The Routine Open Access
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Published:March 2024
This chapter offers a glimpse of the routines that structured Yugoslav military service. Soldiers had to learn these routines through repetition, embody them, and become habituated to them. During the first months of the military service, they were exposed to intense training, education, and drill; as time passed, the intensity subsided, but day-to-day reality remained firmly structured by routines. The chapter discusses the working of these routines and highlights their role in providing a common ground for very different men who served together. The routines not only made it possible for these men to fulfill military tasks efficiently and harmoniously, but also gave them a common language that, however stiff, monotonous, and performative, enabled modalities of life that resulted in emotions, friendships, and meaningful experiences.