My grandson,
just turned 16 a few months ago, soon he will have to start thinking about what he wants to do as a profession when he finishes school in another 2 years, apprenticeship or college?! Then at the age of 19-20, he has to enter the mandatory military service here in Switzerland, as every male at that age has to complete.
That takes me back, thinking about my own time serving in the army when I was 20. I decided to look for the photo album of that era!
That is where I learned how to sew a button onto my shirt or jacket, how to clean my booths properly, learn how to maintain cleanliness, punctuality, camaraderie, and discipline.
The day the marching order arrived I had to report to headquarters in my hometown, where they signed me up to join the Infantry Division as a Heavy Machine Gunner. The first 17 weeks of basic training I had to complete in the city of Liestal. As I arrived on location it looked exactly like the barracks in the TV series “Hogans Heros”, wooden troughs with a cold water pipe running above, from one end to the other. That is where we had to do our hygiene; summer, winter, rain, snow, or sunshine!
Being a chef by profession,
of course, I had to serve certain duties in the kitchen, aiding to feed 120 guys, three times a day. The kitchen was set up with 3-60 liter kettles, fired up by wood! Just like in Hogan’s Heroes, When the menu called for something besides what was possible to cook in a large kettle, we had to cook it in the so-called “Autocuiseur”, stainless steel pressure cookers. The first duty in the morning during kitchen duty was cutting wood by hand for the kettles, outside in the back of the kitchen.
The worst experience that comes to mind so many years later was during a 5-kilometer march uphill in the summer of 1970, with 30 kilos. tripod of the heavy machine gun on my back! I made it to the 2nd km when I collapsed exhaustively, and gladly was relieved of that monkey on my back!
After finishing the basic 17 weeks,
I was recommended for promotion, and they needed chefs, so I signed up as Corporal Head Chef in the same division. That meant I had to enter a 7-week officer training in the city of Thun. As I previously completed my professional schooling in the French part of Switzerland, in Neuchatel, they recruited me with a French-speaking division.
Then in May of 1971,
I received my second marching order to complete my second 17-week service as Corporal Head Chef, to my surprise they assigned me to the same “Hogan Hero’s lousy barracks, where I completed my first service. Anyway, the advantage was, that I was already familiar with how to handle the 60-liter kettles! this may sound simple to you, but when you have to prepare hot chocolate or coffee for 120 hungry soldiers, at 6:30 am, those kettles better are hot to Trott! That meant getting up at 5 am and firing them suckers up with wood, making sure that water was boiling on time!
I remember one time,
the Sargent Major and I had our bicycle assigned to us, went out during our free time one night, meeting up with a couple of girls in town, a bartender, and a waitress, after a few drinks they asked us to join them at home for some more drinks, well, one thing led to another and we both fell asleep in their apartment! It was 5 am when we woke up the next morning, as I mentioned before, the kettles had to be fired up at 5 am! we jumped on our bikes and sped back to the barracks, on arrival I found the two of my colleagues that I went to school with, Chris and Uli, in the kitchen with aprons on, both chefs by trade, but serving as Field Corporals in the same company. They bailed me out by firing up the kettles and getting the hot chocolate going. As I didn’t have time to change from my fancy uniform into the working uniform coming back, the Colonel walked into the kitchen observed that fact, and asked me to come to his office after service! He gave me a pep talk and a written warning.
The moral of this blog?
I feel every male at that young age should go through Army training, it builds a basic foundation for life, it helped me to manage and lead teams during my career as a Hospitality professional.
The Swiss Army is a non-attacking, neutral, border defense Army, with Humanitarian support.
Best Regards, your blogging friend Ulrich Koepf
