Many people admire men and women in uniform but rarely do they ask themselves of what it takes to be a soldier.
Captain Grace Ajierh, the army lawyer who won a medal for drafting and implementing the Kenya Defence Forces Act, in a lengthy interview gave a glimpse of what it is like to be a soldier.
Forget the glamour of the uniform, it is no walk in the park.
“The enemy is not soft... The training has to be tough, the soldier even tougher,” Ajierh told the Nation during an interview.
For ladies out there who want to join the army, Captain Ajierh says one must have internal toughness to survive military training.
“Sometimes after a routine march, the soles of your feet are blistered; you remove your socks and your skin peels off, but you don’t give up; you soldier on – literally,” she said.
As we all know, military work is male-oriented and ladies with a passion to join in should be prepared to play the game.
Ajierh says one cannot be excused from responsibilities just because of their gender.
Women usually undergo emotional suffering in such cases especially when you have to leave your young children behind for work.
The mother-child bonding vanishes into thin air.
“You must realise that your family comes first with you, but when duty calls, you must be willing to separate your personal life from your private life.
It can be mentally challenging even if we are up to the task.
It is more challenging for women when they have to leave their family, especially those with very young children,” the soldier explained further.
Also, such cases as pregnancy cannot be a reason to miss out training unless your commander makes special arrangements with you on humanitarian grounds.
Girls must also be ready to shave clean their heads and understand that such things like make-up, feminine dressing and female finesse do not exist in the army during training because ‘there is no feminine beauty’ in the battlefield.