From: Lubosh <Lubosh.Hanuska@anu.edu.au>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.catholic
Subject: Quo Vadis ? #12
Date: 18 Nov 1992 07:48:54 GMT
Organization: Australian National University
Distribution: world
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X-XXDate: Wed, 18 Nov 92 02:49:02 GMT

The Cold War

Well, when my studies were over, I had to take the "real" military
service... It was only for a year, but everybody expected it as the worst
time in his life. I was lucky to be sent to a relatively quiet post - a
huge amunition storage in distant forests just half-way between Prague
and Brno. The unit was only around a hundred men, and the only task was
patrolling the area 24 hours a day. I was quite reconciled with the idea.
After an introductory week when we were not allowed to go out, we had a
Sunday off, so my first idea was to go to the town (it was over 4 kms,
with a few buses a day, but we often just walked, and hoped for a car to
pass by and take mercy) and take art in a Sunday mass. I found a nice old
church, obviously very neglected, as it often happened in a small Czech
town where you usually find only a small Catholic community. Anyway, I
found a real support in prayer in front of the Eucharist, and I returned
back really full of joy and peace. And strength of the Holy Spirit was
what I needed - on the next day I was called by the MP officer who
started to question me why didn't I get drunk with all the other guys,
but went to the church instead... I think he wasn't very happy with my
answers, but there was not much he wanted to do about it. Also - he was
Slovak, and he found out I am coming from the same town as his parents
did, so I had a good point with him. But the real thing was still to
come. At that time I had a girlfriend who unfortunately lived on the
other side of Europe, she was Dutch, and my first letter I was trying to
send her was caught. So within the same week I was called to my favourite
officer again. To my surprise there were some other people there, with a
few more stipes and starts on their shoulders - that gave me the idea
that it is serious... And it also was... The whole machinery of the
military intelligence was already working on my friend's file, who was
just an ordinary student in Holland ! And I was facing up to ten years in
a military prison (which of course is "better" than a civil one, but only
from the point of view of its designers :-) if they'd find out about
something... Of course they didn't, but they could have made up anything
and nobody could argue with it, as it happened so many times... I'll
never forget those few days I was waiting for another questionning. It
was the most horrible time in my life. At least, I have already found
there two great friends - one of them has also just finished his studies
- he was a pharmaceutist, and was there as a medical assistant, the other
one was a preacher of the Evangelical church (the theology study did not
make it possible to join the military training during the uni, so all the
young priests had to join the military for the compulsory service of two
years to make it harder for them). Those two guys were really good
friends, they let me feel their support, and as we prayed together, it
helped me a lot during the time I spent there. We used to meet in the
medical unit, where after the working hours nobody was "hanging around",
and we had it all for ourselves. Sometimes I came there during the
working hours, and we talked also to the GP there - he was a sort of
unhappy intelectual who joined the army in order to get to the best
medicine study (it was cnsidered even better than the Charles Uni in
Prague at that time) which was at the Military Academy - and he found
himself stuck in the army for at least three years (that was the
obligatory period of service after completion of the study at the
Military Academy). Otherwise he was very friendly, and clever, a big
contrary to all the other officers. We came a few times to a religious
topic, but he never wanted to discuss - it seemed to me that joining the
military he decided to put everything related to religion aside, but I
felt he missed something, as he mentioned his mother was a religious
woman, and obviously he retained something inside... I pray that once
he'll discover the treasure of faith... Thanks to God my problems with my
"inappropriate" connections in the West were solved, and on top of it I
was not "reliable" for the regular service. There were two of us like
that - of course the preacher was also totally "unreliable" to patrol the
amunition storages ! And just at that time our doctor was due to take a
two months practice in a military hospital ! Suddenly everything came
into place, the chief commander called me again, and said "Well, you also
are a doctor, aren't you?", and didn't even wait for me to explain that
my PhD was not in medicine - I was assigned to replace the doctor for the
time of his absence ! So I moved to the medical unit, the best thing that
could have happened to me ! Oh, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who else
would have taken care of His flock ?!? Day by day we were building up a
nice little "prayer unit" in the middle of that wilderness... Later I
found a way how to send safely my letters to my friend in Holland, and I
managed to get to the Sunday mass quite often - once I came to the
presbytery on a Sunday morning, in a pouring rain the priest took me into
a distant village where he had the mass that day... he gave me a big
black coat to cover my uniform (I probably looked really funny) and asked
me to assist him at the altar. Surprisingly enough the intelligence
officer called me on the next day, and I had to explain... I was
genuinely surprised - how did he find out? Did somebody tell him ? There
were not even ten people in the church... Somebody must have seen me, but
who ? I tell you, these people were sometimes very efficient ! But back
to our docto he was a smart guy, so during his work at the hospital he
managed to find himself a much better assignment than a remote unit in
the middle of the forest. He only came back for a short time, more less
just to say good bye... and I was to remain as the medical practitioner
for the rest of my service. But I was also smart, and started to study
all the books I had there to find out how can I get an exception to cut
my service shorter... Of course I found the way, and when I was leaving
the service on a medical exception after nine months of regular work-out
in the gym everybody wondered. The best thing was that everybody knew I
made it up, and arranged it for myself. The MP officer called me when he
was obviously drunk, and told me that he can still cause a lot of
problems to me, but he wouldn't bother, he said "because you are from my
town" (how great). The chief commander also appeared to be smart, and he
used his allowance to hold me for one week more without any reason (well,
was there any reason in the military logic ever?), but then I left after
just over nine months, leaving the happy medical unit in care of my
brother Protestant preacher who was the one I chose to replace me... So
that was my medical practice. It was a very good experience, except
sometimes I had to resist officers claiming to have prescribed drugs they
didn't need. I only made one mistage when a guy came with all symptoms of
laryngitis, and I took it as laryngitis, and gave him the treatment for
it. When he didn't show any improvement after three days, I had his blood
sample analysed, and it showed to be mononucleosis, and the doctor in the
hospital said "Don't worry, all young doctors do this until their first
case happens!" But there were other cases, more serious than this - there
was one case of suicide attempt, when one of those young guys obviously
under drugs one evening cut his veins on both wrists, and he lost an
awful lot of blood before we managed to stop the bleeding and send him to
the hospital... It was an interesting time, and I should say somehow now
I don't recall the bad times, I intend to remember the good things
instead - so it seems it wasn't that bad... 
Well, it's probably very difficult to justify the military service as
such, but I can say I saw quite a few men who found a sense of discipline
in it... And for me it was really a good time to straighten my arguments
with the Protestants - my friend was the Evangelical preacher, he was
married, and his wife was Catholic, whilst I was Catholic, and had a
girlfriend who was Protestant... So we had our little cold war :-)
Thank God it's over, at least for me.
In His all-embracing Love,
Lubosh

+!       "I am surrounded by enemies, who are like man-eating lions.
          Their teeth are like spears and arrows; their tongues like
sharp swords.
          Show your greatness in the sky, O God, and your glory over all
the earth."
                                                                         
                       Psalm 57,4-5
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