R.E.M Days....
A small photographic work I did during the R.E.M (Reunión de Estudios Militares, Military Study Reunion), which took place from May 14th to 21st of this present year. Unfortunatly, I wasn't allowed to take photos during my time there. The photos were taken with my cellphone's camera, which did a decent work for its category, but it was a frustrating experience in the ned. Now I'm considering a compact for this kind of situations, being the Canon G11 and the Ricoh GDR III my favourite choices (specially the Ricoh).
Mandatory military service is still active here in Cuba, ranging from one to two years for all males between 17 to 30 years old. After completing their time, licensed soldiers are enlisted on the army reserve where they remain until the age of 45. From time to time, the military reactivates a part of the reserve to keep their combat training up to an acceptable level. This kind of reactivation is called R.E.M. R.E.Ms are military mobilizations for all the reservists active in the FAR (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias, Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces), in which they are given standard military training for weeks, and sometimes even months.
I did my year in the army back in 2001, and now I got called to my first R.E.M. What is particular about this REM was that, after completing the instruction time, the participants got demobilized from the reserve and transferred to the MTT (Territorial Troops Militia). And there I was, surrounded by doctors, architects, professional drunks, engineers, personal trainers, park lot guards, doormen, store clerks, and school dropouts. A pretty nifty ragtag platoon if you ask me. We even had a 5 language translator there with us! When homeland calls, everyone is summoned. This kind of political move is called "La guerra de todo el pueblo", stating that in case of aggression, Cuba will be defended not only by its army, but by all of his people. This is an effective political tactic to prevent any military incursion to our little island.
Instructions included basic tactics and strategies, weapons, explosives, wms protection, field first aid techniques, and the boring but necessary political classes. We received instruction from a former Special Forces Mayor, from explosives to weapon training. He was in his fifties, but still in very good physical condition. He was a nice and cheerful officer, although his behaved extremely professional and serious on the shooting range. This behavior is totally understandable; because the battalion's safety was his responsibility. Even the smallest distraction or negligence could cost lives there.
One of the seasoned and more experiences reservist show the rest of the platoon the aiming basics of the AKM (AK-47) infantry rifle.
An experienced reservist explains how to handle and aim the rifle to his fellow soldiers, plus gives some tips to deal with the AK47's powerful kickback. "I have seen countless bruised shoulders because inexperience riflemen don’t know who to properly handle this baby" he commented me.
After being instructed on how to handle his rifle, a soldier tries the size, weight and handle of an AKM(AK47) infantry rifle. At first many were intimidated by the AK's look, size and weight, but after the basic weapon training, some of them were developing some kind of weird attraction to it.
While it can be tiresome, boring, and somewhat stupid, triangulation exercises can give you a lot of interesting feedback about your aiming skills and general eyesight condition.
For the record, these men weren’t shooting their rifles.
Well, as any regular campaign exercise, you eat your chow on your mess kit. Being part of your standard issue equipment, you have it with you all the time. You eat on it, and you have to clean it after you finished. The bad part was that we had to do it with our own drinking water. The food wasn't as bad as I remember, but still was military food. No surprises there.
As usual in the Cuban army, there were some periods of total inactivity. The best ways to kill time was to take a nap, chat, text, exchange ring tones, joke around, smoke...whatever you could do to make the time go faster.
