A heroic bearing of a young officer with his favorite tank in a slightly faded photo, this young officer was uncle Lu, Chih-De. There were three soldiers in uncle Lu's family: his father, the third elder brother, and uncle Lu.

His father was born in Guangdong and mother was born in Jejiang. There were six siblings in his family and uncle Lu was the fourth boy with three elder brothers and one younger sister and brother. Forty years age in Taiwan , the number of schools was limited and there're too many kids in each household, it's not affordable to send each kid to school under the pressure of raising a big family on little military pay. In addition, most of the father generation was in the army, so many boys in the military dependents' villages attended the military schools.

“There were many advantages to attend military schools—no tuition with monthly allowance and could wear great-looking military uniforms. And many parents at the military dependents' village thought it was a good channel to contribution for the nation as a soldier.” Uncle Lu explained the situation for us.

Thus, uncle Lu entered the military preliminary school after his graduation of the junior high school for three years, and then he entered the military officer school for four years. After graduation, he was allocated to the troop as lieutenant platoon leader. He was in the position of team leader of the school region armored unit, tank commander, operations officer, and battalion commander of army field forces. In order to have more time taking care of family, he took the exam of military training instructor in 1985, and served at the Shih Hsin University for two years since 1986. Then, he transferred to the National Taipei University of Technology and served for ten years and retired at the age of 46 as required.

Uncle Lu was born in Hsinchu. Because his father was a soldier and they moved often, during the kindergarten and elementary school times, he lived in Chungli; then he lived in Taichung during junior high school. Studying at the military schools after junior high school and then traveled around with the troops.

“Grandpa Lu was a soldier. Was he strict on children's disciplines?” Andy asked.

“My father's disciplines toward children were strict yet open. As long as we were doing the right and legitimate things, he would respect our choices. As such, he didn't put much limitation on our jobs and careers. Among six siblings, two are soldiers, two are teachers, one is technical researcher, and one works in the computer industry; each one has its own development.”

“What's special about the life in the military dependents' village before?” Jim wanted to understand the impact of the reconstruction of the military dependents' villages.

“The houses were small before the reconstruction—each household was side by side and crowed. But everyone was like a family struggling for survival together, and every kid could be taken care of by any family; all kinds of food from south and north of China were shared; all kids played together and received oil and rice together during Chinese New Year and festivals with great excitement.” Uncle Lu said, “The spirit lived on, even new houses were built as separate rooms after reconstruction, but everyone is still united. One family needs help, and the neighbors will assist.”

However, some non-military residents were moved in after reconstruction. It's obvious that the closed military dependents' villages are disappearing and the traditional culture of military dependents' village is impacted. But uncle Lu considers it a good thing as well as an unavoidable trend.

“There's no interaction between military dependents' villages and the outside in the early times. Misunderstandings might happen sometimes. Today's community is no longer external provinces only, and local residents are increasing. Everyone gets alone with each other without problem at all. If you want others to treat you well, you should treat others well first. This way you open your heart with sincerity; no misunderstanding or opposition is irremovable.”