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Ariana said:
That's a long time! :eek:

I've never found army stories boring. Quite the opposite, in fact.
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Oh, interesting! :) The first time I heard a guy start telling stuff about his army days in a University party, I thought "how boring is that..?" Later I heard that many women think so too, and I wasn't the only one. Maybe the things Finnish men tell are just more boring. It's always about how many tanks there were or some such thing.
 
My father served as a commando for a year-and-a-half. Apparently he was so ripped after the service that he found a job as a security guard at the Istanbul Airport.
 
The Flash said:
My father served as a commando for a year-and-a-half. Apparently he was so ripped after the service that he found a job as a security guard at the Istanbul Airport.
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I found a photo of him:

PIC-3-15.jpg
 
Lamia020281 said:
Oh, interesting! :) The first time I heard a guy start telling stuff about his army days in a University party, I thought "how boring is that..?" Later I heard that many women think so too, and I wasn't the only one. Maybe the things Finnish men tell are just more boring. It's always about how many tanks there were or some such thing.
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I guess those who served during the Winter War might have more interesting stories ...
 
Dr. Eddies Wingman said:
I guess those who served during the Winter War might have more interesting stories ...
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There is (or rather was, as most people that age are no longer on this earth) a division on how men told about their war experiences: some told about them so much that their relatives were tired of hearing them, some didn't talk about them at all. My grandfather, who got severely injured in the war, belonged to the latter group. I've sometimes thought it might have been interesting to know, but he never talked about it.
 
[temporary topic diversion]
I want to listen to Deliverance by Opeth, but I don't know whether to pick the original or the remix. They both seem to have completely different sonic profiles.
 
Lamia020281 said:
There is (or rather was, as most people that age are no longer on this earth) a division on how men told about their war experiences: some told about them so much that their relatives were tired of hearing them, some didn't talk about them at all. My grandfather, who got severely injured in the war, belonged to the latter group. I've sometimes thought it might have been interesting to know, but he never talked about it.
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I think that's common among war veterans. It either is very easy for them to share their experiences, or very difficult - sometimes to the extent that they refuse to talk even when urged to do so.
 
Lamia020281 said:
There is (or rather was, as most people that age are no longer on this earth) a division on how men told about their war experiences: some told about them so much that their relatives were tired of hearing them, some didn't talk about them at all. My grandfather, who got severely injured in the war, belonged to the latter group. I've sometimes thought it might have been interesting to know, but he never talked about it.
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I think there's a common pattern where people who haven't experienced much struggle in the army really embellish their stories and take on a pompous attitude whereas those who have experienced struggle prefer not to speak about it much and when they do it it's rarely in a self-congratulatory sense. Especially those who have experienced particularly horrifying things.
 
I mean this in the nicest way, but I don't think Finnish conscripts have a very interesting experience. You drill, you march, and that's about it. The stories I hear from professional soldiers who actually serve are far more interesting.

And then there's sailor stories, which are far far far more interesting.
 
Sorry to disturb the Opeth discussion. :bigsmile:

I believe people felt such urgency after the war to rebuild and have families, and there was a general feeling of going forward, so many men just tried to forget what had happened during the war. And men weren't encouraged to show their emotions in those days anyway, so many of them who might have wanted to talk, didn't think they could do it.
 
LooseCannon said:
I mean this in the nicest way, but I don't think Finnish conscripts have a very interesting experience. You drill, you march, and that's about it. The stories I hear from professional soldiers who actually serve are far more interesting.
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That's true. Hmm, even people abroad know how boring Finnish army stories are! :bigsmile:The stories I've heard have usually been about camping in the forest when it was so cold that their hair was frozen to the ground during the night, having three pneumonias during the military service, and being sick on a march because of a hangover, stuff like that. Which I guess could be interesting, too, depending how you look at it. I guess the biggest problem in those party conversations is that when one man starts talking about army, many other men join in, as they have stories of their own. Most women don't, so they can't take part in the conversation. Men get more and more excited sharing their stories, and ladies go to another room to talk about stuff they actually have experienced. :)
 
Lamia020281 said:
That's true. Hmm, even people abroad know how boring Finnish army stories are! :bigsmile:The stories I've heard have usually been about camping in the forest when it was so cold that their hair was frozen to the ground during the night, having three pneumonias during the military service, and being sick on a march because of a hangover, stuff like that. Which I guess could be interesting, too, depending how you look at it. I guess the biggest problem in those party conversations is that when one man starts talking about army, many other men join in, as they have stories of their own. Most women don't, so they can't take part in the conversation. Men get more and more excited sharing their stories, and ladies go to another room to talk about stuff they actually have experienced. :)
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A few of my classmates did their military service right after secondary school, and when they came back, they would talk non-stop about army stuff in the rather boring fashion that you describe. They certainly also had interesting moments to share, especially with those who had lived through those moments together. It's all about the sense of camaraderie, which renders some stories like "Sergeant X was such a pain in the ass, like that time he told me to clean the toilet. Yeah, man, X was a douche, he asked to clean my gun five times!" boring for others to listen to. A good storyteller knows which bits to leave out. :)
 
Lamia020281 said:
I believe people felt such urgency after the war to rebuild and have families, and there was a general feeling of going forward, so many men just tried to forget what had happened during the war.
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It's not just that. For a lot of guys, memories get suppressed or fade quickly in order to allow some semblance of normal. PTSD is a fucky thing, sometimes takes years to manifest. We have a family friend who was part of the recovery mission after SwissAir 111 crashed off Nova Scotia. He had handled a dead baby during the recovery and suppressed it for 20+ years until he was playing with one of his granddaughters, then it all came back. Broke him completely for a long time.
 
Sorry to hear that. PTSD and other mental health disorders caused by the war were actually a taboo here until very recently. I believe both of my grandfathers had depression of some sort, and they never really were the same they had been before the war, wounded both physically and mentally. But I'm happy they both were able to raise their families successfully, making my appearance to this world possible. :)As I have so much of my genes from my grandfathers, I sometimes think which part of my personality comes from them.

Edit: By personality, I don't mean a tendency to get depressed, but other traits. Fortunately I don't get depressed easily.
 
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