10 Apr 2014

UNIFORMS FROM A CHILD's VIEW

From childhood on, I hated men in uniforms, especially soldiers. It probably stems from the time I lived with my grandparents just after the second WW. My grandma had also told me that all men wearing a uniform are bad and/or stupid.

When I was maybe just 3 or 4, I saw the first soldiers in my life and these were the Americans who sat on huge tanks crossing this little town in the middle of the country side, leaving deep holes and traces in the main street. I still can hear the noise it made when the asphalt broke under the curb chains. Although they were waving friendly to the watching population and threw sweets for the children, I was very much afraid.

Each men wearing a uniform, was either bad behaving like the Russians who raped all women in their way and took toilets for machines to wash potatoes, that's what my grandpa had told me. The others were coming back from prison camps looked sick and swollen up like balloons and were all wrecks !

All my little friends had fathers where something was missing. A leg, an arm, an eye, and all that because they had worn a uniform. I grew up seeing them wearing prostheses, and sometimes when I stayed at a friend's house overnight, I saw a leg standing around or an arm laying somewhere and once even a glass eye which stared at me in the bathroom. Therefore with the logic of a child I was convinced that uniforms are equal to war and war to destruction, and if nobody would wear an uniform there would be no war either.



When wars were still a question of men fighting against men, the uniforms were colorful and especially red colors were a nice target. One could see the other from far ! Children, women and the old people weren't damaged the battle fields outside towns.

Over the years the uniforms became more and more ugly and lost all colors. They were made not to be seen. Battle fields disappeared, countries became the battle field with no concern for the population. There were no longer fights with swords, and the first guns which were used often only had one bullet. Today in their camouflage uniforms they have machine guns, shells, bombs and landmines. Whole cities were or are destroyed and millions of innocent people killed.

Actual wars which are going on are later a nice subject for Hollywood films like about Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, former Yugoslavia, etc. And now there are new films in view about Syria for example. At least the film industry has some profit with people wearing uniforms !



Jenny Matlock
more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

11 comments:

  1. It may be called a 'dress' uniform, but the American one is quite nice. During WWII when Americans forces were in Australia, people loved their smart uniform, compared to ugly Australian uniform, which was probably similar to British.

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  2. This is a difficult post to comment on because I love men in uniform. The ones coming down The Mall from Buckingham Palace on horseback I mean. I could just swoon if I wasn't so busy cheering and waving.
    I'm sure I would feel differently if a saw enemy soldiers at war coming down my street.

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  3. I agree the whole thing can be scary to children. I remember my dad in uniform and the uniform took him away (he got stationed in the South Pacific when I was 2). I remember that the Battle Hymn of the Republic gave me nightmares.

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  4. Great post and photos and can understand why you might not like men in uniform ~ Happy Day to you ~ over from Alphabe ~ xoxo

    artmusedog and carol (A Creative Harbor)

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  5. Hearing about your childhood, I can see why you are not so fond of uniforms.

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  6. war is a terrible and heart-breaking thing no matter how you dress it up.

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  7. Even after WWII was over, I'm sure that was an awful time and place in which to live. Ceremonial uniforms can be very striking though.

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  8. I'd be all over banning uniforms if it meant we all could live in peace...

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  9. that must have been something, being a child during a war on your land! I can't imagine how terrifying it would be to citizens. I live near a training (army) base, and many men and women are in town, eating at restaurants, wearing their uniforms. All camouflage. {:-D

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  10. Such a shame you had that fear instilled in you. Such a shame was still have wars.

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  11. I can only imagine how terrifying those men were to a childs' mind. I definitely empathize.

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