Lucky Keyvan

I'll Serve in Etka Organization

nayyeri — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 11:37:00 PDT

Alright, it seems I'm getting lucky!

Today I went out to a central camp in Tehran to know where should I serve after this. Thankfully today was a good day and I got good news!

I'll spend remained months of my service (18 months) in a division of Iran Ministry of Defense which is named Etka organization where they're responsible to provide some kind of support for military guys and their families but this support is just limited to providing foods, meets and some other daily requirements for a family not providing weapons, gadgets and other military requirements. Etka has several markets around Iran in small and big cities and I can call it a semi-military organization because 70% of this organization are normal peoples. Even their military employees don't wear military clothes.

I haven't started my work there but I knew this organization to some extent and am happy at first glance.

I'm not sure but it seems that I'll serve 8 hours a day (from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM) from Saturday to Wednesday (five days a week) and this sounds good to me.

Well, now I have a better feeling than two months ago and can plan for my life. Since I got back to home from training things are getting better and better everyday and I'm returning to a daily routine.

End of Training

nayyeri — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 22:28:00 PDT

Yesterday I finished my military training, got my Second Lieutenant rank and got back to home. Till next Monday I can rest then they'll let me know where should I serve in next 18 months but I don't think they kick me to another city again.

I want to write more about training in my holiday so stick with this blog if you're interested. I hadn't written about my training camp place but now that I left there it's possible to give more details. My training camp was in a mountain near Abeyek town near Qazvin city in Qazvin province. This camp belongs to Iran Ministry of Defense. Ministry of Defense is responsible for managing all armies and supporting them in order to defense against any attack to Iran. Actually we (guys who serve in ministry) don't involve in military operations very much and our main job is to provide required means for all military forces in Iran and support them.

So most likely I'll spend remained months somewhere in Tehran like an employee and probably won't wear military clothes.

Iran and British Sailors

nayyeri — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 22:28:00 PDT

Nowadays Iran and British sailors are at top news (what has happened to nuclear energy?!). I didn't know about this until my last holiday and never thought that it can become very sensitive like this.

Probably you're familiar with military stuff and know that this is something usual between two neighbor countries so shouldn't surprise anyone. British armies are in Iraq and Iraq has long borders with Iran both in land and sea.

In my opinion current political position between Iran, Europe and US is making this problem harder and harder. Unfortunately European countries did a wrong job about this problem and UK denied the problem from the base!

Apparently British sailors are arrested inside Iran and some sailors confessed this. On the other hand their GPS device is showing that not only for one time but also for five times they were in Iran.

However, this isn't important at all. No one in Iran (from normal people) wants to persist on this and disturb a few sailors just because they were in Iran for 5-6 times. Everyday many Afghan terrorists get inside Iran and move drugs from east to west and other countries. Iran Police force doesn't arrest them and just watches them to destroy this country! But unfortunately this problem is going to be something similar to Iran nuclear energy. Both Western countries and Iran are making the problem harder and don't want to go back from their positions. I hope that other countries don't interfere in this problem to make it harder to solve and Iran government doesn't keep these sailors anymore. With current political position and what western media are trying to show it's better to release these sailors as soon as possible. All in all, all countries must respect to borders otherwise we won't have peace in our world anymore. British sailors did a wrong job and no one can deny this.

+ How stupid are these governments! They're looking for something to start a new war! "Hey, why that water is blue?! Let's attack to somewhere!" They're idiot, idiot! The interesting point is Iranian government is ready to defense from Iran in all cases but how?! They force young men to go ahead and die for their wrong decisions!

+ These Iranian Police forces are lazy. They eat and sleep all day long. I don't know how they could arrest 15 British sailors! Be sure British sailors are in hotel and have a better position than me in camp!

What's Up with My Training?

nayyeri — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:42:00 PDT

You may ask why I don't update my army blog. There are some main reasons:

For a long time (35-40 days) I was sick and was resting in bed when I could get back to home.
When I get back to home from training don't want to think about what has happened to me and remember those pains for a few days.
I'm so tired and want sometime to rest. On the other hand I have to work on some projects and keep up the other blog so you can believe that I don't have much time for blogging about training.
There are many things to write about training as experiences but I prefer to write them after service because they need much time to be described and also I worry about writing about them at this time because they may say I'm spying and give me more troubles (yes, you can't imagine the position!!).

So wait for next two weeks until I finish my training and come back to home. Then I'll try to write more about my training experiments.

+ Currently I'm at home and will leave here tomorrow afternoon to start the last part of my training which is two weeks maximum.

First Two Weeks of Training

nayyeri — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 01:49:00 PST

This Thursday I finished first two weeks of my training and came back to home for a short holiday (less than two days). I should leave home in 2-3 hours and want to give some updates about first two weeks.

Generally things were different from what I had anticipated about military service training. Things got hard for me when I arrived to camp for first time and my right foot got injured and a very big sore on my right heel made me down (although I had to run all day long). Anyone with a short experience in military training knows what I say. On the other hand first days are harder than others and we suffered from many things that I factor them for now.

Our camp is in a mountain and we should climb for 4-5 Kilometers to reach to main camp. Running in mountain is our main job everyday to move to other places in camp and this is the most annoying thing in our training. Weather is so cold and almost all guys (including myself) got cold. We should pass training all day long and don't have anytime to rest except 6-7 hours to sleep at nights. Day after day I could adapt myself with their conditions and now things are better. There are many details to write about these first two weeks but unfortunately I don't have enough time to write about them for now.

I (and others) guess that they'll give us a longer holiday from next week for our new year eve so I should be back in 7-8 days to write more about my experiments. My right heel is better than first days but I have to care about it anyway.

I could find something about my military rank: if I pass my training successfully then I'll become a Second Lieutenant.

Stay tuned, I'll be back very soon to write more about these dark days!

First Day of Service

nayyeri — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 23:34:00 PST

Yesterday was the first day of my service. I was a little tired and couldn't write about it yesterday.

Actually this first day changed my mind about military service to some extent. Early morning I went to a place to know where should I pass my training. After half hour they gathered us as a group of 500-1000 soldiers and told us some details about our training then split us into smaller groups based on our camp codes.

My training camp is in a small city near Qazvin (I'll write its name later) and is 110 miles far from home at Tehran (or something around that). I've been there (in Qazvin) for 2-2.5 months in first year of my university (4 years ago) to pass one of my university courses. I would say that Qazvin was absolutely better than Semnan (where I was studying at university).

I have no idea about this small city near Qazvin but this area should have a very cold weather in next couple of months. I'm familiar with Quazvin from the past and this is a good point for me.

Now I have a better feeling about my training. There are many similarities for Qazvin and Semnan and my experiments in Semnan can help me to pass training easier. Semnan and Qazvin are two cities in east and west of Tehran with a short distance and they're capitals of Semnan and Qazvin provinces respectively. Although they're very similar from strategic point of view but Semnan has less population and warmer weather. Qazvin itself has some famous historical places with good people. They're originally Turk and speak Turkish.

They told us that we can go back to home until Thursday (tomorrow). Then we should be at a bus terminal tomorrow morning and they will move us to camp.

Hopefully I'll write more details here on our first holidays.

An Overview of Military Service in Iran

nayyeri — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 09:27:00 PST

There are just five days remained to my service (next Tuesday). Before writing more on this blog about my experiences I thought it's a good idea to write about Iranian military organizations, their history and military service to let my foreign readers know more about things that will be discussed here.

Iran has two main military organizations:

Artesh (traditional armies as what you see in many countries).
Sepah or Guards Corps (a new organization that is created after Islamic Revolution and currently it's the main organization in Iran).

There is also a semi-military organization of volunteer peoples named Basij that is a division of Sepah but doesn't act as an active organization for now. Many people (I think more than 20 million peoples) are a member of Basij because government gives out good positions and opportunities for Basij members in organizations, universities and ... It's simple, being a Basij member guarantees your future in Iran. You can read more about history and structure of these organizations on Wikipedia.

Artesh and Sepah are both a part of Iranian Ministry of Defense but Sepah is the main one (usually guys from Sepah are chosen as minister of defense to be able to control Artesh as well). Iranian government trusts on them more than Artesh and uses them in strategic positions. For example Iranian Airports are secured by Sepah armies not Police forces (like other countries). On the other hand Sepah is the owner of many projects inside Iran. Many roads, buildings, companies, banks and ... are built or managed by Sepah.

Most of western countries consider Sepah and Basij as terrorist groups. You may know that recently United States armies attacked to Iranian embassy and arrested some diplomats and said that they're Sepahi and terrorist and it was top news for some weeks. I don't want to get in details about this topic and just wanted to give a short introduction.

Sepah and Artesh are two different organizations. Artesh is a popular organization and its members are normal people but most of Sepah members are government fans so I think this is one of reasons for western governments to consider them as terrorist groups. Sepah and Artesh both have same military branches (air force, army, navy and ...) but Sepah is a professional organization and Artesh has been kept traditional.

In Iran each man who passes 18 and doesn't study in schools or universities must serve in required military service (there are many exceptions considering their health and family). If they don't serve then government won't let them to sell or buy anything officially or get passport to leave Iran (and several other restrictions). Although there are many restrictions like these but there are many young men who don't serve and are living easily. Currently military service takes 20 months and depending on your degree and some other parameters you must pass a training from 2 to 4 months. After this while you must spend remained months as a soldier in one of military organizations, camps or government ministries and organizations. I don't know about other degrees but guys with BS (like me) will be an officer after training.

If you can find a position in one of government organizations or ministries then you'll have a great chance to pass your military service in a good place otherwise they will choose a place for you. You can serve in Sepah, Artesh or Police forces but serving in Sepah needs you to be a member of Basij group as an active member for at least 6 months. Serving in Sepah is very easy and many guys compare it with Hotel because you just go to holidays and enjoy your time in this organization. But most of us should serve in Artesh or Iranian Ministry of Defense where things are hard and usually we should meet with thousands of idiots. The main annoying thing in military service is this. Usually your commander is an idiot who tries to waste your time (because he has this command from upper levels).

After finishing your university or school you have a timeline to register for military service. After registering they will call you to start your service in 2-6 months (normally). One or two weeks before starting your training you will receive a mail that contains a code. This code specifies your training camp and you will know where is it at first day of your service (when you must go to some places to get initial information about your training).

Having these said, as I'm not a government fan and I don't want to be considered as a terrorist, never joined to Basij to be able to serve in Sepah so most likely I will serve in Artesh. Last week I got my code and now I'm awaiting to see what will happen. Thankfully things are getting better and aren't as bad as what I had anticipated. Hopefully I can write more details next week when I get more information and start my service officially.

With current rules my military service ends at 22nd October 2008. Over the past years I had many plans for my life after this date and I'm very close to it. You can imagine that how restricted I was in Iran and how hard were things for me during these 22 years. This end date is like a birthday for me. In recent months I missed many great job positions offered around the world. How many opportunities did I miss! I'm sorry for myself! I'm like a guy who wants to run faster and faster to get free, to see the world, to ...

Take it easy!

Counting Down for Service

nayyeri — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:17:00 PST

I just sent an update about my service to my blog. I'll give more details here very soon.

Smell Of War

nayyeri — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 09:03:00 PST

Yes, this is the top news in politics world! The possibility of United States attacks to Iran. And I will start my military service in 30 days!

The possibility of this new war in middle east is more than what you think. When Ahmadinejad could become Iran's president, got some instructions to change the direction of Iran international strategy and it led to these days. Taking a look at what they've done shows us they were preparing for war.

In my field (computer and internet), they started a new program named "National Internet". Unlike its name, this program wants to block all websites and only allows some local sites with allowed content in a wide intranet! One month ago they started another program to force all site owners to register their sites with their name, public code, address, phone number and other information. After two months all sites except these will be blocked (as expected). They destroyed many satellite dishes, closed all famous newspapers and arrested many guys . Now all media belong to government. While you're listening about a new war and it's on top news, here inside Iran, they don't talk about it. Instead, they're talking about energy, gas, ATM cards, ...!

But on the other hand they're preparing for war and each and everyday we're closer to it.

As a guy who doesn't have any choice and must serve in Iranian armies, I expect this war and am preparing myself. But I won't shoot to defense these stupid guys. I missed my childhood for Iraq's war against Iran. My family (like many other families who were living near battlefields) had to try (and still trying) forever to get back to a normal life. Some idiots who were resting in their houses became hero's and governed on us. Now I don't want to kill anyone or die. If I had a good reason to do this, I was ready but here I think it's a big sin and mistake! Apparently nuclear energy is just something to show the power and Islamic Republic of Iran wants to show its power. If they get success then first group who will be suffered are Iranians.

Two years ago one of Iran politicians had a lecture in our university. He was talking about supporting terrorist groups in Iraq to kill Americans and force them to leave this country and open doors to Iran. Iran's previous president, Mohammad Khatami, didn't let him and his group to do this but I think new president (Ahmadinejad) is going. Although I don't like Khatami but surely he had better strategy for Iran in world.

What Iranians could find in this Islamic Revolution and Islamic Government? Is this Islam? Should we start a war because some idiots (who don't know anything from modern sciences) wanted to keep their government forever? Why Iranians think having nuclear energy (or maybe nuclear weapons) can make a great future for them?

Should we miss our young men and destroy our country to keep these guys on top again? You can remember the war with Iraq when they asked people to bear more and more, Ahmadinejad asked it again, didn't he? So you must give your young men to this government and they use them as weapon! They will use ten young men to kill an American and still this is their modern army!

Why should we participate in this war? Why?! For religion? Can you prove this religion? Where is religion? Where is Islam? Can you mean that Islam is equal to not having freedom?! Can you mean that Islam is equal to not having international interactions with all nations? Can you mean that Islam is equal to arresting a blogger because he has talked about some facts on his blog?

In my opinion there is only one solution to escape from this loop. For almost 2500 years we changed our governments by killing and dying but they never worth it. We have to change our future before Americans (or other nations) change it! And it's not possible without changing Iranian minds! Unfortunately we suffer from not having brave people!

I never voted in an election except once. After that I decided to never vote again because I could believe I don't have any role in my future. I hate all these guys! For a long time I wanted to leave Iran (like many many other guys) but Iranian government didn't let me. They say: "You waste 20 months of your life in Military Service and do our commands then we may give your passport". But this time I don't want to loose anything! I want to be free!

Like many other Iranians, I'm aware that Americans always respected to Iranians when many other western or Middle Eastern governments didn't. For a long time Iranians have had key roles in states and had a good friendship with Americans. Latest 27 years were dark years for people inside Iran because Islamic government didn't want to accept some facts. This time Iran is responsible for a war although having nuclear energy is our right but persisting on it to start a new war is something different. Currently I have to pay more than $70-80 for a book that costs $30-40 or $2000 for a television that costs $1000 and our government can solve these problems with more importance rather than asking for nuclear energy. On the other hand, United States can't follow same strategy as Iraq or Afghanistan in Iran. If they choose the war then it will take longer time. Iran is completely different from other Middle Eastern countries and I'm pretty sure states government knows this so makes different decisions to beat Iran.

At the end I wish we don't see this war (or any other war). I know current political positions will make my service absolutely harder but doing any job is better than shooting guns, killing or dying.

Saddam Hussein Executed

nayyeri — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 05:45:18 PST

I was off to a short vacation in Kish island. Saturday morning (Local Time), I got up and turned on the TV to see what's going on around the world before leaving hotel. CNN reported that Saddam Hussein is executed on 6:05 AM (Baghdad Time) by hanging and showed an initial video from execution.

There are many many things to write about Iraq, Saddam, Iran and the effect of Iraq's war against Iran on Iran and Iranians life, especially myself as a child member of guys who were living near borders and felt that war. I missed all first years of my life during that war and couldn't feel one of most important parts of everybody's life. After that my dad had to change his job and our family migrated to Tehran and it took a long time for us to make a new life. Effects of that war won't be erased from our life forever.

Unfortunately United States and Iraq governments didn't let our world to know more about all supports from western countries to Iraq during that war (and the attacks against Iraqi people) but anyway they're proved before.

Execution of Saddam Hussein had to happen and it was what many nations were asking for. This execution won't change anything. It just lets me (and others) to remember that I've seen this process many times: many guys have reached to what they had done before. That dictator is dead and still there are many dictators who are governing on some countries such as Iran.

However, happy new year and thank to everyone who spent his or her life in Iraq to make Iraqi people free. I'm pretty sure if US and UK didn't attack to Iraq, their people were unable to change their government for a long time. I hope that everyone who is killed in Iraq or by Iraqis rests in peace whether he or she is Iranian, American, British or ...

Saddam is Responsible for Gas Attacks Against Iran

nayyeri — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 01:46:00 PST

Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, said he's responsible for any gas attacks against Iran in 1980-1988 war with honor. Reuters reported this yesterday.

Saddam used chemical weapons in this war and killed many persons, especially Kurds, in Iraq and Iran.

Still many guys who had participated in this war are dying everyday in Iran as a result of these chemical weapons effects.

I'm sorry for this dictator. He says he's honor because he has killed many women and children. Thank to every guy who went to Iraq and kicked this idiot out of our world, he will be executed very soon.

A Chilling Photograph's Hidden History

nayyeri — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 23:00:17 PST

Last week The Wall Street Journal published an article about the photograph of an execution in Iran after Islamic Revolution.

Twenty-six years ago, a picture of an execution in Iran won the Pulitzer Prize. But the man who took it remained anonymous. Until now.

In that photo Jahangir Razmi (photograph) took some photos of an execution in Sanandaj where is a famous Kurd city in Iran and 11 men were executed there.

You can watch a video about this article on their site and those 27 photos are here.

Hello Army

nayyeri — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 11:17:49 PST

I'm Keyvan Nayyeri. Probably I'm the first non-American guy on this site. I was born in 1984 in Kermanshah, Iran (so I'm proud to be a Kurd) and currently live in Tehran. You may know me from .NET community but if you don't know, I'm a software architect and developer with a BS degree in Applied Mathematics.

Here in Iran, military service isn't optional. Every man must serve when passes 19 unless he studies in schools or universities or has physical problems (plus some other rules). Currently military service is 20 months in Iran.

I'll start my military on February 20, 2007. First months (two or four, based on my chance and some parameters) will be spent in training. After that government decides to kick me somewhere to serve for rest of months. After finishing my training, I'll be an officer. You can find more information about my incoming 20 months of military service on my blog.

Steve gave this nice idea to me to start blogging about my military so hopefully I'll write about my experiences in military on this blog. Beside this, I want to write some words about life and politics in Iran from my personal perspective.

Here isn't my main blog and you can find me on Nayyeri.NET but I want to keep it up to date for next incoming two years on a regular basis (if I can find time). There aren't many things to write before starting military except politic stuff.

If you want to have a background about me, military and war: I was born in a city where was near west borders when Iraqis and Saddam Hussein had attacked to Iran. Those days, my mom and I had to migrate from Kermanshah to other cities (Tehran, Varamin and Pishva) and I have very very bad memories from those days because my dad had stayed in Kermanshah and we had many troubles in our life. I personally am not a big fan of war unless it's necessary and there is no other choice. On the other hand, almost all my personal opinions are in opposite direction of Iran government and I hope they don't start a war with other nations.

Here after more than two years I'm starting to write about politics and this needs my special attention to every word. Internet censorship and restrictions for bloggers as well as not having freedom can provide tons of troubles for me so I should censor my words before publishing them! Regarding what I've experienced in my life, military shouldn't be hard to finish for me. Living alone and far from my family for a long time and being independent for many years can help me to pass it easier.

Thank to Steve for letting me to be here. If you want to contact me don't hesitate and do it via this page.