November 15, 2002 Dublin, Ireland Since we left the U.S. in September, we spent two months in Turkey. The first month we were mainly in Istanbul (one week) and Bodrum. Than I went to the Army for my one month basic training (See my posting below) while Tam traveled around the Mediterranean Coast, Central Anatolia, South Eastern Anatolia and the Black Sea Coast. Tam’s notes/pictures from her trip will be posting on the site over the next couple of weeks.
Where are Cem and Tam now? In Dublin, Ireland. Although we’ve taken a break from traveling for the time being.
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Well, it has been sometime that we’ve been able to update the website. Most of our friends have been patiently waiting.
A few not so patiently:
--- "Ristau, Christopher [IBD]" ---
"your website has not been updated since september, you don't respond to any emails.
In light of this, please consider yourself uninvited to my wedding.
Sincerely,
your ex friend (Chris and Neel)
Chris Ristau"
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Response to Mr. Ristau:
"Chris, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? Neel, Jingles?
I was in the Turkish Army until last week. I went through more shit than you can possibly fathom. You are upset with me that I didn't have access to email over that period. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that my military training, while probably a joke to you and others around the office, may save lives. Not just Turkish lives which you may not care about but American ones. During the month of October, my military trained existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, kept the world a little safer.
You don't want the truth because, deep down in places you don't talk about at happy hours, you want me on the Iraqi border, you need me on that border.
We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that the Turkish Army provides and then questions my lack of ability to keep in touch with my friends. I would rather you just said "Thank you, Sam. I am really looking forward to seeing you at my wedding" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand at post.
- The Turk"
(If you do not have an Imagestation login, you can use Login: cemguest; Password: cemguest)
October 2002 (Cem) - The Military -
My mandatory military training began on the first of the month. After about a month of time off in Istanbul and Bodrum, it felt like running full speed into a brick wall. I had tried not to think about what the Army would be like so I found myself mentally unprepared for the drastic change in my life. The one positive thing was that Burce, a Turkish friend from UVA, and I ended up in the same platoon. The first two weeks were probably the worst. In addition to all of our other training, we had to prepare for our Oath Ceremony. This meant that we would also have to learn how to march correctly (in groups of about 200.) Trust me, not a small feat. So not only would we spend a better part of some days marching around the training grounds, but we marched everywhere we went… to the cafeteria, to the hamam to take a shower, to the conference hall etc. Even if there were just four of us and we needed to go to the bank we would march the entire way there.
After about the first two weeks, I realized that I was beginning to feel like Bill Murray in Ground Hog day. Wake up in the mornings at 5:30 am. Make our beds. Put on the camouflage uniforms, walk down the hallway to shave (with cold water of course) etc, meet in front of the cafeteria for breakfast, take a headcount (we had to take headcount at least three to four times a day), and start the day’s training. Usually didn’t get to bed until about 11-12 or so. And every two or three days, I would have guard duty at night. Everyday would seem like the day before it.
Before I left to go to the military, I had told my Mom that my Oath Ceremony was really not that big a deal and she need not attend. I didn’t think it would be worth it for her to take an 1 ½ hour flight and 1 hour bus ride to our base. She was actually pretty cross with me about it. Anyway, it wasn’t but a week later that I made the call to insist that she come to it. Of course I had missed my Mom and thought she would enjoy the ceremony. But mainly it was the fact if she came, she would be able to sign me out for the weekend. As we approached Day 11, taking a step outside the confines of our base seemed like it would be heaven.
The ceremony was definitely set up to get people fired up about being a soldier. Even with all the pain and suffering, it would have been impossible to not be a little proud. My Mom took it a step further. She was in tears. “It’s really unbelievable how in just ten days they trained you guys so well.”
So was it all really just pain and suffering. Absolutely not. There were definitely some positive aspects to the whole experience. I lost a lot of weight and got in pretty decent shape. It was also interesting to see how the military worked from an organizational perspective and the importance of discipline and chain of command. Turkey has a strong military tradition and I was impressed by what I saw. I also had a lot of time to think about some fun things like what I want to do with my life. (Guard duty between 2-4 in the morning can be a good time for this). I think the best part of the whole experience, however, was having the opportunity to meet other Turks from around the world that had also come back to complete their military service. Plus target practice at the shooting range was pretty cool as well.
So my respects to Cuma Agbi, Fahri Agbi, Omer Agbi, Mehmet, Iltug, Sezgin, Altug, Veysel, Mehmet, Ilyas, Deniz, Gural, Ali, Habip, Fevzi, Burce and Bora. Looking forward to running into you guys at some point in the future as civilians.
Some of the things I won’t miss:
- Walking into our barracks at 4 am after guard duty and trying to get some more sleep with 25-30 people snoring - Getting cafeteria duty - Mintika Temizligi (Cleaning our resting areas) - Headcounts that sometimes lasted an hour - Having some form of the common cold for nearly the entire time
