“Oh my God, you’ll be gone for two years? That really sucks! We’ll be seniors when you come back!” This was the general response from my fellow classmates when I broke the news that I would be joining the army after my freshman year. Considering the ever-increasing number of incoming South Korean students at NYU Abu Dhabi, many of the people who are reading this article have probably had, or will have the same reaction whenever they hear about their Korean male friends who are about to leave the school to fulfill their obligations back home.

In South Korea, all males are required to serve their country for at least 21 months at some point of our lives, mainly because we are technically still at war with North Korea — at least, that is the reasoning offered by our government. Once we turn 18, we must visit military recruiting offices and complete a comprehensive medical examination. We are assigned numbers based on our health status, similar to beef quality indicators. Those that score one to three must serve as active duty members, while four to five can serve at public facilities such as hospitals. The rest are exempt. The percentage of people who serve as active duty members is remarkably high, hovering over 90 percent. Such a high rate results not only from the strong enforcement by our government, but also from our social atmosphere which taboos avoiding military service. The “We all sacrificed our two years, but why didn’t you?” mentality permeates every aspect of our society, even in university club meetings and company offices. It is difficult for young South Korean males to deflect military service because of the fear of ending up in jail for two years, and facing both implicit and explicit discrimination in our society later on. So, the majority of them put halt on their lives in the civilian world, and vanish off to remote parts of our country.

When I entered university in 2014, I was 19 years old and had already received score one at the examination, which meant I had to serve an active duty. I signed up to join in the summer of 2015. Not only did I want to be done with the service early, but I also needed a break from college. In my freshman year, I wasn’t the most appreciative student at NYUAD. Though I had lived and traveled abroad before, I found it quite difficult to be in an isolated part of the world with a culture vastly different from any of those that I had previously been exposed to. Prejudice among different races and cultures made me feel disillusioned about the utopian global harmony of NYUAD. Moreover, I had worked hard to enter university, but after getting there, I could not find the motivation to move forward. Leaving NYUAD was difficult, but I was happy on some accounts. I was glad that I could take a break from the internal conflicts I was going through. As the enlistment date grew closer, I grew a little nervous, but also excited to think about the new experiences awaiting me. After the last supper with my family — it was Korean barbeque, of course — I was off to basic training.

I cannot describe my military experience with complete disclosure due to its sensitive nature, but I still can give a brief description and share my feelings. The army’s basic training, which lasted longer than the usual three months due to my pneumonia, taught me cooperation, vigilance and some more discipline. I would say the training was similar to what you see in movies: shooting, throwing grenades, marching with rucksacks all day and crawling under barbed wires. But every instant required caution — especially when we were dealing with firearms — cooperation with fellow soldiers was necessary to reach a common goal. Rigorous physical training in the morning and fireguard duty in the middle of the night required discipline. These experiences, although difficult, undoubtedly changed me for the better. However, I do not wish to beautify my experience in the army and pretend as if everything was perfect.

One of the problems I noticed was that a lot of people gradually became used to mindlessly following orders without questioning authority. I suppose such traits are useful in the army, but I am not so sure how those would transfer into the civilian world. Also, I noticed that many of the people I have known turned a little more cynical towards positive social changes and have became relatively conservative. Military in general isn’t a place where a lot of creativity is permitted. When you receive your orders, you execute them.

Interestingly, we had a weekly “ideology training,” where we would sit for three hours in a lecture room listening to how North Korea is our enemy and anything left-leaning (in a political sense) is bad. As someone who had always believed in the democratic nature of my country, going through such “lectures” — which are reminiscent of movies depicting the 1980 Soviet Union — in order to protect our “sacred democracy” was contradictory at best. Many of the recruits do get persuaded by such rhetoric and slowly lose their sense of what is right and wrong, blindly following what the authorities tell them.

There is no doubt that my experiences in the army have permanently changed who I am. The world I saw there made me realize how lucky I am to be in NYUAD and to be able to strive for my dreams among a very talented group of people. My time in the army reminded me I am in a position inaccessible to most. The experience definitely showed me what was out there beyond the dunes of Saadiyat Island and has changed me into someone with stronger purpose and drive.

My two years in the army have allowed me to be more appreciative of what we have here in Abu Dhabi. As NYUAD students, we are given a dream opportunity. But the army has also taught me the danger of blindly following what is given to you. Let us be awake and keep our minds open, and be aware of what is happening around us.

Caution: I do not intend to generalize experiences of every military reserve/veteran. Every country has a different military culture and the military itself has different branches and units that perform completely different tasks. This article is based on my personal experience.