The last two wars between the Swiss and their neighbours were in 1531 and during Napoleon - who in the end admired the Swiss confederacy and helped rebirth it in its modern form.
That they weren’t waging war does result in excess men who someone else can pay to wage war for them though.
Mercenaries outsource the problem.
Short-term accommodation was notoriously expensive for students back then (probably even worse now), and I didn't hesitate when they offered me this unconventional housing opportunity.
The bunker had a decontamination zone, air filtering system, massive concrete doors, a large communal kitchen, and numerous small bunk beds. It was adequate for short-term use, but we encountered two main issues:
- It's remarkably easy to lose track of time without natural light cues
- Even with the air filering system wet clothes wouldn't dry properly inside
For us it was a schock, versus the usual "you can pay it is yours", first come first served that we had back in Portugal.
However while not living in a bunker, we did have parties in some somehow converted into clubs.
Imagine being stuck sick at home or in the hospital for an extended period of time - you will lose track of which weekday it is.
Then I graduate and enroll in a cushy university (UCSD) and come to find out, they're also having growing pangs, and so in the middle of campus we found ourselves taking classes in Quonset huts. These Quonset huts were bona fide military surplus, though it was already 1990. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quonset_hut
The Quonset huts were extraordinarily different from the classrooms and lab facilities we used on campus; they were, of course, comparatively set out in the wilderness, and very rough accommodations overall.
However, I was a commuting student, and nobody was living in Quonset huts, so after our hourlong class was dismissed, I was able to retreat to the relative comfort of home, or the Theodore Geisel library.
[1] https://www.tiktok.com/@mikealpharomeotangoindia/video/74960... (in Swiss German)
The TLDR : they are obliged to have bunkers for a given population in an area thanks to Russian military aggression over the years.
> Finland has around 50,500 civil defence shelters with space for about 4.8 million people
https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/-/1410869/finland-has-civil-def...
NaOH•3h ago
Camouflaged Military Bunkers of Switzerland (2015) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25331474 - Dec 2020 (119 comments)
The forgotten underground world of Swiss bunkers - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12430234 - Sept 2016 (50 comments)