You're in the Army now!

    On the 4th of January, in compliance with my orders, I "transferred" to the recruitment Center in Windisch. I was given a number card, a locker room coin, and a pen. We were then advised not to lose the pen as we would have to pay 2 Franks to replace it. After stowing our baggage, which consisted overnight things and sport clothes, we were assembled in the main area, and offered a small breakfast of Iced Tea and croissants. Thereafter we were instructed to assemble in the meeting hall and were seated by the numbers on our cards. The groups were then divided into groups of 32, four groups in total. My group, Group 4, had the Sport test first. I got 68 out of a possible 125. I am admittedly quite out of shape. 80 would have been outstanding, though if one would like to be a Grenadier or Scout, the minimum amount of required points are 90, which is very hard.
    The Sport test was followed by a battery of psychological and intelligence tests and a trip to the doctors for a check up. I surprised my self how well I did in the intelligence part and was reassured to find that the Swiss Army has deemed me mentally sound as well as in good physical health. The evening was spent with dinner, and deciding which job, (function) we would prefer in the army, as the next day we would have a one on one talk with the Lieutenant-Colonel about the matter. As for me, as long as I was not part of the Infantry, I didn't care. My preferred job would be among a mechanized unit. Then after dinner, we sat in the lobby and whiled away the hours before bed with casual conversations about all manner of topics.
   At 06:50 one of our leaders came into the room and boomed at the top of his voice! GOOD MORNING! GET UP! So up we got, stripped our beds, packed up all our gear and went down to breakfast. After breakfast we returned to the doctor to get some vaccinations and drawing of blood. Next, we received our combat boots and then ate lunch. Up next thing on the agenda: the one on one chat with Lieutenant Colonel Mathys. The moment of Truth. I was slightly nervous to be sure, but in the end, it turned out all right.
  The end results of this two day recruitment: I am in good physical health, in good psychological standing, as well as in good cognitive health. I will enter boot camp in the summer of 2014 and will do so as a Tank Grenadier Crewman. My tank will be the Combat Vehicle 90. On top of all this, I now own my very own combat boots!



Eagle, Out!