The very green experience

Picture not connected to the camp I attended

I know the title sounds a lot like some kind of an environment thing, but as I promised, I'm going to write about my last weekend at a national defence camp. Beware, it's long.

It was a regular Friday with an irregular ending. Instead of the two english lessons, we were lined up outside and given our first equipment - hats, jackets, coats, pants and backpacks. Then we were given some time to change from our regular school clothes to those green uniforms, pack the stuff we were taking with us in the backpacks and leave everything else at school. It was a lot of fun, because the uniforms were "one size fits all", as my nat def teacher said. In my case, it meant that I had to pull the pants up to chest and the coat went all the way to my knees. Every single one of us was looking absolutely ridiculous in some way - except the men of course.

After that we were lined up again, we could put nametags on our coats, jackets and backpacks, and then we marched a few hundred meters away from school (probably scaring a few innocent bypassers), where three green military lorries picked us up. We were taken to some barracks near the center of Tallinn. They divided us into four groups, put us in rooms and explained the rules. Briefly, we couldn't do anything.

First of all we had a few lessons where they taught us formation and marching. The very repetitive "LEFT, ... , LEFT, ... , LEFT RIGHT LEFT!!!" we sometimes shouted while marching still haunts some of us every day. It wasn't very warm and our new uniforms were so uncomfortable, plus my shoes weren't exactly waterproof, but all that was soon cured by the dinner we were served. It was nothing special, some kinda steak, dessert, muesli bar, tea, bread and butter. It tasted really good, and unlike at school, there was more than enough of it. In fact, I had to force myself to eat more than I could, but it paid off, because all the energy we received from the food was well spent. For example, after dinner, they lined us up inside and we practiced making beds for about an hour. Always the same - 30 seconds to run in the room and grab two sheets from any bed, and then 5-8 minutes to make the bed again and be out of the room. It was really good exercise, and the best part of it was that those neatly made beds weren't for us to sleep in - no, we had to use our sleeping bags.

To measure the distance between the sheets, we could use the Soldiers' Songbook.

After that we were told to clean up the house. There were no specific orders given to anyone, but everyone was doing something and soon the house was clean. After that we were allowed to wash, use our phones and get ready to sleep - with the exception of 15 minutes of mandatory news on TV at 9 o'clock. By the evening I was very tired and I slept very well.

At 6 in the morning we had to get up and be outside in three minutes. To avoid unpleasant consequences, our room set alarm clocks for 5.45 and made it in time. We had another formation practice. We were also given some time to clean up the house (again) and pack. Between all that, the best part of the morning - breakfast. Once again, excellent quality and quantity. This time it was porridge and dessert, tea, bread and butter. 

Somewhere around midday we were told about what awaited us in the forest. Those, who had problems with leaking shoes (including me) were given an extra pair of boots. We had to take all our stuff and get on the lorries again, this time for a much longer ride. They took us somewhere near Paldiski and Keila and as soon as we arrived, we started shoveling snow and looking for spruce branches. The four teams we were divided into had to set up one tent each. We put the spruce brances on the floor to not have to sleep on wet and still a little bit snowy ground, and we also set up an oven in the middle of the tent. After all the tents were set up, we set up some leafy looking camouflage stuff over and around them. 

When our homes were set up neatly, we were lined up and distributed cooking equipment (military cooking kits, ethanol and ethanol lamps) and food packs. The food packs were very compact and had a very long shelf life. One of those was supposed to last us 24 hours, which seemed so unlikely at first, but surprisingly, my pack was just enough for the whole time I was in the woods. As the first meal I decided to fry the contents of a random tin can and eat up whatever came out. It wasn't as good as the food at the barracks, but it was still delicious, although my usual eating habits are completely different. 

The cooking kit

After lunch we were taken away from the camp to practice movement in the woods. The lesson seemed to last forever, but I can easily sum it up with three words : crawling, sneaking and some pretty odd and loud method of moving forward, taking turns with a partner or a group.

In the evening our four groups were halved, making more smaller groups. Each of the groups were given a box full of the same products and cooking equipment, and one fire was lit for each group. We were given 20 minutes to come up with an idea of what food to make, and after the independent jury decided on who had the best idea, each group could choose one extra set of items to use. Then we had three hours to realize our ideas. The cooking equipment we were given was nowhere near enough, so we had to include our kits too, although I really didn't want to do so. When the situation forced me to bring my kit out as well, I tried to make sure that I knew where my stuff was - and that was a good idea, as it turned out next morning. But I'll tell you about that later.

I don't remember every detail of what my group decided to make, I just remember the delicious barbecue meat that we grilled in big flower pots, and the delicious dessert I made. Elisabeth helped me cut and peel the apples, I added lots of sugar and cinnamon, and later on we received crushed almonds as a prize, and added that to the mix as well. We were done long before the given time. 

After eating up everything that was cooked that evening, we were lined up and told about what awaits at night. Every one of us got to either patrol the camp or watch the oven at either our own or the instructors' tent. I got to patrol the camp during the 2nd hour of sleeping, so I didn't really try to fall asleep during the first hour. It felt weird how the hour waiting for my patrol time felt like forever, while the patrol seemed to last for 10 minutes, not an hour. The two hours of sleep that I lost did some damage though. In the morning I was very grumpy, which kind of ruined the race that we did soon after waking up. I usually enjoy long walks, reading a map and leading a team, and I've always come out with great results, but this time it was all the other way around and we ended up last. The fun part was the face camouflage we had to put on before leaving the camp.

As soon as we got back to the camp, the time was right to pack up, take down the tents and crawl on the buses, but at least an extra hour was spent, because some cooking equipment was lost. We scouted the whole camp area several times and triple checked our bags, but ended up leaving without knowing where the lost parts were. 

Just as the instructors had suspected, the lost parts came out from random people's stuff later at the barracks, when we had to wash up our equipment and get it ready for returning. We had to clean up the place again, and we were given 15 minutes to wash off our camouflage. Then we were taken to the school, where we returned all our equipment and got back our own clothes. I felt very good when I returned. During the camp, I had got used to the uncomfortable, ridiculous looking and very big clothes, so when I got my own clothes back, I was feeling fabulous. 

Despite the fact there was always at least five things to whine about, I really enjoyed the camp and I'm actually considering doing it again next year. I learned a lot about the people who were with me and of course the basic skills we were taught. I had been looking forward to the camp for a while and I was very excited about it, and it turned out just as much fun as I thought it would be. And I sure am glad that my health was being nice to me!

-- -- --

P.S. As I mentioned in my last post, I have not had the time nor the health to go ice skating recently. Well, that's about to change, because I entered an ice dancing course lasting till late May, ending with a fancy performance. The first lesson is on Sunday and I'm really excited! :D