My First Day in the Army

Lee Won Il

My first day in the army was more dreadful than the one of my friend, Kyung Suk. The first reason that I troubled more on the first day in the army than Kyung Suk did is that my seniors were unkind and scary to me whereas Kyung Suk's seniors treated him so well. On my first day, one of my seniors shouted and sweared at me without any particular reasons. His face was so scary that I couldn't say a word to him like, "I'm terribly sorry." or even "May I go to the washroom?" On the contrary, Kyung Suk's seniors prepared a small welcoming party for the new soldiers, and one of the seniors told kyung Suk that if he had any problems he would help him. The second reason that I struggled more than Kyung Suk did is that while I was starving during my first day, Kyung Suk was lucky enough to enjoy good food. In my case, one of the seniors ordered me to finish my meal in three minutes and I couldn't do it so I left quite a big amount of food. Until I went to bed, I was not allowed to have any food. Kyung Suk, however, had plenty of food at the welcoming party. There were many kinds of food like Bulgogi, rice, fruits, drinks and so on. There is another reason that I had more unpleasant experience on the first day in the army than Kyung Suk did. I received old and used personal equipments whereas kyung Suk got all brand new ones. Particularly, my pillow and blanket were dirty and had very strange smell on them, so I couldn't fall asleep easily. Kyung Suk, however, received all new personal equipments including brand new confortable blanket set. Even though my first day in the army was far less enjoyable than Kyung Suk's in terms of the atmosphere, foods and the personal equipments, I will never forget the day and will keep it as a precious memory in my life.