兵營短憶 Short but Vivid memory of Military, 2009 Toronto International Auto Show, Convention Center Toronto Feb 18 2009

I joined only 6 months of military training instead of full 3 years of service which applies all the healthy boys in Korea. At then there was a national program allowing only 6 months of service for the graduates of master degree or higher if they pass nation wide qualification exam. I really enjoyed the 6 months of military training program to be an army officer. After the training all the trainees became officers, i.e. platoon leaders, then discharged at the same day. Not until then I never seriously thought about becoming a professional military officer though my father was one of the high ranking officer in the army who had serviced for almost 40 years. The six months slot in my life remains as very special one which I enjoyed a lot with all the physical trainings, comradeship and the very closed & much constrained daily life in barrack. Specifically I loved walking.. walking straight almost 24 hours with all those heavy military gears with rifle and walking in the rain after midnight when we got back from firing range.. For me all those programs were sort of survival games without paying anything.. Republic of Korea, actually all the tax paying Korean citizens paid for the money.. though my colleagues never understood my mentality.. how could you ENJOY the military things??