I Didn’t Live up to the Uniform I Wore

Abstract

I wanted to serve in the East. There was more terrorist activity in the years 1993–1994 than there is now. That’s why I wanted to go there. The priority was given to the people from the Black Sea region because they grow up with guns; it is a part of their lives. I had my basic training in the Ankara Etimesgut Sergeant Training Battalion. As an advantage of having a high school diploma, I served in Etimesgut as a sergeant candidate for three months. Three months passed quickly. It wasn’t the way I had expected, but still they tried to give us some training. We were told on our first week there that we were going to serve in the East. They started giving us information about tanks and their internal computer system. M60 tanks had been donated by the United States. These tanks were being used for training in the West and in combat situations in the East. They had different classes, mine was an M60. This class was more powerful. It was made of steel, had more munitions, had less risk of death, and you could protect yourself. When I heard that we were going to guard the border in the East, I started to love military service even more; I worked with greater enthusiasm. My dreams were going to be realized. I wanted to get involved in combat. I was following terrorist incidents on TV and reading about them in the newspapers. Terrorists had been raiding villages and killing small children. I developed a grudge against them. I said to myself, “I have to take a head or kill three or four of them.”