ANTHEM

I was once requested to work as a translator for a delegation that went to North Korea ? the most hermetic state in the world. When we took off, terribly frightened because we knew the plane had had problems in the past, the very moment the plane left the ground, the speakers roared out some propagandistic anthem. (G. S., 161)

I was part of the first generation of girls that had to complete the military service. Boys were drafted before going to college; the military service lasted for 9 months. There weren?t many boys that year when I was drafted; they passed the entrance exams for college at the same time with us, then they were drafted, and a year later they started school. They had assigned one day per week, on Thursday, and if you failed to go on a Thursday, you were immediately summoned at the party office. There wasn?t much for us to do anyway. Our instructors were some young women who had just finished high school and a three month military training course at best. Most of them were half illiterate, and those who weren?t used to treat us very badly, the orders were given almost with hate; if you couldn?t be exempt from military service for health reasons and still refused to complete your military service they would expel you from school and everything you had worked for would go down the drain.  The only way you could be exempt from military service was for health reasons or for being pregnant. I started the military service when I was the 1^st year and finished when I was in the 3^rd year, one day per week, 4 hours per day. On scorching June days they would summon us for proper training with everything that implied. You didn?t actually learn anything, it was pure indoctrination; they wouldn?t teach you for example how to take shelter when there was an earthquake or first aid staff. At the end of the 4^th year I had to complete another 2 weeks of military service and then take my rank test. We were awarded a military rank. I am a lieutenant in the reserve. I also took course of political education when I was in the army. (O. S., 166)

The army was something horrible. So I was the first generation, and I think I did 3 years of military service once a week. Then we were summoned in the summer, also for 3 years, and then once at the end. First of all, we had to put on ?the country?s clothes?, those horrible uniforms. As we were the first generation of girls to enter the military service, they must have thought to emphasize the feminine charm by having us wear skirts, cloth skirts and greatcoats. I was very tall, so they gave a coat size 50, which too big for me. My mother could hardly fasten the coat?s clasp. The clasp was a terrible thing, because it was attached to a vinyl collar. That vinyl collar was actually sewn inside the coat?s collar. The picture was like this: the greatcoat, the skirt and then two skinny legs in khaki elastic stockings and boots. Don?t let me forget that horrible cap.