Recruit's Stew
When new soldiers join the Army of the Sun the official registration in their unit's book and training aren't everything what happens. The more experienced soldiers organize a special feast to welcome the new friends in the army. This tradition is particularly strong among the soldiers fighting in the Arshan Forest as the days new recruits arrive are set in stone and most of them comes through Fort Sundown.
Execution
The first thing that happens when a new recruit arrives at a military base such as Fort Sundown is the official registration. An officer from the base's administration enters the recruit's name into register of their unit and the recruit is assigned sleeping quarters. In the late afternoon, the same day, more experienced soldiers and officers of that unit gather all new recruits in one of the common dining rooms and put a big pot of stew in front of them. Inside is probably the worst food anyone can eat in their life. The recruits are instructed to eat a bowl of it each. Meanwhile, the other soldiers and officers talk how eating this would make them strong and resilient.
I'm disappointed. Only a couple threw up while eating
Components and tools
Recruit's Stew is a mixture of several types of meat. There are chicken liver, beef kidneys and any other kind of meat that could be found. Very often animal brains find their way to the pot. Everything is mixed with onions, apples, rice and cheese. Everything is additionally flavoured with salt, pepper and poured with caramel. If the cooks are really mean they would also add some crickets or other bugs. What is important is that the ingredients for the stew aren't of the fresh variety. They are mostly leftovers from the few days prior to the event. It doesn't surprise anyone if mold finds its way to the stew. The end result is a mixture of tastes and smells that could make anyone vomit, something that isn't a rare sight at those events.
Regulations
The official army regulations consider things like Recruit's Stew a form of bullying. However, no one is making any problems to people running such events. New recruits won't rat on their superiors and other soldiers won't rat on their friends. As long as no one is making an official report, the command stuff pretends they don't know about the tradition.
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