Swiss Men and the Army

As I am off for the next 10 days to celebrate my sister’s marriage to a full blooded American Man (he may or not have voted for Bush), I thought I would pay tribute to those Swiss Men I have meet over the past year…I present to you, Swiss Men and the Army

"All able-bodied Swiss males aged between 19 and 31 must serve in the Swiss Army, and although entry to recruit school may be delayed due to senior secondary school, it is no longer possible to postpone it for university studies. About one third is excluded for various reasons…Famously, members of the armed forces keep their rifles and uniforms in their homes for immediate mobilisation, as well as 50 rounds of ammunition" (Wikipedia).

In my time here, I have had a chance to hang out with a few Swiss Men, all of whom have very different stories. Since being in the army and/or owning a gun in the US has completely different status, I wanted to share.

Swiss Man 1 (SM 1) – A true blooded Swiss, (including a house on Lake Zurich’s Gold Coast), SM 1 chose to serve his time in the Swiss Army as a paratrooper. After passing a three week course and subsequent test, SM 1 was admitted into the Swiss Paratrooper class, which began with 75 individuals and graduated a mere 7. As a result of this honor, he was given two parachutes (one army issued and one for competition), he is allowed access to private jump zones and travels to Arizona every year for training. His weapon of choice is a hand gun, which he keeps in his house.

Swiss Man 2 (SM 2) – Half Swiss and Half Brazilian SM 2, was still required to serve in the army. He found the time bearable, but definitely listed it as his least favorite job. That is of course, excluding the time he spent in Swiss Army prison. SM2 had a bad habit of leaving base at night to head into the city for the nightlife and dancing. Unfortunately, on one of these occasions he ended up staying out too late. However, that in itself, was not the reason why he was sent to "army prison". The night in question just happened to be the night before he was on duty for dawn patrol and he ended up sleeping through the time to wake up the entire camp. So as his punishment, he was sent to army prison where he was able to sleep in as late as he wanted. His weapon of choice is a machine gun.

Swiss Man 3 (SM 3) – Another full blooded Swiss, SM 3 chose the third option. He pleaded mental instability and was relived of his duties. His weapon of choice is pharmaceuticals.