- I served as a specialist research agent (alternative military service), and in 2024 I went through my first year of reserve forces training. I'm writing this in case it helps other non-mobilized reservists.
- I did my training at the Bakdal Scientific Reserve Forces Training Center, so if you're assigned to a different training site, things may differ from what I describe here.
- I didn't go to the PX, so I have nothing to say about it. The lines are enormously long, so if you're the type to give up on a famous restaurant when there's a queue, you'll probably want to give up on the PX too.
What to Bring
- Military uniform, top and bottom.
- Required.
- Rubber leg bands
- They don't seem to check for these, but most people wear them. They're comfortable, after all. They won't check whether you have the bands themselves, but at the entrance they do check whether your trouser hems look neat.
- Uniform belt
- They don't check, but if you've lost weight and your trousers are loose, you'd do well to wear a personal belt at least.
- Beret
- Not needed. One or two people wore one on day 1, and from day 2 on nobody did. You have to put your ballistic helmet on and take it off at the training ground anyway.
- Reservist insignia patch
- It's like a wappen (a unit patch). It's listed among the things to bring in the notice, but you don't need it.
- Combat boots
- Required.
- ID
- Required.
- Sunscreen
- Put on a waterproof one before you come.
- Motion sickness medicine
- If you're taking the shuttle bus run by your local government to the training site and you get badly carsick, it's a good idea to take motion sickness medicine beforehand. I'm mentioning this because someone threw up.
Other Tips
- There's really no need to research the training content beforehand. It's very easy. Since it's the non-mobilized training, there are a lot of alternative-service people too, and perhaps for that reason they seem to let it slide if your shooting is a bit poor.
- The biggest villain at the non-mobilized training is not the person who's clumsy, but the person who doesn't keep to the schedule and disappears. Before you go anywhere, let someone in your squad know. Of course, if you're prepared enough to read this post, you're surely not the villain...
- If possible, leave things like your phone or AirPods in the storage lockers. Maybe because the combat uniform pockets are big, quite a lot of people drop things. A four-day digital detox isn't a bad idea either.