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[Ulfgeir]

I watched the Swan Lake yesterday at a local place that is now an even center and restaraunt. It used to be a place for repairing and maintaining steam locomotives. This made the place not that good for things like ballet: the whole place is flat, and they did not stagger the seats, so the person sittning in front of me blocked a large part of my view (I was at row 8, but given that they had the orchestra between the stage and the seats, it was only 3 or 4 rows of seats in front of me). Combine that with a low stage and you could not see the feet of the dancers very well. Kind of one of the points of ballet..

The ballet itself was good and I will gladly watch more, though maybe not at this place... Was the International Festival Ballet that performed.

 

[Aeson]

Ulfgeir, is it common in Sweden for people to thank those in the military or veterans for their service? Do you know if it's common in other European countries? Why does no one thank educators or daycare workers for their service? Why does no one thank nurses or other medical services people for their service?

I'll see people drop what they're doing and go out of their way to thank a veteran. I remember this one time at a restaurant when a woman learned the elderly man next her was a veteran she repeatedly thanked him. He wasn't paying attention or listening to her. She was so hell bent on thanking this man she was actually being kinda rude.

Looking for this comic I noticed different times on different images indicating this complaint has been around for a long time. I remember seeing this many years ago.

I remember when we were in school my mom would buy small gifts like little bottles of hand lotion for us to give the bus driver and the teachers at Christmas. I wonder if parents still do this.

 

[Ulfgeir]

Ulfgeir, is it common in Sweden for people to thank those in the military or veterans for their service? Do you know if it's common in other European countries? Why does no one thank educators or daycare workers for their service? Why does no one thank nurses or other medical services people for their service?

Nope not common here in Sweden. I am old enough to have served and been drafted. They have changed so it was a professional military at a time, and now back to semi-draft...

Might be slightly more common in some of the other European countries, but nowhere near the US-level.

Remember that Sweden hasn't been at war for like 200 years. We have successfully though participated in various UN-missions, like Kongo, former Yugoslavia, and we had people in Libya and Afghanistan.

Edit: I would even go so far as saying it is almost unheard of here in Sweden to thank those in the military/veterans for their service.

 

[Aeson]

200 years. I wonder what the US would be like if we could have made that claim. Your statement confused me a little. You were drafted into the military? Was that in anticipation of going to war? Is it like Israel and a mandatory service?

My father was drafted but didn't go to Vietnam, thankfully. The US used the draft at war time, but not since Vietnam. All males still have to register at age 18 just in case but it hasn't been used since before I was born.

Thank you for answering my question. I am always fascinated by other countries and people. I'm forever curious. I tease and joke sometimes, like the thing with the bananas awhile back, but I really do want to learn about other places and people.

 

[Ulfgeir]

200 years. I wonder what the US would be like if we could have made that claim. Your statement confused me a little. You were drafted into the military? Was that in anticipation of going to war? Is it like Israel and a mandatory service?

My father was drafted but didn't go to Vietnam, thankfully. The US used the draft at war time, but not since Vietnam. All males still have to register at age 18 just in case but it hasn't been used since before I was born.

Thank you for answering my question. I am always fascinated by other countries and people. I'm forever curious. I tease and joke sometimes, like the thing with the bananas awhile back, but I really do want to learn about other places and people.

We had here in Sweden that all men age 18, had to do a thing we call "Mönstring" (translates as "Inspection/Scrutiny" "), which was basically checking our physical /mental fitness and then unless you were some concientious objector (I believe Witnesses of Jehova would get tossed out for being considered hopeless religious fanatics), or you were so infirm that you could not do any military service, or there were other reasons you could not do it (like you were not a Swedish citizen or you had committed crimes), you were drafted, and had to serve between 7.5 months to 1.5 years depending on what you were drafted as (the higher level was for those that would be the equivalent of non-commissioned officers leading small groups of soldiers). So more like Israel.

I got placed in the signal corps, and did 10 months. Good mental things, and not that good physical shape. For some kind of services you would later on (a large number of years later) be called back to do a "repmånad" (translated as "Repetition month". for me it was already included in the service I did. It alsos used to be thata lot fo people would eb placed in places far away from their home. For example I did my service up in Stockholm, and I live near Gothenburg.

This drafting was kind of mandatory service (to be able to protect the country), it depended a lot on the budget the military got, so later on when they got less of a budget and they felt the world was a safer place, they reduced the number of people that had to do the service. Women could participate voluntarily here, not many did but some did.

And then later, the still had the "Mönstring", but opted for getting just the very best, and offering them that as a kind of job.

We realized though that we needed a bigger military, as they are also part of the civil defence and can help in case of natural disasters etc. so they have now extended "Mönstringen" to also apply to women, but they only take those they think are the best (both men/women), and you kind fo have to want to do the military service.

Now, we also have a voluntary thing called "Hemvärnet" (Translates as "Home-guard"). Think of that as the national guard, and they have yearly training-sessions.

As for the the people we sent to Libya, well it was pilots that enforced the no-fly zone, and in Afghanistan it was some special officers. No enlisted people.

Edit: And I figured the banan-thing was just friendly teasing.

 

[trappedslider]

My father was drafted but didn't go to Vietnam, thankfully. The US used the draft at war time, but not since Vietnam. All males still have to register at age 18 just in case but it hasn't been used since before I was born.

Fun story: My dad got order sending him to 'Nam not once but twice, but due to one foot being bigger than the other, the army sent him back to where he was originally stationed.