BOOT CAMPS, PRESS-UPS, FOOTBALL AND FATE… Shan Masood

BOOT CAMPS, PRESS-UPS, FOOTBALL AND FATE…

Shan Masood: We were literally outside our comfort zone. We had to get up at 4:30am every day. We did not have any choice when it came to room-mates. Whoever you were assigned to, you roomed with.

Two weeks of it. They were very strict with timings. By 5:15am we’d be lined up, all 30 of us, to go straight to the top of the compound for the national anthem. But you dared not walk there, because walking was considered a disgrace to the ground, so you had to run. There was a colonel running it, with three majors and 20 other staff members who were the best at physical training in their fields. They were all qualified and taught physical training to Pakistan soldiers.

It created this patriotic sense within us. You’re singing the national anthem at 5:30 every morning. You start running and then while you are running you have to shout out a few chants. If you don’t shout those chants they make you run longer. One day I got sick because we ate some food that we really shouldn’t have, but they still made me train.