# Greek Cypriot soldier here



## Chocks away! (Aug 31, 2005)

Hey just thought you might find this interesting-I'm in the Greek army in Cyprus. I'm in my second month(of the two year service) and I am an artillery gunner.  
And guess what, i'm gonna be firing-yes 1944 vintage 155mm Howitzers. World War two and Korean war veterans.  
How'bout that? Not really enjoying the army but this is quite cool nevertheless 8)


----------



## P38 Pilot (Aug 31, 2005)

Thats awesome Chocks! I plan on joining ROTC next year so i can have the prviledge to salute and wear uniform!

I bet those 155mm guns are pretty cool. Congrats again!


----------



## Nonskimmer (Aug 31, 2005)

Good stuff. Don't go deaf.


----------



## P38 Pilot (Aug 31, 2005)

Oh yeah. Where your helmet and ear plugs whenever you get ready to fire artillery!


----------



## Wildcat (Aug 31, 2005)

G'day Chocks I'm an ex Aussie Army Gunner myself. I wasn't field guns though, I was an Air defence gunner using RBS-70 and Rapier SAM's.


----------



## P38 Pilot (Aug 31, 2005)

Awesome Wildcat! You have any pics of your service? Seeing someone fire a machine gun is pretty cool!


----------



## Wildcat (Aug 31, 2005)

Have alook at "Wildcat's Deployment Pics" in the personal gallery thread. Lots of photos that I took while in the Gulf in 2003.


----------



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 1, 2005)

Welcome Chocks.


----------



## P38 Pilot (Sep 1, 2005)

Awesome! Ill go check them out!


----------



## Chocks away! (Sep 4, 2005)

I'll try and post some photos when I have time. We are actually sort of a branch of the Greek army in Cyprus. Hey about the earplugs-Yeah I'll remember that! I was interviewed by the new commander yesterday-he says that as i'm a aimer a lot is expected of me, hehe. Apparently our unit has a certain reputation.


----------



## P38 Pilot (Sep 4, 2005)

Hmm...Interesting.


----------



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 4, 2005)

Well keep up that good tradition.


----------



## Nonskimmer (Sep 4, 2005)

Chocks away! said:


> Apparently our unit has a certain reputation.


In the good sense I hope.


----------



## P38 Pilot (Sep 4, 2005)

I guess that is good, right?


----------



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 4, 2005)

You can have bad reputations too, like our Air Defense Artillary which has a bad reputation for shootind down our planes and the planes of our allies more than anything. It sucks but it is the hard truth.


----------



## Wildcat (Sep 4, 2005)

Yeah I've actually heard about that Adler, mostly from problems with Patriot if I remember correctly. In Oz the only real bad reputation any of the forces (mainly the Army) get is the way its people are treated.


----------



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 4, 2005)

No I think the AA guys are just trigger happy.


----------



## Wildcat (Sep 4, 2005)

Ha, I was an AA guy and alot of us were trigger happy! Never fired at our own though..


----------



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 4, 2005)

That is a good thing.


----------



## P38 Pilot (Sep 4, 2005)

Oh man! Our own guys getting shot down by our own weapons is just sad.


----------



## LADYxxRYDA (Jul 29, 2006)

Hey Chocks, how are you? Hows being in the army treating you?

I saw your post while trying to find things out about Cyprus.... it isnt as easy as it seems though because I still dont know what I want to know. Thought maybe you could help me out??  

I been to Paphos, Cyprus 5 times now and absolutely love it! But now curiousity is gettin the better of me!

Why do you (cypriots) have to serve in the army if your not in education? and does it apply to the females aswell? I kinda guessed maybe its because of what happened with the Turks and Northern Cyprus....

And secondly..... .I was driving down the road in the late afternoon, there was a massive crowd of people (greek cypriots) stood outside a church. There were a few guys dressed like priests walking infront of some sailors and people smartly dressed.....

One of the priests was holding a picture and one was carrying, what looked like a candle lantern, with dust coming out of it. What did I witness?? It looked very dramatic!! Kinda scared me  

www.myspace.com/ladyryda2006


----------



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jul 29, 2006)

LADYxxRYDA said:


> Why do you (cypriots) have to serve in the army if your not in education? and does it apply to the females aswell? I kinda guessed maybe its because of what happened with the Turks and Northern Cyprus....



What you just described is called conscription. Conscription as a matter of fact is conducted in most European Countries. For instance in Germany all males must either be in university, conducting civil service, or be conscripted into the miliatary for a minimum of 18 months.


----------



## P38 Pilot (Jul 30, 2006)

Wow. Didn't know countries still did that.


----------



## P38 Pilot (Jul 30, 2006)

By the way, I wonder how Chocks is doing.


----------



## plan_D (Jul 31, 2006)

Known as National Service in Great Britain. We don't have it anymore, which is a shame because it kept the country smart.


----------



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jul 31, 2006)

P38 Pilot said:


> Wow. Didn't know countries still did that.



Most of the world outside the United States does....


----------



## P38 Pilot (Jul 31, 2006)

plan_D said:


> Known as National Service in Great Britain. We don't have it anymore, which is a shame because it kept the country smart.



I wish the United States had it here. Maybe it would improve how people are....


----------



## plan_D (Aug 1, 2006)

It does improve how people are. Instills a bit of discipline. We had it up until 1950s. You had to serve the military for two years.


----------



## FLYBOYJ (Aug 2, 2006)

One of the biggest deterrents to streetgangs in the US was the draft. When the draft ended in the US streetgangs and streetgang violence statistics went through the ceiling. Shortly after this time the Crips and Bloods came on scene...

It makes me wonder how things might be today if there was a draft but then career soldiers currently in the military would have to deal with these little knuckleheads raised by crackparents and having the reading level of a second grader....


----------



## P38 Pilot (Aug 3, 2006)

Your right. Street violence would end. Is it true that in the U.S when you turn 18 you have to sign a draft card in case there is another draft?


----------



## evangilder (Aug 3, 2006)

Yes, you ahve to register with the Selective Service. Don't worry, they will screw it up. True, but funny story. I got a piece of mail at my home address that my parents forwarded to me at Lackland AFB. The Selective Service board sent me a nastygram that I had not registered for Selective Service. Being the good soldier, I took it to my drill instructor, who laughed his *** off, then asked "Then what the hell are you doing here??". We both got a chuckle out of it. He forwarded it up the chain of command and I never heard from them again. 

It's a simple form you can fill out at the post office or DMV and it takes all of about 2 minutes, 5 if you write real slow.


----------



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Aug 3, 2006)

FLYBOYJ said:


> It makes me wonder how things might be today if there was a draft but then career soldiers currently in the military would have to deal with these little knuckleheads raised by crackparents and having the reading level of a second grader....





We still have to deal with those people without the draft!


----------



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Aug 3, 2006)

You can now sign up for the Selective Service online. That is how I did it years ago.

Once you join the military though, your Selective Service is negated and you dont ever have to worry about the Draft again, even after your service is over.


----------



## evangilder (Aug 5, 2006)

Yep, that is why my DI got such a laugh out of it.


----------



## P38 Pilot (Aug 8, 2006)

Oh. My dad told me when he graduated from High School, he had to sign that.


----------



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Aug 9, 2006)

Yeap either after Highschool or when you turn 18. If you graduate at 17 like I did, you dont have to sign up for the Selective Service until you are 18.


----------



## mkloby (Sep 10, 2006)

P38 Pilot said:


> Your right. Street violence would end. Is it true that in the U.S when you turn 18 you have to sign a draft card in case there is another draft?



That is true - you must legally register for the draft when you turn 18. I vaguely remember filling the form out back when I was 18. But hey, they didn't need to draft me!

Hey Chocks, when I was doing entry level officer training in Virginia, we got to do call for fire exercises where we used grid coordinates to call an initial barrage, then used fire control to adjust the fire. We were firing at old tank and amphib assault vehicle hulks. I remember the rush when you hit that thing dead on! We also got to join the arty crew and load the rounds and pull the lanyard to fire these old US M3 105mm howitzers! Arty is a hell of a workout.


----------



## tpikdave (Mar 21, 2007)

Its OK it all balances out. Now that I have had jury duty four times in 3 years I have been able to equalize the gang and drug threat in the coolest way. I was drafted in 1964 but wound up in the Seabees in Danang and other parts of Vietnam in 66/67. So its my turn now!!!


----------



## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Mar 21, 2007)

tpikdave said:


> So its my turn now!!!



Huh?


----------



## Zipper730 (Sep 4, 2018)

My grandfather was from Cyprus (b. 1921, d. 2002)


----------

