English Version
Gaining merit
Almost all of my stories have to do with knowledge and the world of academia. Today I am going to vary. The story of today is about the militia.
I do not know what it is like here, in your country, but in my home country, the military, in peacetime, what worries them most is their promotion. In academia, you see, how difficult it is for me to get away from that world, promotions, although they take into account certain merits, in many cases, time is the main parameter.
In the military world it is usually the other way around, although time is an important parameter, a large number of requirements must be met in order to achieve promotion.
All this I am telling you is in peacetime, because when there are wars, other factors arise, such as combat conduct, which can allow you to receive promotions very quickly. Unfortunately, in these cases, on many of these occasions these promotions come post-mortem.
In the military world, as the old Roman text said, one must always be ready: If you want peace, prepare for war.
That is why the military, although for us civilians, at times, it seems that they do nothing, in reality, they are always in a continuous preparation.
One such way to prepare is missions. Missions can include a very high range of activities. I am still referring to peacekeeping missions.
Of course, although they are peacekeeping missions, that does not mean that the military that makes it up are not exposed to great dangers.
Part of the mission of missions is precisely to mold the character of the military. I am back to the same thing, prepare for war in peacetime.
The story I am about to tell you takes place during one of these missions. Actually, at first a mission that looked quite simply, without many risks.
The mission itself was in an African country and the main goal was supposed to be for the military to adapt to a rather inhospitable climate and to make good relations with the locals. The idea was that the inhabitants of that country would see the soldiers as possible allies and see them as men useful to society and concerned about their local problems.
In the African country, of which I am mentioning, a dam was being built and the soldiers had to contribute, together with the army of the country, to help save the local fauna, which would lose their habitat when the dam was built.
In addition to helping to displace the animals, they were expected to collect data on the animals. They should try to identify species and numbers of specimens of each of the classified species.
It was a tedious job, not without risks, especially since they had to work with some wild species and with a large number of snakes, most of them venomous.
However, thanks to the help of the natives, both military and civilian, this was not the biggest problem.
I do not know if you know that when you build a dam, one of the first things you do is to divert the course of the river you want to dam. This, in most cases, usually creates another natural dam, in which the diverted water is retained.
This pre-dam, if it can be called that, usually wreaks some havoc on nature. Because, although it is conceived as temporary, and most of the time it is, it is still a great reservoir of water. These waters usually cover large regions, which are affected. In addition to affecting fauna and flora, the human enclaves that end up being around them are usually affected.
I do not know if I have ever known, but at least I am not able to remember the name of the soldier in the story I am telling you. That is why I will just call it The Soldier.
As I was telling you, this kind of previous dam is practically formed naturally, that is, no great measures are taken to protect against it. After all, like I told you, it is supposed to come naturally and disappear when the actual dam is completed.
To make the story short, I will tell you that one of the towns near the pseudo-dam began to notice that the water level was rising more than normal, that at that rate in a couple of days all their yields, their crops, and what was worse, their homes would be flooded.
The army that was on mission had enough rafts to be able to evacuate the population. There were no more than forty-seven inhabitants, including children, and as the rafts had the capacity to safely transport up to nineteen people, they would have no problems, with three of the five rafts available being enough to make the evacuation.
The problem started when they tried to inflate the rafts, the first one would not take air and they realized that it had a large hole in its side. They tried to use the second one and saw that it also had a similar hole, the same thing happened to them with the third one, and that is when they noticed that the five rafts had been pierced by a branch, which had a tip, which had caused the breakages.
Fortunately, they had begun planning for the rescue of the inhabitants well in advance. But without the rafts, even the soldiers themselves were in danger. If the waters rose at a faster rate, everyone could end up drowning.
It was there that The Soldier stepped in. His parents had owned a mill and very often the sacks for the wheat used to break, for different reasons. The soldier had developed an astonishing ability to darn. Without waiting for another instruction, in less than 11 minutes he had already mended the first raft, which they immediately filled with air and began the evacuation.
He mended the second raft in 7 minutes, again he needed 11 to mend the third, 13 for the fourth and 17 for the fifth, this was the most deteriorated and he was more tired and, besides, there was no longer any greater urgency.
Thanks to this special ability of The Soldier and having started the rescue operation in a timely manner, everyone was unharmed from the mishap.
Of course, the gratitude of the locals to the army on mission, and especially to the soldier who specializes in darning, reached the highest military spheres. It turned out that The Soldier was gaining merit and received, in peacetime, a promotion, similar to those received in wartime.
Note: There is a Spanish version. There are also publications similar to these in External link (Vinculo externo).
