Part two. Men's.
My wife and I went to Egypt at some unpopular time, and when we booked an excursion to the local canyon, it turned out that we would be alone in a hefty SUV. Plus driver and guide. But it was quite good. The guide entertained us with different bikes, and the driver, when there were several kilometers to the canyon and the road ended, allowed me to ride sitting on the roof in the spare tire. I dreamed about it for a long time.
On the way back, our SUV was stopped at a checkpoint. It was all familiar and expected, but when the driver got behind the wheel, it was clear that he was nervous. The guide told me in a terrible whisper that the captain of the Egyptian army would go with us. Well, what? It will even be interesting to chat.
Whatever. A gloomy uncle in military uniform, much younger than me, silently climbed into the front seat, driving the guide out of there. Neither “Hello” to me, nor “My respects” to my wife. Back he imposingly threw a travel bag. He was probably on vacation. While we were driving, the driver obsequiously lit a cigarette for this character, and the guide, I’m not lying, drove the smoke out the window with his palm. Everyone was silent. Is it okay?
In such a fervent atmosphere, we drove for an hour and a half, and then the captain muttered something indistinct, we turned and drove up to the gates of a small military base. I decided that he would leave us here, but, as it turned out, I was mistaken. The captain left without taking things and we began to wait. Ten minutes…. Twenty. . . Forty. . . Then I went berserk. After all, this is my paid car and I'm a tourist. Even not so. I'M A TOURIST. I loot in their economy. I am Gazprom for local finance. I even pay this bastard.
The military base was one long two-story building, where the barracks and headquarters and repair shops for four armored cars were located, which were under a canopy. I came closer and saw through the open window my captain, who was sitting, most likely, in the office of the unit commander. Judging by the stars, the commander was a colonel. Several more officers were sitting in the room, everyone was drinking tea and talking nicely. . The first urge was to make a scandal. But on reflection, I decided that the situation was not in my favor. And the situation is absolutely incomprehensible to me.
But I'm cunning. Going inside, I grunted to the orderly that I was on business and confidently walked to the door of the boss's office. The orderly did not understand anything, but did not dare to squeak. After knocking, I entered, stood at attention and rapped out - “Mr. Colonel. May I apply? Major of the Air Force of Russia such and such. And saluted. (Actually, I'm a junior sergeant in the reserve. ) You should have seen their faces. Silent scene. Moreover, I was wearing frivolous shorts, and a bandana on my head. The Colonel, the only one of them all, spoke quite tolerably in English. We talked to him. After that, he growled something menacing towards the captain. He turned green. Then he ordered the orderly to take the captain's things from the car and invited my wife and I to tea. We thanked and declined.
Here's a story. Nothing good at first glance. But if you dig deeper, very interesting things become clear. Attitude towards the army and the military in society. Unnecessarily hypertrophied respect, but these are local features. And now imagine - two foreign tourists are driving, say, around Suzdal in a car, accompanied by a driver and a personal guide. And by the will of fate they take on board our army captain. This, of course, is impossible, but suppose it happened. So I am sure that our captain will entertain foreigners all the way in every possible way and will be extremely grateful to them. And the guide and the driver will look down on this officer.
Now, if we had a respectful attitude towards the military at least half, at least a third of the Egyptian, then it would be great.
