazing. Then there were the mangled veterans of Afghanistan and Chechnya begging on the metro…
Those were depressing encounters. More cheerful were my meetings with two former Red Army officers who had been given the task of sitting in a remote bunker waiting for the phone call instructing them to initiate nuclear apocalypse. Both men were pretty sanguine about the experience. Upon leaving the army, one had founded his own business, while the other had become one of two priests in the service of Vissarion Christ, the notorious Siberian messiah. Military discipline had helped both rise to the top in their second careers.
In Texas, I likewise meet military people constantly. It helps that I live close to Fort Hood, the biggest army base in America. It also helps that the US army, like the Red Army, is enormous. It even has its own TV channel, which is full of lifestyle tips for men and women facing possible death in Afghanistan.
In most contemporary books and movies however war is presented as something awful that forever traumatizes all those who come into contact with it. I am not so sure: given how much time humans spend fighting I suspect that many of us rather enjoy a bit of the old ultra-violence.
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