我們就是一群被譽為「沒有戰力」的預官。之所以會「沒有戰力」是因為我們服從的概念薄弱，又通常手無縛雞之力。於是我一直想打破這個形象。我的體能測驗通常在部隊裡是第一名的(因此後來才會當訓練官)，而且我盡可能的早睡早起，集合決不遲到。尤其是準時這件事，一開始對於其他的預官同僚們為何做不到這一點，我也很納悶。

但隨著部隊移防到高雄，我有機會和一群預官同寢，發現到他們獨特之處，其中很多預官是碩士，我更在他們身上學到不少。

第一，預官考試一定要考英文、近代史、與國文，這些預官不僅英文要有相當的程度，近代史要能讀得下去，連對古文恐怕也要有些了解，因為預官考試的國文也是近乎沒有範圍的。試想一下，什麼樣的人會甚至對古文都有興趣呢？一來他不是很聰明，不然就是怪胎！重點是，他們的興趣通常很廣泛，了解的東西也多，我特別佩服那些理工類組的人，卻考上預官，我更覺得不可思議。

第二，預官們通常有一些有別於「服從」的觀點和想法，這是我從小到大一直沒有被交到的。舉例來說，有一回，一位我們的中校長官是意我們去擦窗戶 (在這樣偏僻的營區，而且是後備單位，預官擦窗戶掃廁所並不事件稀奇的事，而這兩樣我當然都做過)，我只是二話不說就說好，這時見我的另一位同事若有所思地說，「可是督導有可能會檢查文件檔案，簿茹我們先把公文都處理好在說，…」於是我們就這樣，可以做在辦公室裡「打公文」，我覺得我好像是被訓練來「聽話」的，而我同事則是用來「思考」的，這個差別讓我打擊很大，不過我終於知道我們預官對這個軍隊可以做的最大貢獻是什麼。即使我唯命是從，了不起就做一個很優秀的「少尉小預官」，但是我若是可以進一步去思考整個體制，及方向的問題，我或許可以有另一方面的貢獻。

第三，他們都好辯。當然，我也好辯，不過他們有一套自己的理論，不見得會遵循一般的想法。比如說，有些業務做不好，我們當然會加班，但是就是有人不加班，時間到了，就跑去睡覺，這不是害群之馬嗎？可是他並不這麼認為，他覺得加班是一種沒有工作效率的表現，而且他覺得不加班並不代表做得比我們少。他白天該工作的時候，他認為他決不偷懶，相對地我們則是浪費太多時間在說話、打混之中。跟他說話實在好玩，因為他總是會帶給你不同的觀點，我認識了好幾個這樣的人。

第四，他們對我考研究所的幫助甚大。雖然他們都不是讀我這一科的，但是他們卻可以常常就邏輯性上面提出質疑，並且加以研究，學到他們的思考模式之後，我彷彿變了一個人，不再用死讀書的方式來讀書。其中有一爲是政大語言所的學長，我做考古題不會的問題都會問他，雖然只有兩次，他也不是每題都會，但是我看到了「研究生解決問題的方法」，並不能凡是都問人，問不到人就坐以待斃！

突然間，我認為考研究所不再是這麼遙遠！！！！

We are the so-called “wuss” lieutenants. The reason we are wusses is that we are not always ready to obey, and we usually suck physically. That is the stereotypical image I want to break. Therefore, I always do my best to be the best in the training drill, and I am always willing to obey. I didn’t know why this could be so hard for my colleagues, especially when it goes to punctuality.

When we were transferred to Kao-Hsiong, however, I had a chance to share a room with several other university lieutenants. This was when I found something special in them and also learned a lot from them.

First of all, if you are a college graduate, and you wanna be an officer when you are in the army, you have to pass an exam that contains English proficiency test, Contemporary Chinese History, and ancient Chinese. I mean who’s gonna be interested in those!! They are either terribly intelligent or freaky geeks! I mean, they must have a very wide range of interests, and they know a lot about the world. I especially appreciate those who majored in science and passed the exam that is so focused on humanity.

Secondly, other than obedience, they usually have some wild ideas, which I had never been told. For instance, one time I was told to rub the windows. Obviously, it is not uncommon for a lieutenant to do those things such as rubbing windows and washing toilets, which I have done both. While all I could think of is to say yes yes yes, my colleague spoke prudently, “I think the main focus of the coming inspection will be on the paper work. How about letting us do the paper and file work first?” Therefore, we ended up sitting in the office doing the paper work. This was so inspiring to me! I am here not only to obey, but to think! If I obey all the time, the best I can be is maybe a little excellent lieutenant, but if I can think on a supervisor’s point of view, I may be able to make greater contribution!

Thirdly, they are all contentious. Well, I am contentious too. It seemed that they always have a particular reason for that, though. For example, we often work overtime when things were not done, but there was one guy who wouldn’t work overtime, and instead, he always went to bed on time! Isn’t he a jerk? He doesn’t think so. Actually he thought that working overtime is the consequence of inefficient working style. He claimed that he never goofed around during working hours, and contrastively, we always talked and laughed and take breaks, and that’s why he thinks he was actually doing the same thing as we do. It is so much fun talking with him because he always brings you several divergent ideas. I knew several guys like this in the army.

Fourth, they helped me a lot on my preparation of the entrance exams. Although none of them studied Linguistics, they were all able to give me pieces of their advice in terms of Logics, Mathematics, and science. I turned into another guy by talking to those freaks! There was one guy who is a graduate from Cheng-Chi University, and whom I always asked for help when I am puzzled by some questions. He is not know-it-all, and I only had the chance to ask him twice, but I learned how to solve a problem, and independent thinking. That’s the way graduate students think.

Suddenly, graduate schools didn’t seem far from me anymore.