Culture is something that a person is born into… but is also forever evolving! I come from a totally civilian background… meaning neither my father nor anyone else from my family has ever stepped into a military organization let alone be part of one! Till I got married some 15 years back: I didn’t know that “Civilian” was a type of culture… or for that matter the “Armed Forces” that I got married into, is a clan or as I prefer to call it a “tribe” by itself!
For a complete civilian like me the whole armed forces culture was a paradigm shift! Over here ladies eat before the men. Officers would always call the lady “Ma’am” unless otherwise requested! The first man would take a seat after the last lady has taken hers! But well one can say that’s British Chivalry that makes the armed forces the way they are… Ok, so go figure this out... you invite 10 people for dinner 22 turn up… the extra 12 are what we call “bouncers”… no they don’t come bouncing in… or maybe they actually do! They are the proud gate crashers… in this culture the number of gate crashers are a symbol of the hosts popularity!
Worse still imagine this scenario… you have retired for the night, as you are not well… at 10 pm you get a group of 15 bachelors come home… asking you to cook meal… or better still saying “we’d eat whatever you have cooked” (how considerate… normal people always have leftovers that can feed 15 hungry men! right?!). So when you say “we have already had our dinner as I am not well” the answer you get is quite contrary to what you expect - “That’s alright, Ma’am. We will have whatever you make!”, and all this because they think you are really nice and cool… and its their way of showing love and respect! One would think that all these should be really irritating right? On the contrary after the first few incidents, I now invite 15 and cook for 25… and always have some quick fire recipes in mind for the odd 10 bachelors who decide to “bounce” me for dinner… and weekends I always have 3 litres of milk boiled and kept for the stray cat…or the fighter pilot who might drop in at 0230 am for a cup of coffee! I don’t mind I am privileged and happy to be part of this tribe!
