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Q: What's life like for new army recruits in China?
Do they learn any skills they can take away with them into the workforce once they leave the military?
Lots of Chinese men are immature, does the military cure them of this, or do they drop out?
You could dial FEB in your city for precise A. Me thinks!
Enter 'SEFA-A' in search bar for address and contact no. in your city.
I think, I'm done with grat points for tonight!
My former girlfriend's brother has been in the military for about two years. When he left home, he was a good-natured but directionless boy. Now he's mature, self-assured and still a really nice guy.
What is life like?
Boring. They have to get up early and do drills, but most of their time is spent sitting around in a dormitory with nothing to do. My ex-gf sent her brother a laptop (with dozens of TV series on it), a new phone (which he wasn't allowed to use), and big boxes of snacks every month or two.
Do they learn useful skills that they can take with them?
Aside from maturity and self-confidence, no. Unless they stay in the military, the time they have spent there won't do anything for their career. Leaving the military to look for work means they just wasted X years of their life. There are some avenues for long-term military members to become government members, but otherwise, it will be a complete waste of time if they leave.
Advancement in the military is achieved by paying fees for positions or promotions (this is up-front like paying for a university course). The boy's parents invested a bit of money in his career, and now he's a tank driver (maybe they could send him to HK to quell the unruly populace, 1989-style).
Does the military cure immaturity?
Yes. It certainly did in his case. I also used to work at a school, out in the country, across the road from a military base. I sometimes talked to soldiers when I was waiting for the bus, and they seem much more mature, good-natured and self-assured than typical Chinese boys.
They don't need to kill Arabs so the young fresh recruits I see work at my school gate every day their job is to open and close it and check IDs.
DrMonkey:
No Arabs, but if you follow the news about West China, they are scoring on Turkmen extremists
dharma86:
So clearly they're mature enough to handle their internal affairs.
The few ex-soldiers I met in a China were far more rational, with good common sense and self-discipline. If the whole country was like them, China would be a different place.
I also met soldiers doing training while trekking in Sichuan. The guys were serious, and well-mannered when out in town : no spitting, not obnoxious behavior. No "LOL LAOWAI", they stayed focused on their exercise. Their camp was spotless, vehicles super clean, etc. I once read that the Chinese Space Program was under the army, because only them have the ability serious projects of that size ^^
