Seyyed of Quarters 15 (8)

Memories of Iranian Released POW, Seyyed Jamal Setarehdan

2016-12-3

Seyyed of Quarters 15

Memories of Iranian Released POW, Seyyed Jamal Setarehdan

Edited and Compiled by: Sassan Nateq

Tehran, Sooreh Mehr Publications Company

‎2016 (Persian Version)‎

Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian

Chapter 3

Evening of the 6^th Day

My mother packed my holdـall with my clothes and lots of pistachios, almonds, and raisins.

• Don’t be hard to yourself. Fill your pockets with and eat them.

I was eighteen and had taken the conscription papers from Ardabil gendarmerie regiment three days before. The date of my dispatch was on 10^th October 1986. I wasn’t curious to find out where I will be dispatched, but many struggled to find out where we will be dispatched. My parents’ advises continued until midnight. Making them relieved, I promised to take care of myself.  

I went to Takhti Stadium in the morning. We had been told to gather there. The buses had parked one after another. Families had come for seeing-off. I saw Rahib Kamali between soldiers. He was our neighbor’s boy. Names were called one by one and along with Rahib I got into a bus. Four buses went out of stadium in turn. People saw off with uttering Salavat and burning seeds of wild rue, which jumped like mother’s heart throbbing.

We had not gained distance too much when we found out that our destination is Ajabshir; a garrison which people fearfully remembered it as a ‘factory of man-creating’!

Reaching there, they told us at the first moment that there is no leave during the period of training; neither getting leaves for going to town nor hourly-leave. I was sent to company-3, when we were divided. The quarters of company was filled with triple bunk beds. I put my stuff on the first bed of one of them. I hadn’t still sat on the bed, when a non-commissioned officer came into and said: "Who wants to be the monitor of quarters?"

Several hands upped. The non-commissioned officer looked around and said to one of handsome soldiers: "You! Where’re you from?"

•  Mianeh.

The non-commissioned officer said: "From now you're the monitor of quarters-3."

Everything began the next day. We got up early in the morning and after cleaning the quarters and yard, we ate breakfast. Training began at eight o'clock and we exercised until twelve o'clock at noon. Warrant officer Dastranji ordered us to queue every day and then took us to morning field and delivered to Lieut. Teerkhoun. Lieutenant Teerkhoun was our training instructor. He was fat and said that five or six years later will be retired. The very first day he said loud and distinct, "sweat, so your blood not to shed."

He was serious and disciplinarian. His simplest punishment was siting-rising. Gradually, push-up and running around the flag rod were added. He tried to train us robust, strong-willed and fearless, like a man. These exercises weren’t new to me and I had learned most of them in Basij; but some soldiers groaned because of Lieut. Teerkhoun’s strictness.

At night, I had lay down in quarters tired and exhausted, and was ready to sleep. The lights had been turned off when I heard someone’s footstep. I said to myself he is surely the officer in duty. It was him. He walked among the beds and firmly said: "All of you have slept?"

"Yeah", suddenly one of soldiers shouted,

The officer in duty said: "Turn the lights on."

A soldier went and turned on the lights. The officer said: "line up in front of your beds."

Grumbling, we got up and stood in front of our beds. The only thing that was heard at that moment of night was the sound of officer‘s boots which was knocked down on the shiny floor of quarters. The officer in duty looked at soldiers and said: "Who said ‘yes’?"

A soldier raised his hand. He came from Mashhad. The officer said: "When I say ‘all have slept?’ you should lie down on your bed like a piece of wood. Think you have died. No one should talk. Clear?"

This time, we all shouted: "Yes."

The officer walked among the beds and suddenly cried out: "go to your beds."

As if death has followed us, we climbed up and lay down on our beds. I was pulling the sheet on myself when the officer whistled and said: "go under your beds!"

One of soldiers said a sort of jokingly: "what's going on under beds?"

The officer in duty didn’t give up. I came down and went under the bed. This was repeated several times until he gave up.

Training continued, but at the same time that Mashhadi soldier said "yes" every night. One of soldiers who had been very fatigue and sleepy went to him and said: "from morning all of us has been given hell, so don’t harass and let us sleep!"

Mashhadi soldier nodded, but again he did the same as soon as the officer entered. The next day two of soldiers collared him. One of them shouted at him: "If stop us from resting and sleeping once more..."

He held his fist in front of Mashhadi soldier’s face and said: "We’ll massage you with this."
The rest of soldiers also ignored him during the day until night when the officer came. This was repeated so many times that most officers in duty knew the story of our quarters and dropped into it even for their fun. The lights had turned off and we had all lain on the bed. I heard the sound of officer’s boots. He came in and walked between the beds. Suddenly he shouted: "All have slept?"

We were waiting for Mashhadi soldier’s shout and the officer’s whistling, but we were lucky that he could stand firm. That night I slept comfortably for the first time.

The quality of garrison food wad good, but soldiers complained it’s not enough and they didn’t fill full. Those who were stout and didn’t eat enough food often went to buffet, bought and ate cakes, a sort of muffins, and beverages.

Lieutenant Teerkhoun and warrant officer Dastranji carefully supervised training. One day around noon, one of instructors who had curled mustache approached the company and began speaking with Lieutenant. Two of soldiers made a wisecrack.

• What a mustache!
• Lads! This is mustache or rope?

I don’t know whether the instructor heard it or not, but he suddenly shouted: "as soon as I began counting from one to three, you should round the flag rod and return."

We all ran towards the flag rod. I overtook all and went sooner to the lieutenant and the instructor than the others. The instructor looked at my face and said, "Are you Turkish?"

• Yes, Sir!

He nodded with satisfaction and said: "that’s it!"

Soldiers arrived panting one by one. Lieutenant Teerkhoun also took swiftly the opportunity to say his golden words: "sweat, so your blood not to shed!"

Like us, another company was being punished a little away. It wasn’t very warm, but they groaned as were crawling on the asphalt ground.

At leisure time, we all sat together in quarters and talked about different things. One of soldiers had come from a village near Malekan. He was a simple and honest boy who spoke Farsi hardly with accent. He said that he was a shepherd in his village. Soldier Koohi came from Ardabil. When soldier Malekani spoke, he laughed and teased him.

A few days after the start of training, it was time for the company soldiers to take shower, but there were just a few minutes for doing it. Training instructors kicked the doors and shouted ‘go out soon’. So, we hadn’t enough time to wash ourselves properly.

One day I was busy intoning the Quran in quarters, when one of the sergeants saw me and asked, "Can you perform the Quran-reciting program for battalion?"

I agreed and from that day onwards I performed the program of reciting Quran for battalion.

One soldier from our neighborhood had connections in the garrison and provisions always were prepared for him. Although we were said there will be no leaves, but he got leave every week. I wrote letters for my parents not to be upset by seeing him and said I have no problem. My mother was old and had a heart problem. I wrote for her: "My friend has connections, but my connection is God and after completing the course, I’ll see you."

To be continued…