I stand at the Gate to say a few final words to the alfa-mite. Like frames of an old-fashioned film, Corinth, Thebes, Veria, and Megalo Peuko pass through my mind in an instant. The film is not in color. It is not even black and white. Green and khaki colors on a black background. The dark green nightmare is over. I confidently tighten my police ID and diploma in my pocket. Imagine it in cherry color with pink highlights, purple polka dots, and crazy pictures. I do two aerial somersaults and leave the camp behind me. "I am discharged and going crazy."

My name is Christos Kastanas. Some call me Christoforos Kasdaglis. But everyone knows that I am now a citizen.

"Christoforos Kasdaglis describes the daily routine of the army with a soldierly, mocking, sharp language. He does not denounce, he ridicules..."
(Nikos Dokas, "Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia")

"It is a writing that is ironic about everything, even about doubt itself..."
(D. Frangopoulos, "Ethnos")

"Kasdaglis conveys his experience from the army in an almost fantastical narrative, with caricatures and successive parodies..."
(P. G. Christou, "I Kathimerini")

"Several years ago, Christoforos Kasdaglis wrote the book "I am discharged and going crazy" and turned everything upside down..."
(Antonis Sourounis, "Eleftherotypia")

"I will never forget the company that "I am discharged and going crazy" kept for me during my military service. It was in my pocket almost permanently, like a beautiful letter from a very good friend. Something like a gospel, which I would leaf through during difficult hours and find solace..."
(From a conversation between unknown individuals on a sports forum on the internet)

I started from BABEL,
went to PARA PENTE,
read Christos Kastanas
and came out as a winner.
(Unpublished four-line verse by Loukianos Kilaidonis)